Engineering topics
Chen, Zhe
Publications and source records attributed to Chen, Zhe.
DC Microgrid Reliability Enhancement with Adaptive Converter Thermal Management
Due to the different device selections, aging levels, and thermal dissipation performance, some converters may take additional thermal stress on switching devices than others in paralleled converter systems, which will reduce system reliability. To address this problem, this paper proposes a power-sharing strategy with adaptive thermal management. First, the temperature-based power loss model and electrical-thermal model are established. Based on that, a high-accuracy IGBT junction temperature estimate considering the power loss-temperature coupling can be achieved. Further, the thermal-sharing for all the switching devices in paralleled converters can be achieved with the proposed adaptive thermal management strategy. The proposed strategy can change the power-sharing ratio adaptively according to the system operation conditions, which will contribute to the system reliability enhancement. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified through PLECS thermal simulation and joint real-time simulation with Dspace and RT-box.
Phasor-Domain Modeling of Inverter Based Resources Considering Unbalanced Grid Faults
A significant increase in inverter-based distributed energy resources (DERs) is expected in distribution systems of the near future. The latest phasor modeling approach of DERs with emerging control technologies can capture relevant dynamics in large-scale three-phase distribution systems with unbalanced construction. However, there is a lack of appropriate phasor models to deal with unbalanced fault scenarios. As such, this paper describes per-phase phasor modeling approach appropriate for unbalanced grid disturbance studies in distribution systems with high penetration of DERs. The overall modeling performance of representative DERs is simulated in phasor domain GridLAB-D environment and validated against controller hardware-in-the loop (CHIL) testing or electromagnetic transient (EMT) based switching model simulation in PSCAD with test cases including different unbalanced grid faults. The high accuracy retained from the simulation verifies the effectiveness of the proposed phasor modeling approach considering interactions between positive and negative sequence signals.
Advanced grid-forming (GFM) inverter controls, modeling and system impact study for inverter dominated grids
Our main goals in this project are to understand: 1) the stability of the power system with very high penetration of PV or other inverter-based resources (IBR), 2) the interactions among IBRs and traditional generators, and 3) the impact of the GFM inverters on bulk power system. To achieve these goals, we took a holistic research and development approach. First, an impedance-based large system modeling and stability analysis tool was developed to aid the large IBR system small-signal stability analysis. Second, consensus-based control and transient overload ride through were developed to control and coordinate multiple GFM inverters in a large system to maintain transient stability during big grid events. Third, high fidelity electromagnetic transient (EMT) IBR models were developed and integrated into a large reduced WECC model to study the system impact from IBRs. Lastly, extensive validation tests of the GFM control which was developed in this project and implemented in two 1MW commercial solar inverters were performed using different validation platforms, e.g., control hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) platform, power hardware- in-the-loop (PHIL) platform, and a real PV plant.
Environmentally Friendly Production of High-Quality and Multifunctional Carbon Quantum Dots from Coal
Researchers from the University of Wyoming and the University of Utah worked jointly to study the valorization of coal to carbon quantum dots (CQDs), a value-added product with a broad spectrum of applications. The CQDs were produced by an environmentally facile hydrothermal method, and the experimental factors influencing the properties of CQDs were investigated. We subsequently explored the applications of CQDs as co-sensitizers of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) and photocatalysts of water treatment. As an outlook, techno-economic and environmental analysis studied the feasibility of mass production of CQDs.
