With the increasing interest in offshore wind power, the related technologies, including HVDC networks, are gaining similar levels of attention. For large scale wind farms far from shore, high voltage DC transmission can provide several advantages over traditional high voltage AC transmission. This thesis focuses on DC/DC converters, a core part of the HVDC network, especially for use in the high voltage, high power and offshore wind environment. The thesis examines a wide range of possible DC/DC converter topologies for the application. Different topologies are compared and evaluated in detail for use in a high power situation. Based on these results, three DC/DC converter topologies are selected for more detailed modelling. The simulation processes and results are presented in the thesis, which reveals the limitations and behaviour of the topologies when they are used at the MW level. In addition, the high power semiconductor switching devices are discussed and evaluated for each topology. To assess the suitability of the DC/DC converter topologies in the offshore wind application, the selected converter topologies are also analysed and modelled combined with a PMSG wind turbine. Finally, a down-scaled DC/DC converter prototype is built to verify the analysis and simulation results.

When polymer power cables were introduced into mediumvoltage applications in the late 1960s, the degradationphenomenon later referred to aswater treeingwas still unknown. However, this changedwithin a relatively short space of time. Just 5-10 years afterthese first polymer applications, faults began to appear thatcould be attributed to the new phenomenon-water treeing. Sincethen, cable manufacturers have been improving their designsgradually, and cables produced today are assumed to have muchlower susceptibility to water trees. However, water treeing isstill assumed to be the most important degradation process inthese applications. There are huge amounts of polymer cable installations thatare degraded by water trees. Since many of these cables areinstalled in the same grid nets, one cable fault oftengenerates another. If two or more cables fail at the same time,the consequences can be extensive. A non-destructive diagnosticmethod makes it possible to assess cables and take action priorto failures. This thesis presents the results of research work on thedevelopment of a measurement technique and diagnostic methodfor the assessment of medium voltage XLPE cables in the field.The method used is called high voltage dielectric spectroscopy,and involves the measurement of capacitance and loss as afunction of frequency at high voltages. The method is used in ashort frequency range of approximately one decade in thelow-frequency region (normally from 1 down to 0.1 Hz). Thevoltage levels used initially are all below the service-voltagelevel. If the cable is assessed to be free from water trees, aslightly increased voltage can be used. Based on dielectric-spectroscopy measurements, specificwater-tree analysis and breakdown tests, a set of measurementprocedures and criteria that take into account differences incable designs has been proposed for the assessment of mediumvoltage XLPE cables. The characteristic responses of XLPEcables (in both non and water-tree-deteriorated cases) make itpossible to separate the cable response from the influence ofaccessories. Field experience shows thatwater-tree-deteriorated cables with relatively low breakdownstrengths can remain in service for many years. <b>Keywords:</b>dielectric spectroscopy, high voltage,variable frequency, diagnostics, non-destructive diagnostics,cables, medium voltage, polymer, XLPE, water trees, watertreeing

No description available.

Nanofibres are useful in a broad range of applications in areas such as medical science, food science, materials engineering, environmental engineering, and energy and electronics due to their outstanding characteristics: their small size, high surface-to-volume ratio, high porosity, and superior mechanical performance. Recently, controlled drug delivery systems have gained significant attention, especially with respect to the use of polymer nanofibres. For these systems, the ability to control of the length of the polymer nanofibre is important because the amount of drug released depends on the length of the fibre. Electrospinning is the simplest and most cost-effective method of fabricating polymer nanofibres. In the process, a high voltage is used to create an electrified jet which will eventually become a nanofibre. The electrified jet ejects when a high voltage is applied to the electrospinning setup. On the other hand, the jet does not eject when the applied voltage is below the threshold voltage. It is therefore possible to fabricate and chop nanofibres by controlling the values of the voltages applied and a special high-voltage pulsed power supply has been developed for this purpose. In this research, an IGBT-based pulsed power supply has been designed and built to be used for non-continuous-mode electrospinning. The IGBTs are connected in series to deliver high voltage pulse voltages to an electrospinning setup. The IGBT-based pulsed power supply is capable of producing controllable square pulses with a width of a few hundred microseconds to DC and amplitudes up to 10 kV. The technique of non-continuous-mode electrospinning was tested using the pulsed power supply designed in this work. The new system was able to fabricate and chop nanofibres with PEO and alginate/PEO solutions. It was concluded that the minimum pulse width that can initiate an electrified jet is approximately 80 ms for the parameters used in this study. A longer period produces a more constant jet during the pulse-on voltage when the duty ratio is the same value. It is also highly likely that a jet is always ejected during the pulse-on voltage when the duty ratio is more than 40 %.

