ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
Displaying 21 - 30 of 98
Description
Due to increasing integration of renewable resources in the power grid, an efficient high power transmission system is needed in the near future to transfer energy from remote locations to the load centers. Gas Insulated Transmission Line (GIL) is a specialized high power transmission system, designed by Siemens, for applications requiring direct burial or vertical installation of the transmission line. GIL uses SF6 as an insulating medium. Due to unavoidable gas leakages and high global warming potential of SF6, there is a need to replace this insulating gas by some other possible alternative. Insulating foam materials are characterized by excellent dielectric properties as well as their reduced weight. These materials can find their application in GIL as high voltage insulators. Syntactic foam is a polymer based insulating foam. It consists of a large number of microspheres embedded in a polymer matrix.
The work in this thesis deals with the development of the selection proce-dure for an insulating foam for its application in GIL. All the steps in the process are demonstrated considering syntactic foam as an insulator. As the first step of the procedure, a small representative model of the insulating foam is built in COMSOL Multiphysics software with the help of AutoCAD and Excel VBA to analyze electric field distribution for the application of GIL. The effect of the presence of metal particles on the electric field distribution is also observed. The AC voltage withstand test is performed on the insulating foam samples according to the IEEE standards. The effect of the insulating foam on electrical parameters as well as transmission characteristics of the line is analyzed as the last part of the thesis. The results from all the simulations and AC voltage withstand test are ob-served to predict the suitability of the syntactic foam as an insulator in GIL.
The work in this thesis deals with the development of the selection proce-dure for an insulating foam for its application in GIL. All the steps in the process are demonstrated considering syntactic foam as an insulator. As the first step of the procedure, a small representative model of the insulating foam is built in COMSOL Multiphysics software with the help of AutoCAD and Excel VBA to analyze electric field distribution for the application of GIL. The effect of the presence of metal particles on the electric field distribution is also observed. The AC voltage withstand test is performed on the insulating foam samples according to the IEEE standards. The effect of the insulating foam on electrical parameters as well as transmission characteristics of the line is analyzed as the last part of the thesis. The results from all the simulations and AC voltage withstand test are ob-served to predict the suitability of the syntactic foam as an insulator in GIL.
ContributorsPendse, Harshada Ganesh (Author) / Karady, George G. (Thesis advisor) / Holbert, Keith E. (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
There has been a considerable growth in distributed photovoltaic (PV) genera-tion and its integration in electric power distribution systems. This has led to a change in the distribution system infrastructure. Properly planned distributed gen-eration can offer a variety of benefits for system operations and enhance opera-tional performance of the distribution system. However, high penetration of PV resources can give rise to operating conditions which do not arise in traditional systems and one of the potential issues that needs to be addressed involves impact on power quality of the system with respect to the spectral distortion in voltages and currents.
The test bed feeder model representing a real operational distribution feeder is developed in OpenDSS and the feeder modeling takes into consideration the ob-jective of analysis and frequency of interest. Extensive metering infrastructure and measurements are utilized for validation of the model at harmonic frequencies. The harmonic study performed is divided into two sections: study of impact of non-linear loads on total harmonic voltage and current distortions and study of impact of PV resources on high frequency spectral distortion in voltages and cur-rents. The research work incorporates different harmonic study methodologies such as harmonic and high frequency power flow, and frequency scan study. The general conclusions are presented based on the simulation results and in addition, scope for future work is discussed.
The test bed feeder model representing a real operational distribution feeder is developed in OpenDSS and the feeder modeling takes into consideration the ob-jective of analysis and frequency of interest. Extensive metering infrastructure and measurements are utilized for validation of the model at harmonic frequencies. The harmonic study performed is divided into two sections: study of impact of non-linear loads on total harmonic voltage and current distortions and study of impact of PV resources on high frequency spectral distortion in voltages and cur-rents. The research work incorporates different harmonic study methodologies such as harmonic and high frequency power flow, and frequency scan study. The general conclusions are presented based on the simulation results and in addition, scope for future work is discussed.
ContributorsJoshi, Titiksha Vjay (Author) / Heydt, Gerald T (Thesis advisor) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The safety issue in an electrical power distribution system is of critical importance. In some circumstances, even the continuity of service has to be compromised for a situation that can cause a hazard to the public. A downed conductor that creates an electrical path between a current carrying conductor and ground pose a potential lethal hazard to anyone in the near proximity. Electric utilities have yet to find a fully accepted and reliable method for detecting downed conductors even with decades of research.
With the entry of more automation and a smarter grid in the different layers of distribution power system supply, new doors are being opened and new feasible solutions are waiting to be explored. The 'big data' and the infrastructures that are readily accessible through the smart metering system is the base of the work and analysis performed in this thesis. In effect, the new technologies and new solutions are an artifact of the Smart Grid effort which has now reached worldwide dimensions. A solution to problems of overhead distribution conductor failures / faults that use simple methods and that are easy to implement using existing and future distribution management systems is presented.
A European type distribution system using three phase supply is utilized as the test bed for the concepts presented. Fault analysis is performed on the primary and the secondary distribution system using the free downloadable software OpenDSS. The outcome is a set of rules that can be implemented either locally or central using a voltage based method. Utilized in the distribution management systems the operators will be given a powerful tool to make the correct action when a situation occurs. The test bed itself is taken from an actual system in Norway.