Kinetic Modeling Analysis of Ar Addition to Atmospheric Pressure N 2 –H 2 Plasma for Plasma-Assisted Catalytic Synthesis of NH 3
Zero-dimensional kinetic modeling of atmospheric pressure Ar–N 2 –H 2 nonthermal plasma was carried out to gain mechanistic insights into plasma-assisted catalytic synthesis of ammonia. Ar dilution is a common technique for tailoring plasma discharge properties and has been shown to enhance NH 3 formation when added to N 2 –H 2 plasma. The kinetic model was developed for a coaxial dielectric barrier discharge quartz wool-packed bed reactor operating at near room temperature using a kHz-frequency plasma source. With 30% Ar mixed in a 1:1 N 2 –H 2 plasma at 760 Torr, we find that NH 3 production is dominated by Eley–Rideal (E-R) surface reactions, which heavily involve surface NH x species derived from N and H radicals in the gas phase, while the influence of excited N 2 molecules is negligible. This is contrary to the commonly proposed mechanism that excited N 2 molecules created by Penning excitation of N 2 by Ar(4s) and Ar(4p) play a significant role in assisting NH 3 formation. Our model shows that the enhanced NH 3 formation upon Ar dilution is unlikely due to the interactions between Ar and H species, as excited Ar atoms have a weak effect on H radical formation through H 2 dissociation compared to electrons. We find that excited Ar atoms contribute to 28% of the N radical production in the gas phase via N 2 dissociation, while the rest are dominated by electron-impact dissociation. Furthermore, Ar species play a negligible role in the product NH 3 dissociation. N 2 conversion sensitivity analyses were carried out for electron number density (ne) and reduced electric field (E/N), and contributions from Ar to gas-phase N radical production were quantified. Finally, the model can provide guidance on potential reasons for observing enhanced NH 3 formation upon Ar dilution in N 2 –H 2 plasma beyond changes in the discharge characteristics.
Per-phase Phasor Modeling of GFL and GFM Inverters for Distribution System Dynamic Studies
A significant increase in inverter-based distributed energy resources (DERs) is expected in the near future. Existing electromagnetic models and sequential electromechanical models of DERs supporting dynamic analysis cannot be extended to largescale three-phase distribution systems usually with unbalanced construction. As such, there is a need for appropriate industry models that can support distribution system dynamic studies. This paper describes the latest phasor models of grid-following (GFL) and grid-forming (GFM) inverters that can capture distribution system dynamics under grid disturbances. The overall modeling performance is examined and compared with results from other platforms such as controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL), MATLAB/Simulink and PSCAD with electromagnetic transient (EMT) and/or phasor simulation capabilities under balanced and unbalanced faults.
A Stability Analysis Tool for Bulk Power Systems Using Black-Box Models of Inverter-Based Resources
This paper presents a small-signal stability analysis tool for large-scale power systems with high penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs). Firstly, a network transfer function matrix (NTFM), which represents the information of the system topology, transmission lines, loads, IBRs locations, etc., is derived to model the entire power system network. Secondly, small-signal perturbation method is applied to obtain the sequence impedance/admittance models of the block-box IBRs considering the frequency cross-coupling effects. With the obtained NTFM as well as IBR models, a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) feedback system is constructed, and the generalized Nyquist criterion (GNC)-based stability method is employed to analyze the stability of the entire power system. Furthermore, based on the developed stability analysis method, sensitivity analysis is conducted on an unstable case to identify which parameter has a high impact on the system stability. As a result, different test cases based on a modified IEEE 14- bus system as well as a reduced 240-bus WECC system are studied to verify the proposed stability analysis tool.
Structural Tolerance of Zirconium Diboride under Electron Irradiation through in-situ Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy
Zirconium diboride (ZrB 2 ) is a ultra-high temperature ceramic with high melting temperature (>3000 K), super strength and hardness, good thermal conductivity, and excellent resistance to plasma erosion and chemical erosion, being widely applied in hypersonic flight, arc-electrodes, refractory materials, and plasma-facing materials in fusion reactors. Therefore, the structural stability of the material is essential for the applications. Up to now, the material was investigated under neutron irradiation and high-energy ion irradiations. It was reported that the neutron irradiation caused swelling and catastrophic cracking. High-energy ions (30 keV He + ) changed the surface morphology and caused the bright blue and brown colors on ZrB 2 surfaces between 920 K and 1120 K. The electron irradiation tolerance of the material has not been reported yet. Here we used convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to investigate structural tolerances of ZrB 2 crystals under high-energy electrons at room temperature under vacuum. Finally, the investigation would benefit the understanding of its structural tolerance at microscales.
