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At least 271 records · Page 15

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1993

Mixed voltage VLSI design

A technique for minimizing the power dissipated in a Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) chip by lowering the operating voltage without any significant penalty in the chip throughput even though low voltage operation results in slower circuits. Since the overall throughput of a VLSI chip depends on the speed of the critical path(s) in the chip, it may be possible to sustain the throughput rates attained at higher voltages by operating the circuits in the critical path(s) with a high voltage while operating the other circuits with a lower voltage to minimize the power dissipation. The interface between the gates which operate at different voltages is crucial for low power dissipation since the interface may possibly have high static current dissipation thus negating the gains of the low voltage operation. The design of a voltage level translator which does the interface between the low voltage and high voltage circuits without any significant static dissipation is presented. Then, the results of the mixed voltage design using a greedy algorithm on three chips for various operating voltages are presented.

Panwar, Ramesh↗

NASA NTRS1979

Voltage-current-power meter for photovoltaic solar arrays

A meter is disclosed for measuring the voltage, current, and power (VIP) parameters of a photovoltaic solar array, or array module, under sunlight operating conditions utilizing a variable load connected across the array and controlled by a voltage regulator which responds to the difference between the output voltage of the array and a programmed test voltage from a source which generates a single ramp voltage for measuring and recording current as a function of voltage, repeated ramp voltages at a high rate for peak output measurements or a DC voltage for VIP measurements at selected points on the I-V characteristic curve of the array. The voltage signal from a current sensing element, such as a shunt resistor in series with the variable load, is compared with the output current of a reference solar cell to provide a normalizing signal to be added to the signal from the current-sensing element in order to provide a record of array current as a function of array voltage, i.e., for all load conditions from short circuit to open circuit. As the normalized current is thus measured, an analog multiplier multiplies the array voltage and normalized current to provide a measurement of power. Switches are provided to selectively connect the power, P, current, I, or voltage, V, to a meter, directly or through a peak detector. At the same time any one of the parameters V, I and P may be recorded as a function of any other parameter.

Ross, Ronald G.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Predictive Coordinated and Cooperative Voltage Control for Systems With High Penetration of PV

In this paper, we propose a predictive coordinated and cooperative voltage control method in a power distribution system with high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) units. First, an integrated coordinated voltage control of voltage regulators (VRs) tap positions and cooperative distributed control of the reactive power output from PV inverters are used to maintain system voltages within an appropriate bandwidth. Next, solar power forecasting is applied to predict voltage changes, which are used to set the VR tap positions and capacitor switch status to prevent large voltage fluctuations. The fine tuning of voltage adjustment is then achieved by cooperative control of PV inverters to maintain a uniform voltage profile across the system. The proposed method is tested on a modified IEEE 123-node test feeder with high penetration of PVs using real measurement data and compared with the base case. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated voltage control, as well as the enhancement from the predictive control through solar power forecasting-enabled voltage change estimates. Comparison to previous work in the literature shows significant improvement in terms of voltage deviation and reduction in excessive tap changes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Correlating armature and needle dynamics with voltage waveforms of solenoid-actuated GDI injector

The injector voltage hump that appears near the needle closing has been used for the real-time monitoring and feedback control of fuel injection duration in modern engines. This voltage hump has been thought to result from the abrupt change in electromagnetic induction by the stoppage of needle motion but detailed electromagnetic processes and associated armature and needle dynamics during the needle closing have not been thoroughly investigated in a wide range of injection conditions, which knowledge is crucial for the delicate control of fuel injection based on the voltage hump. Here, the current study analyzes the transient armature and needle dynamics of a solenoid-actuated gasoline direct injection injector using an X-ray phase-contrast imaging technique. Then, the results are correlated with voltage waveforms during the needle closing transient under various injection pressures, injection pulse durations, and dwell times of split injections. The time derivatives of voltage waveforms showed lower and upper peaks in order in the regime of the voltage hump. Inconsistent with conventional understandings, the lower peak timing of the voltage derivative did not match with the timing of needle closing (end of injection) but rather matched with the abrupt descent timing of the armature and needle. The inflection timing and upper peak timing of the voltage derivative matched with the timings of actual needle closing and armature closing respectively. The amplitude of the voltage hump was near linearly dependent on the needle closing speed. The needle closing speed decreased upon the decrease of injection pulse duration and injection pressure which made it difficult to detect the voltage humps in ballistic injection regimes and low injection pressures. In split injection conditions, the voltage hump of the first injection was not detectable if the dwell time was shorter than the needle closing delay, the time from the current cut-off to the actual needle closing.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2011

Rad-Hard, Miniaturized, Scalable, High-Voltage Switching Module for Power Applications Rad-Hard, Miniaturized

