No load diesel application in remote power systems. No load diesel application in remote power systems. This project aims to investigate and optimise no-load diesel application within remote area renewable hybrid power systems. While hundreds of remote Australian communities rely on expensive diesel for power generation, this project intends to increase penetration of alternative renewable sources into remote and isolated power systems. Using dual thermodynamic and electrical modelling, this pro ....No load diesel application in remote power systems. No load diesel application in remote power systems. This project aims to investigate and optimise no-load diesel application within remote area renewable hybrid power systems. While hundreds of remote Australian communities rely on expensive diesel for power generation, this project intends to increase penetration of alternative renewable sources into remote and isolated power systems. Using dual thermodynamic and electrical modelling, this project will investigate low to no-load diesel threshold capability, reducing diesel consumption at minimal costs. The project is expected to return immediate benefits to remote mining, defence and tourism based communities, providing a pathway to reduced diesel usage and increased renewable penetration.Read moreRead less
Integration of Solar, Wind and Storage Systems into Distribution Grids for Network Support. This project will contribute to the development and utilisation of renewable energy technologies for a sustainable future and facilitate their integration into electricity grids for network support. Innovative methodologies and technologies will be developed to reduce network problems associated with the integration of a large number of small-scale renewable energy resources into distribution grids. This ....Integration of Solar, Wind and Storage Systems into Distribution Grids for Network Support. This project will contribute to the development and utilisation of renewable energy technologies for a sustainable future and facilitate their integration into electricity grids for network support. Innovative methodologies and technologies will be developed to reduce network problems associated with the integration of a large number of small-scale renewable energy resources into distribution grids. This project will also develop assessment tools to examine the impact of renewable energy penetration on power quality aspects, network stability and protection performance. This research will provide remedies for potential problems introduced by their integration and improve voltage support in the electricity networks. Read moreRead less
Integration of large capacity Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage with Active Power Filter switching technology to achieve a complete power quality device. The aim of this project is to integrate large capacity SMES with Active Power Filter (APF) switching technology to achieve a complete power quality control device.
The expected outcomes of the research are 1) An SMES design suitable for APF integration, 2) Development and implementation of lossless energy switching technologies, 3) D ....Integration of large capacity Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage with Active Power Filter switching technology to achieve a complete power quality device. The aim of this project is to integrate large capacity SMES with Active Power Filter (APF) switching technology to achieve a complete power quality control device.
The expected outcomes of the research are 1) An SMES design suitable for APF integration, 2) Development and implementation of lossless energy switching technologies, 3) Development of suitable APF switching algorithms, 4) An integrated design with competitive commercial analysis, and 5) A fully characterised prototype.
This project is innovative as the marriage of large capacity SMES with APF switching technology is essentially absent from the literature, and so there are high expectations for innovative applications and methodologies of fabrication.
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CONTROL AND INTERFACING OF GRID-CONNECTED IGBT INVERTERS FOR SMALL-SCALE WIND GENERATORS. The project aims to investigate methods for extracting and converting intermittent energy from variable speed wind generators and supplying to electricity grids. Low cost power conditioning units for integrating small-scale wind generators will be designed, developed and commercialised. It is expected that this project will lead to a systematic design procedure for grid connected inverter technology using ....CONTROL AND INTERFACING OF GRID-CONNECTED IGBT INVERTERS FOR SMALL-SCALE WIND GENERATORS. The project aims to investigate methods for extracting and converting intermittent energy from variable speed wind generators and supplying to electricity grids. Low cost power conditioning units for integrating small-scale wind generators will be designed, developed and commercialised. It is expected that this project will lead to a systematic design procedure for grid connected inverter technology using a novel current control technique, and extraction of more energy from small scale wind turbines especially at low wind speeds. Successful commercialisation will result in significant reduction in cost resulting wider application of wind turbines, substantial economic benefit to the commercial partners as well as Australian communities in rural areas.Read moreRead less
High Efficient and Reliable Power Converters with Low Electromagnetic Interference Based on an Intelligent Distributed Control System in Train Systems. A large percentage of the old train systems in Australia have old equipment which decreases the efficiency and reliability of the system and they can be replaced by high power smart converters with minimum losses and electromagnetic interference. This project aims to improve the efficiency of train systems by intelligent distributed control syste ....High Efficient and Reliable Power Converters with Low Electromagnetic Interference Based on an Intelligent Distributed Control System in Train Systems. A large percentage of the old train systems in Australia have old equipment which decreases the efficiency and reliability of the system and they can be replaced by high power smart converters with minimum losses and electromagnetic interference. This project aims to improve the efficiency of train systems by intelligent distributed control systems which reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The outcomes can be applied to other transport systems in Australia. Another benefit is the production of a PhD graduand with significant experience in the use of smart power converters to improve efficiency of all types of transport systems. Read moreRead less