Nanofibres are useful in a broad range of applications in areas such as medical science, food science, materials engineering, environmental engineering, and energy and electronics due to their outstanding characteristics: their small size, high surface-to-volume ratio, high porosity, and superior mechanical performance. Recently, controlled drug delivery systems have gained significant attention, especially with respect to the use of polymer nanofibres. For these systems, the ability to control of the length of the polymer nanofibre is important because the amount of drug released depends on the length of the fibre. Electrospinning is the simplest and most cost-effective method of fabricating polymer nanofibres. In the process, a high voltage is used to create an electrified jet which will eventually become a nanofibre. The electrified jet ejects when a high voltage is applied to the electrospinning setup. On the other hand, the jet does not eject when the applied voltage is below the threshold voltage. It is therefore possible to fabricate and chop nanofibres by controlling the values of the voltages applied and a special high-voltage pulsed power supply has been developed for this purpose. In this research, an IGBT-based pulsed power supply has been designed and built to be used for non-continuous-mode electrospinning. The IGBTs are connected in series to deliver high voltage pulse voltages to an electrospinning setup. The IGBT-based pulsed power supply is capable of producing controllable square pulses with a width of a few hundred microseconds to DC and amplitudes up to 10 kV. The technique of non-continuous-mode electrospinning was tested using the pulsed power supply designed in this work. The new system was able to fabricate and chop nanofibres with PEO and alginate/PEO solutions. It was concluded that the minimum pulse width that can initiate an electrified jet is approximately 80 ms for the parameters used in this study. A longer period produces a more constant jet during the pulse-on voltage when the duty ratio is the same value. It is also highly likely that a jet is always ejected during the pulse-on voltage when the duty ratio is more than 40 %.

In this thesis, a high voltage discharging testing circuit is proposed for cold cathode fluorescent lamps(CCFLs). The testing circuit uses only a single active power switch operating at a high frequency incorporating with reactive components to accumulate a relatively high voltage on the capacitor. This voltage is then stepped up by a transformer to provide the required high voltage for discharging the CCFLs. The circuit has the advantages of simple configuration, less component count, and low cost. In addition, a high power factor at the ac line source can be achieved. The proposed circuit is analyzed based on the mode operation. Accordingly, the design equations are derived to determine the circuit parameters. A prototype is designed and built for testing the 19 inch CCFLs. The discharging tests are made to recognize the malfunctions during the manufacturing process. Moreover, the distributions on the spectral power and chromaticity of lamps can be examined to ensure the product quality.

<p>When polymer power cables were introduced into mediumvoltage applications in the late 1960s, the degradationphenomenon later referred to as<i>water treeing</i>was still unknown. However, this changedwithin a relatively short space of time. Just 5-10 years afterthese first polymer applications, faults began to appear thatcould be attributed to the new phenomenon-water treeing. Sincethen, cable manufacturers have been improving their designsgradually, and cables produced today are assumed to have muchlower susceptibility to water trees. However, water treeing isstill assumed to be the most important degradation process inthese applications.</p><p>There are huge amounts of polymer cable installations thatare degraded by water trees. Since many of these cables areinstalled in the same grid nets, one cable fault oftengenerates another. If two or more cables fail at the same time,the consequences can be extensive. A non-destructive diagnosticmethod makes it possible to assess cables and take action priorto failures.</p><p>This thesis presents the results of research work on thedevelopment of a measurement technique and diagnostic methodfor the assessment of medium voltage XLPE cables in the field.The method used is called high voltage dielectric spectroscopy,and involves the measurement of capacitance and loss as afunction of frequency at high voltages. The method is used in ashort frequency range of approximately one decade in thelow-frequency region (normally from 1 down to 0.1 Hz). Thevoltage levels used initially are all below the service-voltagelevel. If the cable is assessed to be free from water trees, aslightly increased voltage can be used.</p><p>Based on dielectric-spectroscopy measurements, specificwater-tree analysis and breakdown tests, a set of measurementprocedures and criteria that take into account differences incable designs has been proposed for the assessment of mediumvoltage XLPE cables. The characteristic responses of XLPEcables (in both non and water-tree-deteriorated cases) make itpossible to separate the cable response from the influence ofaccessories. Field experience shows thatwater-tree-deteriorated cables with relatively low breakdownstrengths can remain in service for many years.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>dielectric spectroscopy, high voltage,variable frequency, diagnostics, non-destructive diagnostics,cables, medium voltage, polymer, XLPE, water trees, watertreeing</p>