A paper discusses the successful development of a miniaturized radiation hardened high-voltage switching module operating at 2.5 kV suitable for space application. The high-voltage architecture was designed, fabricated, and tested using a commercial process that uses a unique combination of 0.25 micrometer CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) transistors and high-voltage lateral DMOS (diffusion metal oxide semiconductor) device with high breakdown voltage (greater than 650 V). The high-voltage requirements are achieved by stacking a number of DMOS devices within one module, while two modules can be placed in series to achieve higher voltages. Besides the high-voltage requirements, a second generation prototype is currently being developed to provide improved switching capabilities (rise time and fall time for full range of target voltages and currents), the ability to scale the output voltage to a desired value with good accuracy (few percent) up to 10 kV, to cover a wide range of high-voltage applications. In addition, to ensure miniaturization, long life, and high reliability, the assemblies will require intensive high-voltage electrostatic modeling (optimized E-field distribution throughout the module) to complete the proposed packaging approach and test the applicability of using advanced materials in a space-like environment (temperature and pressure) to help prevent potential arcing and corona due to high field regions. Finally, a single-event effect evaluation would have to be performed and single-event mitigation methods implemented at the design and system level or developed to ensure complete radiation hardness of the module.

Adell, Philippe C.↗

DOE OSTI2012

Device for monitoring cell voltage

A device for monitoring a rechargeable battery having a number of electrically connected cells includes at least one current interruption switch for interrupting current flowing through at least one associated cell and a plurality of monitoring units for detecting cell voltage. Each monitoring unit is associated with a single cell and includes a reference voltage unit for producing a defined reference threshold voltage and a voltage comparison unit for comparing the reference threshold voltage with a partial cell voltage of the associated cell. The reference voltage unit is electrically supplied from the cell voltage of the associated cell. The voltage comparison unit is coupled to the at least one current interruption switch for interrupting the current of at least the current flowing through the associated cell, with a defined minimum difference between the reference threshold voltage and the partial cell voltage.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2014

Methods, systems and apparatus for controlling third harmonic voltage when operating a multi-space machine in an overmodulation region

Methods, system and apparatus are provided for controlling third harmonic voltages when operating a multi-phase machine in an overmodulation region. The multi-phase machine can be, for example, a five-phase machine in a vector controlled motor drive system that includes a five-phase PWM controlled inverter module that drives the five-phase machine. Techniques for overmodulating a reference voltage vector are provided. For example, when the reference voltage vector is determined to be within the overmodulation region, an angle of the reference voltage vector can be modified to generate a reference voltage overmodulation control angle, and a magnitude of the reference voltage vector can be modified, based on the reference voltage overmodulation control angle, to generate a modified magnitude of the reference voltage vector. By modifying the reference voltage vector, voltage command signals that control a five-phase inverter module can be optimized to increase output voltages generated by the five-phase inverter module.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2019

Electrified vehicle power conversion for low voltage bus

An electrified vehicle high voltage battery pack has series-connected battery units or cells combining to provide the high voltage. To power a low voltage bus (e.g., for low voltage accessories or charging a low voltage battery) in a balanced manner, a plurality of DC/DC converters each has an input coupled to a respective battery unit and the converters have respective outputs coupled in parallel to the low voltage bus. A first loop controller receives an actual bus voltage. The first controller generates a target current in response to the bus voltage adapted to regulate the actual bus voltage to a target voltage less than the high voltage. A second controller distributes the target current into a plurality of allocated current commands for respective converters according to respective states of charge of the battery units connected to the converters.

Hand, III, Michael J.↗

DOE OSTI2022

An Information Theoretic Approach to Identify Dominant Voltage Influencers for Unbalanced Distribution Systems

Smart distribution grid with multiple renewable energy sources can experience random voltage fluctuations due to variable generation, which may result in voltage violations. Traditional voltage control algorithms are inadequate to handle fast voltage variations. Therefore, new dynamic control methods are being developed that can significantly benefit from the knowledge of dominant voltage influencer (DVI) nodes. DVI nodes for a particular node of interest refer to nodes that have a relatively high impact on the voltage fluctuations at that node. Conventional power flow-based algorithms to identify DVI nodes are computationally complex, which limits their use in real-time applications. This paper proposes a novel information theoretic voltage influencing score (VIS) that quantifies the voltage influencing capacity of nodes with DERs/active loads in a three phase unbalanced distribution system. VIS is then employed to rank the nodes and identify the DVI set. VIS is derived analytically in a computationally efficient manner and its efficacy to identify DVI nodes is validated using the IEEE 37-node test system. It is shown through experiments that KL divergence and Bhattacharyya distance are effective indicators of DVI nodes with an identifying accuracy of more than 90%. Additionally, the computation burden is also reduced by an order of 5, thus providing the foundation for efficient voltage control.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2018