Super-Large-Scale Hierarchically Porous Films Based on Self-Assembled Eye-Like Air Pores for High-Performance Daytime Radiative Cooling
Metal-free polymer daytime radiative cooling coatings with hierarchical eye-like air pores are proposed and fabricated with a super-large-scale film-stretching method. The hierarchically porous film (HPF) can be further coated with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) micro-hemispheres, forming coated HPF (cHPF), which do not dramatically change the optical or thermal properties. The cHPF is slightly better with a lower solar absorptivity (2.4%) and a higher thermal emissivity over the atmospheric transparency window (90.1%). The low solar absorptivity is due to the strong scattering of the hierarchical eye-like air pores, while the molecular vibrations and the focusing effect of the PMMA micro-hemispheres contribute to the high emissivity. Further, an average mid-day temperature reduction of 7.92 °C is achieved relative to the air temperature, and the average cooling power reaches 116.0 W m -2 , which are much better than the cooling performances of the commercial cooling cushion. During the day, the cHPF-covered simulated building is up to 6.47 and 4.84 °C cooler than the ambient and the white painted counterpart, respectively. The film is durable and resistant to chemical etching, and very promising to use globally, especially in warm and tropical regions.
The effects of microstructure on deformation twinning in Mg WE43
The interplay between microstructure and deformation twinning in a WE43-T6 Mg alloy under uniaxial compression was investigated using a combination of scanning electron microscopy with digital image correlation (SEM-DIC) and crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) simulation. To improve understanding of the statistical characteristics of deformation twin formation, microstructural effects were characterized in over 1000 grains through metrics including the nominal Schmid Factor, grain size, geometric compatibility factor (m'), residual Burgers vector, and the strain accommodated by neighboring grains. There was a strong correlation between the nominal Schmid Factor and both twin activation and variant selection, but this was not fully deterministic. Deformation twinning also exhibited a strong dependence on existing slip and twinning in the neighboring grain and on the m' value. Within the range of grain sizes present in this condition, grain size was determined to have minimal effect on deformation twinning. Finally, statistical analysis of CPFE simulations was used to further investigate microstructural effects on twinning, and qualitatively captured the effect of the nominal Schmid Factor.
Provably-Stable Overload Ride-Through Control for Grid-Forming Inverters Using System-Wide Lyapunov Function Analysis
A key challenge associated with a grid-forming (GFM) inverter based resource (IBR) is its behavior during severe grid disturbances: since a GFM inverter regulates voltage in the fast timescale instead of current or power, it may experience a transient overload of current, power and/or energy during a severe grid disturbance. While many promising control strategies for overload ride-through have been proposed over the past two decades, transient stability of the system during and after the transition to an overload ride-through control mode remains difficult to guarantee. In this work, a novel overload ride-through control strategy is proposed for a system of grid-forming inverters that takes both self-protection and system-wide transient stability into account. A proposed system-level supervisory control uses slow communication to pre-emptively assign a set of local ride through control parameters to individual GFM IBR, including a current-limiting virtual reactance, that guarantees that synchronism is still preserved for any set of anticipated grid disturbances. At the core of the supervisory control lies a Lyapunov-function-based routine capable of establishing a strong, albeit conservative, transient stability guarantee for the system. Here, the proposed overload ride-through control strategy is validated via numerical integration of a reduced-order model, as well as through detailed electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulation.
Divergent kinase WNG1 is regulated by phosphorylation of an atypical activation sub-domain
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A Multiagent Deep Reinforcement Learning-Enabled Dual-Branch Damping Controller for Multimode Oscillation
Here, this study develops a multiagent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL)-enabled framework for the decentralized cooperative control of a novel dual-branch (DB) damping controller for both low-frequency oscillation (LFO) and ultralow-frequency oscillation (ULFO). It has two branches, each of which consists of a proportional resonance (PR) and a second-order polynomial that is designed to handle target oscillation modes. To improve the robustness of the controller to system uncertainties, MADRL is developed, where multiagents are centrally trained to obtain the coordinated adaptive control policy while being executed in a decentralized manner to provide the optimal parameter setting for each controller with only local states. Comparisons with the IEEE 10-machine 39-bus system demonstrate that the proposed method achieves better robustness to uncertainties, lower communication delay, and single-point failure, as well as damping control performances for both LFO and ULFO.