Το σημαντικότερο στοιχείο σε μία ηλεκτρολογική εγκατάσταση είναι η γείωση. Με τον όρο γείωση εννοούμε τη διαδρομή του ηλεκτρικού ρεύματος μέσα σε καθοδηγούμενα πλαίσια προς τη γη.Με τη μέθοδο αυτή αποφεύγεται η πρόκληση τυχόν βλαβών στους χρήστες σε περιπτώσεις διαρροής, λόγω του ότι το ρεύμα καθοδηγείται μέσα από τα μεταλλικά μέρη του κτιρίου ή μέσω του αγωγού γειώσεως, χωρίς να διαπεράσει το ανθρώπινο σώμα. Η απόδοση των συστημάτων γείωσης που υπόκεινται σε κρουστικά ρεύματα διαδραματίζει σημαντικό ρόλο στην ασφαλή και αξιόπιστη λειτουργία ενός συστήματος ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας. Η συμπεριφορά της αντικεραυνικής προστασίας των υποσταθμών, σχετίζεται με τα κρουστικά χαρακτηριστικά των διατάξεων γείωσης. Προκειμένου να επιτευχθεί η ορθή σχεδίαση του ηλεκτρικού συστήματος, σε ότι αφορά την προστασία των εγκαταστάσεων έναντι ανώμαλων γεγονότων, είναι θεμελιώδες και απολύτως απαραίτητο να προβλεφθεί η μεταβατική συμπεριφορά ενός συστήματος γείωσης, υπό την επίδραση κρουστικών κεραυνικών ρευμάτων, ή ρευμάτων σφάλματος. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματοποιήθηκε με σκοπό τη μελέτη και την προσομοίωση της μεταβατικής κυρίως συμπεριφοράς του συστήματος γείωσης Υ/Σ υψηλής τάσης της ΔΕΗ,καθώς σε αυτό το στάδιο εμφανίζονται τα πιο επικίνδυνα από ηλεκτρικής απόψεως φαινόμενα.Συγκεκριμένα εξετάστηκε το πλέγμα γείωσης του Υ/Σ ανύψωσης 20/150kV, για σύνδεση αιολικού πάρκου στο Περδικοβούνι,του δήμου Κορώνιας στη Βοιωτία. Για την μεταβατική ανάλυση χρησιμοποιήθηκε το πρόγραμμα προσομοίωσης ηλεκτρομαγνητικών φαινομένων για συστήματα ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας ATP- EMTP, απ’ όπου λαμβάνονται τα αποτελέσματα υπό μορφή γραφημάτων στις περιπτώσεις πλήγματος κεραυνού, αλλά και σφάλματος στο μετασχηματιστή ισχύος. Για την μελέτη του συγκεκριμένου πλέγματος λάβαμε υπόψη το φαινόμενο του ιονισμού του εδάφους και κάναμε χρήση του μοντέλου του κυκλώματος με κατανεμημένες και χρονικά μεταβαλλόμενες παραμέτρους. Η επιλογή του μοντέλου αυτού έγινε με γνώμονα την απλότητα εφαρμογής του μοντέλου, καθώς επίσης δύναται και με ιδιαίτερη ευκολία να λάβει υπόψη το φαινόμενο ιονισμού του εδάφους και των αμοιβαίων συζεύξεων. / The most important element in an electrical installation is the grounding.By the term grounding we mean the path of the electrical current through guided context to earth. This method avoids causing any harm to the users in case of leakage, because the current is driven through the metal parts of the building or through the grounding conductor, without penetrating the human body. The performance of grounding systems that are subject to impulse currents play a significant role in the safe and reliable operation of a power system. The behavior of the lightning protection of substations, is related to impulse characteristics of grounding provisions. In order to achieve the proper design of the electrical system, as regards the protection of installations against abnormal events is fundamental and absolutely necessary to predict the transient behavior of grounding systems under the influence of lightning percussive currents or fault currents. The present thesis was undertaken in order to study and simulate the transient mainly behavior of the grounding system of a voltage rise substation as this is the stage where the most dangerous,in terms of electricity,phenomena appear.Specifically,what was examined is the grounding grid of the voltage rise substation 20/150 kV to Perdikovouni,in Viotia for connection with a wind farm.For the transient analysis we used the program ATP-EMTP which is a software designed for simulating electromagnetic phenomena for electrical power systems and from where the results are received in graphical form in the case of a lighting strike as well as during a power transformer fault. For the study of this particular grid we took into consideration the effect of ionization of the ground and we used the model of the circuit with distributed and time-varying parameters. The choice of this model was based on the simplicity of applicating the model, as well as on the fact that it can take into account with particular ease the phenomenon of soil ionization and mutual couplings.