CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / O presente trabalho apresenta o estudo de um conversor CC/CC com dois estÃgios para aplicaÃÃo no desenvolvimento de sistemas autÃnomos de energia elÃtrica. O conversor sob estudo consiste basicamente da associaÃÃo de dois conversores CC/CC, em que entre eles à inserido um banco de baterias para dar continuidade ao fornecimento de energia em perÃodos em que nÃo hà radiaÃÃo solar. Todos os conversores utilizados para a composiÃÃo do sistema sÃo do tipo boost utilizando a cÃlula de comutaÃÃo de trÃs estados (CCTE). O primeiro conversor tem a funÃÃo enviar energia desde os painÃis fotovoltaicos a um banco de baterias de 48 V e permitir a operaÃÃo dos painÃis fotovoltaicos no ponto de mÃxima potÃncia (MPP- Maximum Power Point). O segundo estÃgio à constituÃdo por um conversor de alto ganho de tensÃo, cujo papel à elevar a tensÃo do banco de baterias de 48 V para uma tensÃo de 400 Vcc, formando assim o barramento de saÃda do sistema em tensÃo contÃnua. Para garantir a regulaÃÃo da tensÃo em 400 Vcc, foi implementada a tÃcnica de controle LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator). Para o projeto do controle LQR à utilizado uma metodologia simplificada para a obtenÃÃo de um modelo reduzido do conversor de alto ganho de tensÃo. Para cada estÃgio à apresentado seu estudo teÃrico, anÃlise de perdas e dimensionamento dos componentes para o atendimento das especificaÃÃes de projeto. Para verificar a anÃlise teÃrica foi montado um protÃtipo para cada estÃgio e os resultados experimentais sÃo apresentados neste trabalho. / This work presents a study of a DC/DC converter with two stages for implementation of a stand-alone photovoltaic power system. The converter under study consists of two DC/DC converters, in which between them is inserted a battery bank to give continuity to the energy supply in periods when there isnât solar radiation. All converters used for the composition of the system are of type boost based on the three-state switching cell (TSSC). The first converter has function of to send energy from photovoltaic panels to a battery bank of 48 V formed by four batteries of 12V connected in series, and its function is to allow the photovoltaic panels operation at the maximum power point (MPP). The second stage consists of a converter of high voltage gain, whose role is to raise the 48 V battery bank voltage to 400V DC output bus voltage. To ensure the regulation of voltage at 400 V DC, was implemented the control LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator). To design the controller LQR, a simplified methodology to obtain a model of the high-gain voltage converter is used. For each stage is presented its theoretical study, analysis and the components were designed and specified. To verify the theoretical analysis, was developed a prototype for each stage and the experimental results are presented in this work.

In this thesis, a test system is designed and implemented in order to evaluate the basic electrical performance and determine the parameters of ultracapacitors (UC). The implemented UC test system is based on power electronics converters and it is capable of charging and discharging the UC under test with predetermined current profiles. The charging operation is provided by a configuration involving the AC utility grid, a step-down transformer, a diode bridge, and a DC bus filter capacitor followed by a step-down DC-DC converter. The energy stored in the UC under test, as a result of the charging operation, is discharged to a resistor bank through a step-up DC-DC converter and a DC chopper structure. The charging and discharging current applied to the UC under test is provided by means of current mode control of power electronics converters. The control mechanism of the power electronics converters and the transition operations between the charging and discharging phases of the test system is realized via a microcontroller supported hardware structure. In the scope of the thesis study, a UC module composed of five serially connected UC cells is constructed. Constant current and constant power tests are applied to the constructed UC module. The performance of the implemented UC test system is investigated by means of computer simulations and experimental results. Further, basic electrical behaviour of the constructed UC module is evaluated and the parameters are extracted experimentally.

A company in Linköping has a project where a solar power home system is designed. The plan is that families that lack grid connection in rural areas of Mali and other countries shall use this system for cooking food and powering every day items. Designing a solar home system for West Africa is more difficult than for other parts of the world, mainly because of the climate, with heat and dust particles in the air, but also because the installation location often is unreachable in short notice. This makes for several specific requirements like high ambient temperature, passive cooling, high efficiency and a long mean time between service needed. On top of this, to get the system modular and easy to install, each physical panel should be independent and smart. The system designed is a push pull dc step-up converter that can be assembled to the back of a solar panel. A base platform for the converter is built and a method of power line communication is proposed. Tests show promising results and further development is ongoing.

