Currently, mobile computing is mandating or influencing the direction of new developments in information technology. The high level of adoption that mobile devices have among individuals allows for multiple opportunities for new developments applicable to academic communities, governments and businesses. Data of various types can be collected in a crowd-sourced manner. As such, this thesis examines the collection and application of data collected through a purpose-designed app relying on Bluetooth and geo-location technologies on mobile devices. Through three distinct development iterations and using Bluetooth connectivity, information about connectivity to other mobile devices can be obtained, and in this way the number, type, and device names of “connecting” devices are gathered and stored. Another interesting aspect associated with this type of data collection is that the mobile device may be either moving or stationary during the data collection process. Information can be collected and mined to help map real-life events such as traffic patterns or crowd movement within mass gatherings, as well as ethereal social interactions, and these data can in turn be used as input to various models and simulators. When geo-location technologies are incorporated, a higher level of detail can be obtained on the location of devices. This technology allows for mapping movement and contacts made between people, allowing for the gathering of more detailed social patterns of individuals. As part of this study, the technology developed using Bluetooth connectivity and geo-location is then taken to an additional iteration to develop a mobile system that is able to find and establish direct connections with other individuals and initiate real-life interactions. The work demonstrates that mobile technologies can provide a broad framework of action for the generation and collection of valuable data that can be used for behavioural studies, simulations and other type of research that involves real-life social interactions.

This thesis introduces a power electronic interface for a kinetic hydropower generation platform that enables extraction of electric power from a free-flowing water source such as a river or a stream. The implemented system transfers power from a high-frequency permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) to a 60-Hz load. Special configurations and control techniques were developed to cater for the long distance between the generator and the power interface; and also to address the wide range of the PMSG frequency and voltage variations. The proposed power-electronic interface was constructed and tested in the laboratory as well as in the field. The thesis also introduces two feasible methods for controlling a hydrokinetic plant to supply islanded loads or to deliver the maximum power available from the turbine-generator to the utility network. Application of multiple turbines in a kinetic farm was also investigated, and different approaches to controlling hydrokinetic turbines were developed.

This thesis introduces a power electronic interface for a kinetic hydropower generation platform that enables extraction of electric power from a free-flowing water source such as a river or a stream. The implemented system transfers power from a high-frequency permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) to a 60-Hz load. Special configurations and control techniques were developed to cater for the long distance between the generator and the power interface; and also to address the wide range of the PMSG frequency and voltage variations. The proposed power-electronic interface was constructed and tested in the laboratory as well as in the field. The thesis also introduces two feasible methods for controlling a hydrokinetic plant to supply islanded loads or to deliver the maximum power available from the turbine-generator to the utility network. Application of multiple turbines in a kinetic farm was also investigated, and different approaches to controlling hydrokinetic turbines were developed.

Tout être vivant a besoin d'eau pour survivre. Cette ressource occupe une place importante parmi les éléments nécessaires à la vie sur le globe terrestre. Ainsi, il est essentiel d'avoir accès à une eau parfaitement sécurisée et pure. Ceci représente un des enjeux économique et sociétal majeurs qui ont poussé les acteurs industriels du domaine de l'eau à innover technologiquement pour développer de nouveaux procédés de traitement. Les membranes et les technologies membranaires s'imposent comme une solution innovante de développement durable pour répondre à cette problématique. C'est dans ce cadre que se place ce travail de thèse dont l'objectif est de produire un dispositif de traitement des eaux en valorisant les ressources naturelles libanaises. Les argiles collectées se sont avérées aptes au frittage et la température de calcination permettant d'obtenir un matériau consolidé se situe dans la gamme 950°C - 1200°C. Ces conditions de traitement thermique permettent de conserver une certaine porosité en vue d'une utilisation comme support membranaire. Avant le dépôt de la couche active en carbone bio-sourcé sur ces supports, une filtration préliminaire d'organismes pathogènes a été réalisée. Afin d'éviter la formation de biofilms à la surface des supports en argile, des diffuseurs d'huiles essentielles ont été développés. Ces derniers, connus depuis la haute antiquité pour leurs effets bactéricides et fongicides ont remplacé l'utilisation des antibiotiques pour diverses maladies. Dans ce contexte, des huiles essentielles issues de la lavande, du romarin et de l'origan ont été extraites et diffusées dans l'eau à travers les supports en argile. Parallèlement, des membranes en carbone bio-sourcé ont été réalisées à partir des sous-produits issus des industries agroalimentaires libanaises. Des nanoparticules de carbone ont été synthétisées par carbonisation hydrothermale à partir de déchets de bière puis déposées par spin-coating et slip-casting sur les supports membranaires à base d'argiles et des supports commerciaux de caractéristiques variées. / Providing people worldwide an access to clean and safe water is one of the most motivating scientific and economical challenges of our modern society. Water purification and remediation can be afforded by membrane technology. The preparation of membranes using low-cost and locally-available resources appears as an economically-competitive solution. This drawback may be considered in the framework of a sustainable chemistry approach. In this context, our work is focused on the elaboration of supports and membranes from Lebanese resources. For this purpose, ceramic supports were developed from natural clays. Inorganic bio-sourced carbon membranes were prepared from by-products of the Lebanese agro-alimentary industries.The thermal treatment required to ensure the support adequate properties was fixed around 950°C - 1200°C. Clay supports (flat and tubular) were elaborated by extrusion and roll-pressing of plastic clay green pastes. Before the deposition of the carbon membrane active layer, it was necessary to filtrate bacteria to avoid and/or limit biofouling. Indeed, microorganisms especially bacteria represent a possible cause of human diseases proliferation. Drinkable water should be thus disinfected to ensure the health of the population and notably in the third countries. It is well known that the essential oils extracted from aromatic plants were used as remedies for many diseases, to prevent the possible side effects of antibiotics. In this context, lavender, rosemary and oregano were diffused through clay ceramic supports to prevent all types of bacteria and biomass film growth in the water tanks.At the same time, a sustainable route to carbon membranes was developed using by-products of food industries. Starting from wastes of Lebanon beers, carbon nanoparticles were synthetized by hydrothermal carbonization. The carbon colloids were then deposited on the clay-based supports to form carbon membranes by slip-casting and spin-coating.