Deformation twinning and detwinning in extruded Mg-4Al: In-situ experiment and crystal plasticity simulation
Deformation twinning and detwinning in extruded Mg-4Al were investigated using in-situ SEM-DIC experiments and crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) simulation. In this study, the in-situ SEM-DIC method was used to provide a unique set of data including twin/detwin characteristics and twin area fraction in addition to strain maps. A statistical analysis of the activation of twin variants and twin area fraction during both twinning and detwinning was conducted. A strong correlation was found between twin growth/shrinkage and the Schmid Factor (SF) for individual twin variants Higher twin SF during loading and unloading led to higher twin growth and shrinkage, respectively. However, after the applied compressive strain was removed, the pattern of the twin area fractions of the residual twin variants versus their nominal SFs did not follow the trend observed at the maximum compressive strain. Using a systematic methodology and an advanced twin/detwin model, the PRISMS-Plasticity CPFE simulation was calibrated using experimentally determined stress versus strain and twin area fraction versus strain information. A comprehensive evaluation of the CPFE model was conducted to determine its ability to capture the statistics of twin variants activation and twin area fraction. CPFE accurately captured the statistical aspects of both twinning and detwinning. Finally, it also predicted the first dominant twin variant for 47.5% of the grains and at least one of the two dominant twin variants for 80% of the grains at maximum compressive strain.
Crack Opening Displacement Behavior in Ceramic Matrix Composites
Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC) modeling and life prediction strongly depend on oxidation, and therefore require a thorough understanding of when matrix cracks occur, the extent of cracking for given conditions (time-temperature-environment-stress), and the interactions of matrix cracks with fibers and interfaces. In this work, the evolution of matrix cracks in a melt-infiltrated Silicon Carbide/Silicon Carbide (SiC/SiC) CMC under uniaxial tension was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with digital image correlation (DIC) and manual crack opening displacement (COD) measurements. Strain relaxation due to matrix cracking, the relationship between COD's and applied stress, and damage evolution at stresses below the proportional limit were assessed. Direct experimental observation of strain relaxation adjacent to regions of matrix cracking is presented and discussed. Additionally, crack openings were found to increase linearly with increasing applied stress, and no crack was found to pass fully through the gage cross-section. This observation is discussed in the context of the assumption of through-cracks for all loading conditions and fiber architectures in oxidation modeling. Finally, the combination of SEM with DIC is demonstrated throughout to be a powerful means for damage identification and quantification in CMC's at stresses well below the proportional limit.
InSitu SEM Investigation of Microstructural Damage Evolution and Strain Relaxation in a Melt Infiltrated SiC/SiC Composite
With CMC components poised to complete flight certification in turbine engines on commercial aircraft within the near future, there are many efforts within the aerospace community to model the mechanical and environmental degradation of CMCs. Direct observations of damage evolution are needed to support these modeling efforts and provide quantitative measures of damage parameters used in the various models. This study was performed to characterize the damage evolution during tensile loading of a melt infiltrated (MI) silicon carbide reinforced silicon carbide (SiC/SiC) composite. A SiC/SiC tensile coupon was loaded to a maximum global stress of 30 ksi in a tensile fixture within an SEM while observations were made at 5 ksi increments. Both traditional image analysis and DIC (digital image correlation) were used to quantify damage evolution. With the DIC analysis, microscale damage was observed at the fiber-matrix interfaces at stresses as low as 5 ksi. First matrix cracking took place between 20 and 25 ksi, accompanied by an observable relaxation in strain near matrix cracks. Matrix crack opening measurements at the maximum load ranged from 200 nm to 1.5 m. Crack opening along the fiber-matrix interface was also characterized as a function of load and angular position relative to the loading axis. This characterization was funded by NASA GRC and was performed to support NASA GRC modeling of SiC/SiC environmental degradation