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται τις ηλεκτρικές διασπάσεις διηλεκτρικών. Είναι γνωστό ότι η ηλεκτρική διάσπαση των διηλεκτρικών επέρχεται μέσω της ανάπτυξης λεπτών καναλιών πλάσματος(streamers – leaders). Η πειραματική μελέτη των μηχανισμών διάσπασης και κυρίως η οπτική παρατήρηση των διαδοχικών φάσεων της εκκένωσης οδήγησε στο συμπέρασμα ότι η διάδοση στο χώρο τόσο των streamers όσο και των leaders παρουσιάζει έντονα στοχαστικά και fractal χαρακτηριστικά. Η διαπίστωση αυτή οδήγησε την κοινότητα των επιστημόνων στη ανάπτυξη των λεγόμενων στοχαστικών μοντέλων διάσπασης διηλεκτρικών τα οποία παρουσιάζουν πλεονεκτήματα σε σχέση με τα φυσικά μοντέλα που είχαν αναπτυχθεί μέχρι τότε. Στα πλαίσια της εργασίας παρουσιάζονται τα κυριότερα στοχαστικά μοντέλα όπως το NPW από τα αρχικά των Niemeyer , Pietronero και Wiesmann, το μοντέλο FFC, το μοντέλο Δανίκα καθώς και το μοντέλο biller το οποίο μάλιστα χρησιμοποιήθηκε έπειτα στην υλοποίηση του προγράμματος. Επίσης γίνονται αναφορές στον τρόπο που διαδίδονται οι streamers στο χώρο καθώς και στον τρόπο δημιουργίας ηλεκτρονικών στοιβάδων σε ομογενές Η.Π κάτι το οποίο είναι απαραίτητο για την καλύτερη κατανόηση του θέματος Όπως αναφέρθηκε οι δενδρίτες αποτελούν ουσιαστικά fractal σχήματα. Η έννοια του fractal μας είναι γνωστή από το χώρο των μαθηματικών ωστόσο στη παρούσα εργασία γίνεται μια σχετικά λεπτομερής αναφορά στα fractal, σε ιδιότητες που τα χαρακτηρίζουν όπως η αυτό-ομοιότητα και η μη ακέραια διάσταση για παράδειγμα. Ωστόσο κύριος στόχος της διπλωματικής αποτελεί όπως αναφέρει και ο τίτλος της άλλωστε η ανάπτυξη προγράμματος μέσω του οποίου θα μπορεί να υπολογίζεται η fractal διάσταση ενός δενδρίτη. Η fractal διάσταση ενός fractal ουσιαστικά είναι το μέγεθος που το διαφοροποιεί από τα υπόλοιπα fractals και δηλώνει το βαθμό της πολυπλοκότητας του. Όσο πιο μεγάλη είναι αυτή η μη ακέραια διάσταση τόσο μεγαλύτερη πολυπλοκότητα υπάρχει. Το πρόγραμμα γράφτηκε σε c++ και ουσιαστικά είναι σε θέση να διαβάζει μια fractal εικόνα και να μπορεί να υπολογίζει την fractal διάστασή της μέσω της box counting μεθόδου. Η προαναφερθείσα μέθοδος δεν είναι η μόνη αλλά αυτή αποφασίστηκε από κοινού με τον Δρ Χαραλαμπάκο Βασίλειο λόγω της σχετικής ευκολίας της εφαρμογής της αλλά και της ευρύτερης αποδοχής που λαμβάνει. Κάποιες άλλες μέθοδοι υπολογισμού παρουσιάζονται στα πλαίσια της εργασίας στις οποίες γίνεται και η κατηγοριοποίηση αν μιλούμε για διδιάστατη fractal εικόνα ή τρισδιάστατη(πραγματικού δενδρίτη). Το γεγονός ότι συναντούμε αρκετά διαφορετικά αποτελέσματα στον υπολογισμό της fractal διάστασης ανάλογα με το ποια μέθοδο χρησιμοποιούμε γεννά το ερώτημα ποια μέθοδος είναι η κατάλληλη σε κάθε εφαρμογή κάτι το οποίο δεν βρίσκει απάντηση στα πλαίσια της διπλωματικής εργασίας. / The current graduate thesis is about the electrical break of dielectrics. It is well known that electrical breaks are followed by thin channels of plasma (streamers-leaders). Experimental analysis of the electrical break process and mainly the observation of the sequential phases of the electrical discharge lead to the conclusion that the propagation of streamers and leaders contains stochastic and fractal characteristics. Main scope of this thesis is to find analytical methods on the calculation of the fractal dimension of the electrical break dendrites.

Αντικείμενο αυτής της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η ανάλυση των εξελίξεων και των μελλοντικών προοπτικών με βάση ερευνητικά δεδομένα στη χρήση των δικτύων υψηλής τάσης για τηλεπικοινωνιακούς σκοπούς. / Purpose of this paper is the analysis of the development and the future perspectives based on research information and papers on the use of high voltage network for telecommunication reasons.