Networked control for distributed renewable energy systems integration. The project aims to develop novel networked and coordinated control methods that greatly increase the capacity of the existing Australian power networks to host growing amounts of roof-top photovoltaic (PV) generation and customer load. These methods reduce the current need for high levels of continuing capital investments by optimally managing the existing network assets to fully exploit the inherent capabilities of PV inve ....Networked control for distributed renewable energy systems integration. The project aims to develop novel networked and coordinated control methods that greatly increase the capacity of the existing Australian power networks to host growing amounts of roof-top photovoltaic (PV) generation and customer load. These methods reduce the current need for high levels of continuing capital investments by optimally managing the existing network assets to fully exploit the inherent capabilities of PV inverters and new distributed battery storages that are now appearing at the domestic and network level. The project plans to combine robust networked control with stochastic optimisation methods to extract the best value from existing and new assets, while improving the load and generation hosting capability, for a given level of reliability.Read moreRead less
Beamforming with acoustic vector sensors for audio user interfaces. We aim to create new Audio User Interfaces (AUIs) for the automatic separation and annotation of audio from complex sound scenes using acoustic vector sensor beamforming technology. Specifically, we will develop: speech AUIs for noisy, multi-talker, reverberant environments; and sound transcription AUIs for the deaf. Ultimately, users will be able to walk into a room, hold conversations and leave with a searchable, automatically ....Beamforming with acoustic vector sensors for audio user interfaces. We aim to create new Audio User Interfaces (AUIs) for the automatic separation and annotation of audio from complex sound scenes using acoustic vector sensor beamforming technology. Specifically, we will develop: speech AUIs for noisy, multi-talker, reverberant environments; and sound transcription AUIs for the deaf. Ultimately, users will be able to walk into a room, hold conversations and leave with a searchable, automatically-generated transcript of the audio events, tagged with metadata. The application of these technologies will create new possibilities for recording audio in the music, radio, TV industries, and future home based audio communication systems.Read moreRead less
High power density, low cogging torque and low-cost micro-scale wind turbine generator system utilising soft magnetic composite materials. This project will develop a low-cost, high-performance and high-ef?ciency micro-scale wind turbine generator using a new magnetic material consisting of iron powder, which can be easily pressed into any desirable shape. This allows considerably simpli?ed manufacturing, greater design ?exibility and ease of scaling to higher output powers.
Encoding and Communicating Navigable Soundfields. While sound recording is commonplace, it is not currently practical to completely record a sound space such that the experience can be reproduced at a chosen 'listening point'. This is a significant restriction for audio applications in the entertainment, surveillance and virtual/mixed reality areas. The project will research novel and practical solutions to this problem and offers a significant conceptual advance in the transmission of complex a ....Encoding and Communicating Navigable Soundfields. While sound recording is commonplace, it is not currently practical to completely record a sound space such that the experience can be reproduced at a chosen 'listening point'. This is a significant restriction for audio applications in the entertainment, surveillance and virtual/mixed reality areas. The project will research novel and practical solutions to this problem and offers a significant conceptual advance in the transmission of complex audio scenes. This project will build fundamental new technology and IP for Australia in the digital media and audio space, one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy.Read moreRead less
Future Distribution Grids based on Reconfigurable Smart Microgrid Clusters. This aims of the project are to develop innovative paradigm shifting concepts in which power distributions grids will be self sufficient to look after themselves in the absence of power transmission infrastructure. It is expected that in future several renewable energy based distributed generators (DGs) will be dotted in power distribution systems. It is estimated that within another couple of decades sufficient number o ....Future Distribution Grids based on Reconfigurable Smart Microgrid Clusters. This aims of the project are to develop innovative paradigm shifting concepts in which power distributions grids will be self sufficient to look after themselves in the absence of power transmission infrastructure. It is expected that in future several renewable energy based distributed generators (DGs) will be dotted in power distribution systems. It is estimated that within another couple of decades sufficient number of DGs will be placed in networks so much so that they will be able to meet the load demand of domestic and commercial customers. Therefore the focus of this project is to find innovative approaches in which several microgrids, equipped with single-phase and three-phase DGs can work cohesively while supporting each other.Read moreRead less