An Active Modulation Scheme to Boost Voltage Utilisation of the Dual Converter with a Floating Bridge

This paper proposes a capacitor voltage regulation method for the dual converter with a floating bridge for aerospace applications. This topology has previously been reported, but with a constrained voltage utilisation factor due to the need for capacitor voltage regulations. The effect of switching states on the voltage variation of capacitor is quantitatively modelled and an enhanced space vector modulation scheme with current feedback is proposed to achieve an active control of the floating capacitor voltages. This proposed method also allows further exploitation and utilisation of converter voltage. The relationship between the allowed modulation index of dual converter and load power factor is obtained and expressed using a fitted polynomial equation. The advantages of the proposed method include boosted voltage utilisation and superior performance in term of capacitor voltage balance. These advantages have been proven through simulation and experimental results on RL loads as well as with an open-end winding induction motor. The proposed modulation scheme can boost the converter voltage utilisation by at least 10% while achieving full four-level operation. More importantly, the higher available voltage allows extending the constant torque region of the motor, the further beginning of field weakening operation could be postponed.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2015

Effects of discharge voltage waveform on the discharge characteristics in a helium atmospheric plasma jet

We present here an analysis of the discharge characteristics of a He plasma jet operating under three different types of applied voltage waveform: (a) a μs-pulse voltage waveform with a slow voltage rise time, (b) ns-pulse, and (c) rectangular voltage waveforms with fast voltage rise time. Optical emission measurements show that the application of a voltage with a fast voltage rise time induces rapid discharge growth and, consequently, produces an abundance of energetic electrons, which in turn leads to high optical emission from the O atoms. We also estimate the optical emission efficiency of the O atom (η{sub o}), which corresponds roughly to the production efficiency of the reactive O species. η{sub o} increases with increasing applied voltage, and the highest value of η{sub o} is obtained in the shortest pulse discharge, which was ignited by a ns-pulse voltage waveform with a fast voltage rise time and short pulse width.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2013

Experimental validation of a high voltage pulse measurement method.

This report describes X-cut lithium niobate s (LiNbO3) utilization for voltage sensing by monitoring the acoustic wave propagation changes through LiNbO3 resulting from applied voltage. Direct current (DC), alternating current (AC) and pulsed voltage signals were applied to the crystal. Voltage induced shift in acoustic wave propagation time scaled quadratically for DC and AC voltages and linearly for pulsed voltages. The measured values ranged from 10 - 273 ps and 189 ps 2 ns for DC and non-DC voltages, respectively. Data suggests LiNbO3 has a frequency sensitive response to voltage. If voltage source error is eliminated through physical modeling from the uncertainty budget, the sensor s U95 estimated combined uncertainty could decrease to ~0.025% for DC, AC, and pulsed voltage measurements.

Cular, Stefan↗

NASA NTRS1975

Controllable high voltage source having fast settling time

A high voltage dc stepping power supply for sampling a utilization device such as an electrostatic analyzer has a relatively fast settling time for voltage steps. The supply includes a waveform generator for deriving a low voltage staircase waveform that feeds a relatively long response time power supply, deriving a high output voltage generally equal to a predetermined multiple of the input voltage. In the power supply, an ac voltage modulated by the staircase waveform is applied to a step-up transformer and then to a voltage multiplier stack to form a high voltage, relatively poor replica of the input waveform at an intermediate output terminal. A constant dc source, applied to the input of the power supply, biases the voltage at the intermediate output terminal to be in excess of the predetermined multiple of the input voltage.

Doong, H.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Preventing Voltage Divergence in Series-Stacked Bidirectional Battery Energy Storage DC-DC Converter under Asymmetrical Operating Conditions

DC stacked topologies have gained popularity for interfacing individual photovoltaic panels to a high-voltage DC bus. A similar approach can be used to interface individual battery packs to the same DC bus, which allows active balancing of battery substrings and the use of lower voltage switches. Any imbalance in battery current, however, can cause the converter output voltages to diverge. This paper describes the source of voltage divergence and demonstrates a solution that allows seamless stacking of multiple battery packs to be interfaced to a high voltage DC bus. To prevent the voltage divergence phenomenon and allow asymmetrical battery charging for efficient battery state of charge management, the PI-based decentralized voltage control enabling both capacitor voltage sharing and asymmetrical capacitor voltage control is proposed. The effectiveness of the decentralized voltage control strategy is demonstrated through controller hardware-in-the-loop test results.