Electricity systems are very complex systems and are composed of numerous transmission lines, generators and loads. The generating stations are generally far away from load centres and that may cause transmission line congestion and overloading. Series capacitive compensation is the most economical way to increase transmission capacity and improve transient stability of transmission grids. However, one of the impeding factors for the widespread use of series capacitive compensation is the potential risk of Subsynchronous Resonance (SSR). Subsynchronous Resonance is a phenomenon in which electrical power is exchanged with the generator shaft system in an increasing manner which may result in damage to the turbine generator shaft system. Therefore, mitigating SSR continues to be a subject of research and development aiming at developing effective SSR countermeasures.<p>This research work presents new methods of alleviating the SSR problem using a Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) and a Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM). These methods are based on using the SSSC and STATCOM to inject unbalanced series quadrature voltages and unbalanced shunt reactive currents in transmission line just after clearing faults. When the subsynchronous oscillations drive unsymmetrical phase currents, the developed electromagnetic torque will be lower than the condition when the three-phase currents are symmetrical. The unsymmetrical currents result in a lower coupling strength between the mechanical and the electrical system at asynchronous oscillations. Therefore, the energy exchange between the electrical and the mechanical systems at subsynchronous oscillations will be suppressed, thus, avoiding the build-up of torsional stresses on the generator shaft systems under subsynchronous resonance condition. The validity of proposed methods are demonstrated by time simulation results using the electromagnetic transient program EMTP-RV.

Pulse-width modulation methods are widely used for the synthesis of ac voltages at the terminals of a voltage-sourced converter (VSC). Traditionally sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation (SPWM) has been used. A powerful alternative for this purpose is space-vector modulation (SVM), in which the converter is placed in a finite number of states in order to best approximate the reference voltage. This method offers better utilization of the dc bus voltage and provides several degrees of freedom for enhancement of the harmonic spectrum as well as switching losses. This thesis studies the SVM method for two- and three-level VSCs. A model for implementation of SVM in the electromagnetic transients simulation program PSCAD/EMTDC is developed. The model is able to generate firing pulses in linear as well as overmodulation range and is used to study the performance of different SVM strategies in terms of their harmonic spectra and associated converter and harmonic losses. The model is also used to demonstrate the suitability of the method for network applications. The thesis also employs genetic algorithms to find an optimized SVM sequence for improved harmonic performance. An objective function is defined that seeks to minimize the most significant harmonic components of the generated waveform, while keeping the other harmonic components within the acceptable range outlined in the available standards. The obtained sequence shows great improvement over the conventionally-used SVM sequence. / October 2007

As the costs of large-scale power generation and transmission rise, distributed generation is becoming a prevalent alternative used by a growing number of both residences and businesses. Distributed generation systems typically consist of two main components: a small-scale, often high-efficiency or renewable power source, such as a fuel cell, solar panel, or wind turbine, and a power electronic converter to convert the raw power produced by the source to a usable form. In North America, the majority of power used in residential and light commercial locations is provided in a form known as single-phase three-wire, or split-phase. This consists of two half-phase AC voltages, each of 110 to 120V rms, and one combined AC voltage of 220 to 240V rms. It is therefore necessary for distributed generation systems to supply power in this same form so that it can be used by standard loads such as lighting or appliances, and the excess power can be fed back into the distribution grid. The most common type of converter used to make this conversion is the voltage-sourced inverter (VSI). There are, however, some advantages to using a current-sourced inverter (CSI) instead. These include improved output voltage waveform quality, built-in voltage boost, and built-in overcurrent protection. However, there are also two obstacles that have prevented the adoption of current-sourced inverters to date. The first obstacle to the use of current-sourced inverters is that they require a DC current input to operate. Therefore, a circuit and control algorithm must be developed to produce a DC current from a low DC voltage source. The first part of this thesis deals with the generation of a suitable DC current. The second major obstacle to adopting current-sourced inverters is that no algorithm for producing single-phase three-wire outputs with a CSI presently exists in literature. The second part of this thesis develops such a switching algorithm, using a three-leg current-sourced inverter. The algorithm is demonstrated using simulation and experimental results, which show that the proposed system is able to successfully generate balanced output voltages under unbalanced loading conditions while equalizing switch utilization and minimizing output voltage ripple.

