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In March 2020, I was on a trip to Maryland. That was when the "big shut down" was gaining momentum. When my wife and I stopped at a rest area, I could not resist taking this image of an official Maryland welcome center reflecting the mixed messages common to that early phase of the COVID response. As March 2021 comes to a close, there are no mixed messages at EPIC. We are OPEN for business! I am proud of the performance of the EPIC staff throughout the pandemic. The business of our research clients never stopped due to the hard work of folks like Jim Gafford, EPIC assistant director for Special Projects, and his staff. And that of Christina, Julia, Lori, Marion, Robin, and Shannon of the EPIC administrative staff. "Thanks to the latter, and our student workers Asrita and Shail, the EPIC administrative offices are back open five days a week. Stop by if you have a minute to let us welcome you back to our campus!"
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Peak Demand discusses Carbon Reduction | |
Each Peak Demand episode treats listeners to an in-depth conversation with energy experts, students, and UNC Charlotte faculty about policies, technologies, and trends in energy. Check it out at peak-demand.com or look for us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.
Latest episode
The Zephyr Song: Hot of the Press - the NC Carbon Reduction Policy Study
EPIC talks with Kate Konschnik and Jennifer Weiss from the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University on the just-published NC Carbon Reduction Policy Study
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On February 18, Brian Maragno, vice president of Large Generator Product Line (and EPIC External Advisory Board member), and Dr. Shadab Siddiqui, engineering manager, both with Siemens Energy Charlotte Hub, toured EPIC. They were briefed on the Advanced Manufacturing research taking place within EPIC and Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Sciences. During the tour of the Siemens Energy Large Energy Manufacturing Laboratory in the Albert & Freeman EPIC building, Dr. Tarbutton's student's briefed the visitors on automatically extracting and monitoring machine dynamics as part of a larger effort to increase manufacturing productivity when going from "Art to Part." | |
Rafi Marandi, a Ph.D. student, is demonstrating his work on making machine tools self-aware. | | |
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The CAPER 2021 Spring Meeting took place on March 25th-26th, covering the topic of Data Analytics for Utility Applications. The meeting provided compelling participation from industry, faculty, and students, including guest speakers from the Department of Energy/SETO, Amazon, PNNL, SAS, ElectriCities, and Murano. We wish to thank Dr. Mesut Baran, CAPER Center Co-Director at N.C. State University, for hosting this virtual meeting. We also wish to thank our industry members, faculty, and students for their participation.
2021 Research Proposal Solicitation
CAPER's annual proposal solicitation distributed in January 2021 produced seven submissions presented to the Industry Advisory Board on March 26th. Upon consideration, the IAB will provide their recommendation to CAPER's Steering Committee for potential project funding.
To learn more about CAPER, visit caper-usa.com.
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The 2021 Transatlantic Energy Research Experience (TE-REx), EPIC’s student research exchange program with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, will happen in an updated format due to the pandemic. This year the exchange will be part virtual and part in-person (as safety measures and travel allow). Five students from each institution will work on energy-related research projects and be mentored by both institutions' faculty. The research topics are:
- Energy-Based Modeling and Plug-and-Play Control of Microgrids
- Optimal Heat Flux Distribution on the Surface of Molten Salt Receivers in Solar Tower Power Plants
- Scenario Tree Approximation for Renewable Power Sources using Linear Autoregressive Modelling
- Investigation of novel control schemes for grid-supporting power converters
- DataFEE - Data mining, machine learning, feedback, and feedforward - Energy efficiency through user-centered building systems
- Evaluation of Synchronous Condenser capabilities
- Planning an Affordable, Resilient, and Sustainable Grid in North Carolina
- Demand-side management of grid-connected residential PV systems
- Arc Fault Detection using Artificial Intelligence
- Impacts of Integrating Residential Solar Energy on Utility Costs and Prices: A Tale of Two Countries
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QM Power
EPIC research staff have developed a novel high power induction motor starter concept. Construction of a hardware prototype is underway to validate the modeled performance of this system. The design provides for multi-speed motor start/control with a minimal number of active devices. If successful, this circuit topology will be cost-competitive with conventional motor starters while expanding operating envelopes and improving efficiency.