This thesis deals with the design of a DC/DC converter designed for charging supercapacitors from the 36 V voltage source and consequent back transformation of supercapacitors voltage to the required output voltage. In the thesis the designs of decreasing and increasing DC/DC converters including schematics and calculations of individual components are presented and described. The calculations necessary for the supercapacitors to meet the 10Wh energy condition and the voltage balancer on the capacitors are given below. Completely designed equipment will be assembled and tested on supercapacitors with lower energy.

In sustainable energy systems those using fuel cells, high step-up gain converters are widely used to increase the output voltage to levels that can be used by other converters, such as inverters for grid connection or powering other AC loads. In order to obtain a higher voltage gain, in comparison to a traditional boost converter, often different topologies techniques are involved. In this project a new topology is studied, cascading to half bridges, each working similar to a boost converter but with magnetic coupled inductors in-between.    The converter design is modeled in PLECS Blockset and MATLAB Simulink to simulate and evaluate the performance with proper design procedure. The results showed that a high step-up gain was achieved, and the gain could easily be adjusted by changing the duty cycle and/or the coupling factor. The converter design showed similarities and differences to a traditional boost converter. The coupled inductor has its advantage reducing the fuel cell current ripple with the effect of the duty cycle.

Un des défis majeurs de l’Internet des Objets et, plus généralement, des tous les réseaux de capteurs sans fils, c’est l’alimentation de chaque nœud connecté. La solution la plus commune est d’équiper chaque dispositif d’une batterie mais cela introduit plusieurs contraintes, qui mettent en question la faisabilité de cette approche sur le long terme (durée de vie limité, couts de gestion élevé, empreinte écologique).Cette thèse développe une possible solution basée sur la transmission sans-fils de l’énergie. Un récupérateur d’énergie RF, composé d’une antenne, un redresseur haute-fréquence et un convertisseur élévateur, est présenté. Ce système permet de récupérer les ondes électromagnétiques et de produire une tension continue en sortie, qui peut être utilisé pour alimenter des microcontrôleurs ou des capteurs. L’absence d’une batterie interne augmente la flexibilité globale, surtout pour les situations où le remplacement n’est pas possible (ex. dispositifs implantés, nombre élevé de nœuds, milieux dangereux). Une étude approfondie sur les redresseur intégrés ultra-haute-fréquence de type Schottky et MOS a été mené ; plusieurs topologies ont été analysées et optimisées. De plus, l’utilisation d’un convertisseur élévateur a été envisagée, dans le but d’accroitre la tension en sortie ; une première version discrète et puis une plus compacte version intégrée, ont été abordées et testées. Ces développements ont permis d’aboutir à un récupérateur complet, potentiellement capable d’alimenter un microcontrôleur du commerce. / One of the challenges of the Internet of Things and, more in general, of every wireless sensor network is to provide electrical power to every single one of its smart nodes. A typical solution uses batteries but various major concerns reduce the long-term feasibility of this approach (limited lifetime, maintenance and replacement costs, and environmental footprint).This thesis develops a possible solution based on the wireless transmission of power. A complete RF harvester composed of an antenna, a UHF rectifier and a step-up voltage converter is presented. This system captures electromagnetic waves and converts them to a stable DC voltage to supply power to common logic circuits like microcontrollers and sensors. The lack of an internal battery provides an extended flexibility, especially when its replacement is not a viable option (ex. implanted devices, large number of nodes, dangerous environments, etc.). An in-depth study of integrated Schottky and CMOS UHF rectifiers is carried out; various topologies and optimizations are analyzed. Moreover, the use of an additional step-up converter is proposed in order to increase the system output voltage; an early discrete implementation and a final, more compact, integrated version are discussed and tested. These developments lead to a complete system capable of potentially powering an application with an off-the-shelf microcontroller.