As the costs of large-scale power generation and transmission rise, distributed generation is becoming a prevalent alternative used by a growing number of both residences and businesses. Distributed generation systems typically consist of two main components: a small-scale, often high-efficiency or renewable power source, such as a fuel cell, solar panel, or wind turbine, and a power electronic converter to convert the raw power produced by the source to a usable form. In North America, the majority of power used in residential and light commercial locations is provided in a form known as single-phase three-wire, or split-phase. This consists of two half-phase AC voltages, each of 110 to 120V rms, and one combined AC voltage of 220 to 240V rms. It is therefore necessary for distributed generation systems to supply power in this same form so that it can be used by standard loads such as lighting or appliances, and the excess power can be fed back into the distribution grid. The most common type of converter used to make this conversion is the voltage-sourced inverter (VSI). There are, however, some advantages to using a current-sourced inverter (CSI) instead. These include improved output voltage waveform quality, built-in voltage boost, and built-in overcurrent protection. However, there are also two obstacles that have prevented the adoption of current-sourced inverters to date. The first obstacle to the use of current-sourced inverters is that they require a DC current input to operate. Therefore, a circuit and control algorithm must be developed to produce a DC current from a low DC voltage source. The first part of this thesis deals with the generation of a suitable DC current. The second major obstacle to adopting current-sourced inverters is that no algorithm for producing single-phase three-wire outputs with a CSI presently exists in literature. The second part of this thesis develops such a switching algorithm, using a three-leg current-sourced inverter. The algorithm is demonstrated using simulation and experimental results, which show that the proposed system is able to successfully generate balanced output voltages under unbalanced loading conditions while equalizing switch utilization and minimizing output voltage ripple.

Electricity systems are very complex systems and are composed of numerous transmission lines, generators and loads. The generating stations are generally far away from load centres and that may cause transmission line congestion and overloading. Series capacitive compensation is the most economical way to increase transmission capacity and improve transient stability of transmission grids. However, one of the impeding factors for the widespread use of series capacitive compensation is the potential risk of Subsynchronous Resonance (SSR). Subsynchronous Resonance is a phenomenon in which electrical power is exchanged with the generator shaft system in an increasing manner which may result in damage to the turbine generator shaft system. Therefore, mitigating SSR continues to be a subject of research and development aiming at developing effective SSR countermeasures.<p>This research work presents new methods of alleviating the SSR problem using a Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) and a Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM). These methods are based on using the SSSC and STATCOM to inject unbalanced series quadrature voltages and unbalanced shunt reactive currents in transmission line just after clearing faults. When the subsynchronous oscillations drive unsymmetrical phase currents, the developed electromagnetic torque will be lower than the condition when the three-phase currents are symmetrical. The unsymmetrical currents result in a lower coupling strength between the mechanical and the electrical system at asynchronous oscillations. Therefore, the energy exchange between the electrical and the mechanical systems at subsynchronous oscillations will be suppressed, thus, avoiding the build-up of torsional stresses on the generator shaft systems under subsynchronous resonance condition. The validity of proposed methods are demonstrated by time simulation results using the electromagnetic transient program EMTP-RV.

Pulse-width modulation methods are widely used for the synthesis of ac voltages at the terminals of a voltage-sourced converter (VSC). Traditionally sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation (SPWM) has been used. A powerful alternative for this purpose is space-vector modulation (SVM), in which the converter is placed in a finite number of states in order to best approximate the reference voltage. This method offers better utilization of the dc bus voltage and provides several degrees of freedom for enhancement of the harmonic spectrum as well as switching losses. This thesis studies the SVM method for two- and three-level VSCs. A model for implementation of SVM in the electromagnetic transients simulation program PSCAD/EMTDC is developed. The model is able to generate firing pulses in linear as well as overmodulation range and is used to study the performance of different SVM strategies in terms of their harmonic spectra and associated converter and harmonic losses. The model is also used to demonstrate the suitability of the method for network applications. The thesis also employs genetic algorithms to find an optimized SVM sequence for improved harmonic performance. An objective function is defined that seeks to minimize the most significant harmonic components of the generated waveform, while keeping the other harmonic components within the acceptable range outlined in the available standards. The obtained sequence shows great improvement over the conventionally-used SVM sequence.