ORNL
A collaborative effort between research staff and graduate research assistants is constructing a high power density 1000 VDC -480 VAC grid-tied inverter for the Oak Ridge National Labs Intelligent Power Systems Concept. This effort led by Dr. Babak Parkideh will demonstrate the capabilities of hierarchical control for power conditioning systems. The design incorporates advanced sensing capabilities enabling real-time prognostic assessment of performance from the device to the system level. These capabilities promise to improve operational reliability and resiliency for advanced power electronic systems. A hardware development milestone was recently surpassed with the first successful test of integrated power semiconductor devices at rated voltage and current.
Photo: Electro-Mechanical Engineering Specialist Andrew LeClair and Graduate Research Assistant Chondon Roy prepare the IPS inverter prototype for double pulse inductive load testing at high voltage in the EPIC Flexible Power Systems Laboratory
Hyperion
EPIC continues to support the development of high-reliability mobile micro-grids with Hyperion Technologies Group. A prototype high power density inverter has been successfully demonstrated. The iterative design process is delivering an increased technology readiness of hardware and software for this challenging application. Significant focus in controls development targets multi-role capabilities such automated mode detection for stand-alone, UPS, anti-islanding, etc. operation requiring no user interaction.
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Electro-Mechanical Engineering Specialist Andrew LeClair and Graduate Research Assistant Chondon Roy prepare the IPS inverter prototype for double pulse inductive load testing at high voltage in the EPIC Flexible Power Systems Laboratory. | | |
EPIC Research Associate joins industry partner | If you have visited the Flexible Energy Laboratory at EPIC in the past four years, you very likely have met Alex McKay, an EPIC Research Associate. A native of NC, Alex came to UNC Charlotte as a graduate student in Electrical Engineering, and from the beginning, he has been interested in more than just coursework. He has been instrumental in the Flex Lab in developing the lab’s capabilities. Always eager to learn and contribute, Alex created and helped perform experiments on a high-power inverter for automotive applications to support a research paper. He took on greater responsibilities in the lab and led the assembly of EPIC’s 1 MVA rated grid simulator. He also contributed to the development of Flex Lab’s real-time hardware-in-the-loop capabilities. He led the efforts to integrate various EPIC labs, which enhanced the scalability of the EPIC’s research. It is safe to say that Alex’s contributions have been crucial to the success of several federal, state, and industry sponsored activities in the center. Upon his graduation with his Masters degree, Alex has accepted a position as an Engineer at QM Power, a key industry partner of EPIC. We congratulate Alex on his new position and wish him the best in his career. | |
William Alexander McKay (right) and Somasundaram Essakiappan (left) working on a high-power inverter experiment in the Flexible Energy Laboratory | | |
Resilient Communities workshop | |
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is hosting a two-day virtual workshop to discuss how solar energy and distributed energy resources (DERs) can make communities more resilient.
The workshop will be held on April 7-8, 2021, from 12 to 5 p.m. ET each day, and will include presentations and breakout sessions with guests from the DOE Office of Electricity, Sandia National Laboratories, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Electric Power Research Institute, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Arizona State University, UNC Charlotte (EPIC's Dr. Bardrul Chowdhury), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Learn more about the workshop and register for Day 1: Defining and Valuing Resilience and Day 2: Planning and Working Together Towards Resilience. Registrations for this workshop are limited in number, and spots will be assigned on a first-come basis in the following sectors:
- Local government and community leaders
- Utilities
- Regulators
- Market innovators
- DER developers (photovoltaics, energy storage, electric vehicles, buildings)
- Non-governmental organizations
- Resilient system designers (system integration, communication, software, etc.)
Interested participants can reach out to solar@ee.doe.gov for more information.
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Mr. Jeff Hawkins has been appointed the Technical Advisor for Advanced Nuclear Construction in EPIC. Hawkins has more than 40 years of domestic and international experience in all aspects of project management in the nuclear industry and deep expertise in multi-billion dollar project execution, risk management, schedule mitigation techniques, project forecasting, systems planning, and turnover, as well as various nuclear industry technologies. Jeff brings a professional lifetime of industry know-how to the university research team at EPIC that will guide the development of a first-of-its-kind digital twin for advanced nuclear construction. | |
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About EPIC: The Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) at UNC Charlotte serves as a state-of-the-art research center that provides education and applied research opportunities to students with energy-related interests. Our industry-education partnerships unite students, faculty, and industrial partners to collaborate on interdisciplinary research and learning. | | | | |