Kim, Namwon↗

DOE OSTI2017

Flexible $I_{Q}\!\!-\!\!V$ Scheme of a DFIG for Rapid Voltage Regulation of a Wind Power Plant

This paper proposes a flexible reactive current-to-voltage (I Q -V) scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) for the rapid voltage regulation of a wind power plant (WPP). In the proposed scheme, the WPP controller dispatches different voltage set points to the DFIGs depending on their rotor voltage margins. The DFIGs inject different reactive power with the flexible I Q -V schemes implemented in the rotor-side and grid-side converters. The I Q -V characteristic, which consists of the gain and width of a linear band and I Q capability, varies with time depending on the I Q capability of the converters and a voltage dip at the point of interconnection (POI). To increase the I Q capability during a fault, the active current is reduced in proportion to a voltage dip. If the I Q capability and/or the POI voltage dip are large, the I Q -V gain is set to be high, thereby providing rapid voltage regulation. To avoid an overvoltage after the fault clearance, a rapid I Q reduction scheme is implemented in the WPP and DFIG controllers. The performance of the proposed flexible scheme was verified under scenarios with various disturbances. In conclusion, the proposed scheme can help increase wind power penetration without jeopardizing voltage stability.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Predictive and Cooperative Voltage Control with Probabilistic Load and Solar Generation Forecasting

This paper proposes predictive cooperative voltage control method in a power system with high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) units. Cooperative distributed control of the reactive power output of PV inverters is coordinated with operation of voltage regulators (VRs) to maintain system voltages within an appropriate bandwidth. Probabilistic forecasting of the solar power generation and the loads is applied to estimate voltage changes which, in turn, are used to set the VR tap positions for preventing large voltage fluctuations with the lowest risk considering the voltage distribution estimation. The fine tuning of voltage adjustment is achieved by cooperative control of PV inverters to maintain a uniform voltage profile across the system. The proposed method is tested on the modified IEEE 123-node test feeder with high PV penetration using real insolation data and with constant loads replaced by several different load profiles. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the coordinated approach for voltage control with cooperative PV and predictive VR controls taking into account probabilistic load and solar power forecasts.

Cooperative Control↗

DOE OSTI2014

Addition and subtraction of spin pumping voltages in magnetic hybrid structures

We report an investigation of the spin pumping voltage generated in bilayers of ferromagnetic/normal metal in which the ferromagnetic layer is yttrium iron garnet or Permalloy and the normal-metal layer is Pt or Ta. We also investigated a special case in which the voltage is detected in single layer of Permalloy under ferromagnetic resonance condition. It is shown that the spin pumping voltage generated in metallic bilayers have contributions from both layers and the resulting voltage depends on the relative signs of charge currents generated by the inverse spin Hall effect. For instance, the spin pumping voltage generated in Ta has the same sign as the one generate in single layer of Permalloy, but contrary to the voltage generated in Pt. When the voltage is measured in shunted metallic bilayers, the resulting voltage can be a sum or a subtraction of the voltages generated in both layers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2014

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) low cost generator design using power MOSFET and Cockcroft-Walton multiplier circuit as high voltage DC source

Purpose: Non-ionizing radiation therapy for cancer using pulsed electric field with high intensity field has become an interesting field new research topic. A new method using nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) offers a novel means to treat cancer. Not like the conventional electroporation, nsPEFs able to create nanopores in all membranes of the cell, including membrane in cell organelles, like mitochondria and nucleus. NsPEFs will promote cell death in several cell types, including cancer cell by apoptosis mechanism. NsPEFs will use pulse with intensity of electric field higher than conventional electroporation, between 20–100 kV/cm and with shorter duration of pulse than conventional electroporation. NsPEFs requires a generator to produce high voltage pulse and to achieve high intensity electric field with proper pulse width. However, manufacturing cost for creating generator that generates a high voltage with short duration for nsPEFs purposes is highly expensive. Hence, the aim of this research is to obtain the low cost generator design that is able to produce a high voltage pulse with nanosecond width and will be used for nsPEFs purposes. Method: Cockcroft-Walton multiplier circuit will boost the input of 220 volt AC into high voltage DC around 1500 volt and it will be combined by a series of power MOSFET as a fast switch to obtain a high voltage with nanosecond pulse width. The motivation using Cockcroft-Walton multiplier is to acquire a low-cost high voltage DC generator; it will use capacitors and diodes arranged like a step. Power MOSFET connected in series is used as voltage divider to share the high voltage in order not to damage them. Results: This design is expected to acquire a low-cost generator that can achieve the high voltage pulse in amount of −1.5 kV with falltime 3 ns and risetime 15 ns into a 50Ω load that will be used for nsPEFs purposes. Further detailed on the circuit design will be explained at presentation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