La tesi analizza il significato dell'abitazione nella società contemporanea, dove il processo di individualizzazione e la crescente importanza dell'esperienza quotidiana come spazio in cui i soggetti costruiscono il senso del loro agire, rendono la casa un oggetto di studio privilegiato. La trattazione si apre con un'analisi dell'abitare che prende in considerazione i principali significati legati alla casa, riconducibili essenzialmente alle due sfere semantiche dei termini inglesi house e home, e traccia una breve storia dello spazio domestico italiano dagli anni cinquanta fino ai giorni nostri. Successivamente, l'analisi viene contestualizzata nella cultura italiana contemporanea; innanzitutto, l'attenzione è puntata sulla house, con la descrizione del quadro abitativo attuale da un punto di vista quantitativo e strutturale. Poi, ci si sofferma sulla home, con l'analisi della relazione tra la casa, i bisogni e la cultura nella società contemporanea e, in particolare, viene approfondito il ruolo dell'abitazione come strumento di comunicazione dell'identità. Dopo questo inquadramento generale, il focus si sposta sulle giovani coppie: con riferimento ai risultati della ricerca empirica, vengono descritte le tappe del processo del “metter su casa” e il modo in cui oggi si caratterizza il rapporto tra le giovani coppie e l'abitazione. / The thesis analyses the meaning of the couple house/home in contemporary society. The actual social context is characterized by a process of individualization and by the increasing importance of daily experience as a space where individuals try to build the meaning of their behaviour: these elements make house/home an interesting subject of study. The thesis starts with an analysis of inhabiting and of its main meanings, which are essentially linked to the two semantic areas of house and home, and describes a short history of Italian domestic space from fifties to our days. Then, the analysis focuses on contemporary Italian culture; first, the reasoning points attention towards the house, with the description of the actual dwelling situation from a quantitative and structural point of view. Then, the treatment examines the home, with the analysis of home-needs-culture relation, and, in particular, analyses the home role as an identity communication tool. After the analysis of the general situation, the focus moves to young couples: with reference to the empiric research, the treatment describes the steps of the “step up house” process and the particular relation between young couples and their home.

This diploma thesis deals with the design of a partially integrated charge pump in 0.25 micron technology ACMOS. The work is divided into two main parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical section describes in detail various topologies of higher voltage generation of a charge pump and selected methods of regulating the output voltage of charge pumps. The practical part deals with the the actual design of a charge pump together with the arguments for the choice of the TPVD topology and the type of the regulation. Three regulation methods of a charge pump were implemented, tested and are dealt with: Pulse Skip, Constant frequency and PWM. There are 3 sub chapters, each describing a different regulation method, defining all the key elements of the design of such a charge pump and the results of the simulations are discussed. Conclusion of the thesis summarizes the results of the design of charge pumps, comparing them on the basis of the chosen type of output voltage regulation.

Hydropower is the most important power balancing resource in the Swedish electrical power system, regulating the power supply to match the load. Consequently, several hydropower plants have periods of stand-by operation where the power production is absent but where several devices within a plant are still active. Such a device is the step-up power transformer, which during stand-by operation still generates no-load energy losses. These losses can accumulate to a considerable amount of energy and costs during the long technical lifetime of the apparatus. One option to minimize these no-load energy losses is by turning the transformer off when its generating unit is in stand-by operation. However, when this transformer operational change has been explained to experts in the field, the most common response has been that a more frequent reenergizing of a transformer leads to higher risks for errors or transformer breakdowns. This study aimed to analytically investigate three effects from this operational change. First, the potential of fatigue failure for the windings due to the increased sequences of inrush current. Secondly, the thermal cycling as a consequence of change in present losses. Lastly, the energy and economic saving potentials for hydropower plants where this operational adjustment is applied. The study used both established as well as analytical tools explicitly created for this study. These were then applied on currently active transformers in different plant categories in Fortum’s hydropower fleet.  The study primarily showed three things. Firstly, risk of fatigue failure due to the increased presence of inrush currents did not affect the transformer’s technical lifetime. Secondly, the thermal cycling changes were slightly larger with absent no-load losses during stand-by operation. The average temperature for the transformer decreased, which in general is seen as a positive indicator for a longer insulation lifetime and thus the transformer’s technical lifetime. Finally, the created frameworks showed the potential of saving energy and money for all plant categories, where the potential grew with the installed production capacity and the stand-by operation timeshare. Despite the simplifications made to describe the complex reality of a transformer operating in a hydropower plant, this thesis contributes to lay a foundation for future investigation of an easy adjustment to avoid unnecessary energy losses and costs for transformers in hydropower plants.

This master´s thesis is directed to an research of thermoelectric cells as power sources. It is discoursing about general properities of thermoelectric cells and their using at practical aplications in the first part. Then a heating and cooling system is designed and made for a selected type of thermoelectric cell which represents the emergency back-up power source. In the next part a DC/DC step-up converter is designed for a selected type of thermoelectric cell. This converter generates the DC load voltage 12V. The converter is controlled by PWM with a carrier frequency 50kHz.