With the entry of more automation and a smarter grid in the different layers of distribution power system supply, new doors are being opened and new feasible solutions are waiting to be explored. The 'big data' and the infrastructures that are readily accessible through the smart metering system is the base of the work and analysis performed in this thesis. In effect, the new technologies and new solutions are an artifact of the Smart Grid effort which has now reached worldwide dimensions. A solution to problems of overhead distribution conductor failures / faults that use simple methods and that are easy to implement using existing and future distribution management systems is presented.
A European type distribution system using three phase supply is utilized as the test bed for the concepts presented. Fault analysis is performed on the primary and the secondary distribution system using the free downloadable software OpenDSS. The outcome is a set of rules that can be implemented either locally or central using a voltage based method. Utilized in the distribution management systems the operators will be given a powerful tool to make the correct action when a situation occurs. The test bed itself is taken from an actual system in Norway.
ContributorsAbusdal, Geir Magne (Author) / Heydt, Gerald T (Thesis advisor) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Heydt, George (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Traditional deterministic reserve requirements rely on ad-hoc, rule of thumb methods to determine adequate reserve in order to ensure a reliable unit commitment. Since congestion and uncertainties exist in the system, both the quantity and the location of reserves are essential to ensure system reliability and market efficiency. The modeling of operating reserves in the existing deterministic reserve requirements acquire the operating reserves on a zonal basis and do not fully capture the impact of congestion. The purpose of a reserve zone is to ensure that operating reserves are spread across the network. Operating reserves are shared inside each reserve zone, but intra-zonal congestion may block the deliverability of operating reserves within a zone. Thus, improving reserve policies such as reserve zones may improve the location and deliverability of reserve.
As more non-dispatchable renewable resources are integrated into the grid, it will become increasingly difficult to predict the transfer capabilities and the network congestion. At the same time, renewable resources require operators to acquire more operating reserves. With existing deterministic reserve requirements unable to ensure optimal reserve locations, the importance of reserve location and reserve deliverability will increase. While stochastic programming can be used to determine reserve by explicitly modelling uncertainties, there are still scalability as well as pricing issues. Therefore, new methods to improve existing deterministic reserve requirements are desired.
One key barrier of improving existing deterministic reserve requirements is its potential market impacts. A metric, quality of service, is proposed in this thesis to evaluate the price signal and market impacts of proposed hourly reserve zones.
Three main goals of this thesis are: 1) to develop a theoretical and mathematical model to better locate reserve while maintaining the deterministic unit commitment and economic dispatch structure, especially with the consideration of renewables, 2) to develop a market settlement scheme of proposed dynamic reserve policies such that the market efficiency is improved, 3) to evaluate the market impacts and price signal of the proposed dynamic reserve policies.
As more non-dispatchable renewable resources are integrated into the grid, it will become increasingly difficult to predict the transfer capabilities and the network congestion. At the same time, renewable resources require operators to acquire more operating reserves. With existing deterministic reserve requirements unable to ensure optimal reserve locations, the importance of reserve location and reserve deliverability will increase. While stochastic programming can be used to determine reserve by explicitly modelling uncertainties, there are still scalability as well as pricing issues. Therefore, new methods to improve existing deterministic reserve requirements are desired.
One key barrier of improving existing deterministic reserve requirements is its potential market impacts. A metric, quality of service, is proposed in this thesis to evaluate the price signal and market impacts of proposed hourly reserve zones.
Three main goals of this thesis are: 1) to develop a theoretical and mathematical model to better locate reserve while maintaining the deterministic unit commitment and economic dispatch structure, especially with the consideration of renewables, 2) to develop a market settlement scheme of proposed dynamic reserve policies such that the market efficiency is improved, 3) to evaluate the market impacts and price signal of the proposed dynamic reserve policies.
ContributorsWang, Fengyu (Author) / Hedman, Kory W. (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Muhong (Committee member) / Tylavsky, Daniel J. (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Scarcity of potable water is one of the major problems faced in the world today. Majority of this problem can be solved if technology is developed to obtain potable water from brackish or saline water. The present desalination methods face challenges such as high costs in terms of energy consumption and infrastructure, physical size of the system, requirement of membrane and high pressure systems and hence have been facing various issues in implementation of the same.
This research provides a new low pressure, low energy, portable method to desalinate water without the need for separation membranes, heat or chemical reactions. This method is energy efficient, cost effective, compact, environment friendly and suitable for portable desalination units. This technology, named as Polyphase Alternating current Bi-Ionic Propulsion System (PACBIPS) makes use of polyphase alternating current source to create a gradient in salt concentration. The gradient in salt concentration is achieved due to the creation of a traveling wave which attracts anions on its positive peak (crests) and cations on its negative peak (troughs) and travels along a central pipe thereby flushing the ions down.
Another method of PACBIPS is based on Helmholtz capacitor which involves the formation of an electric double layer between the electrode and electrolyte consisting of equal and opposite ions which can be approximated as a capacitor. Charging and discharging this capacitor helps adsorb the ions onto a carbon electrode which has high surface area and electrical conductivity. This desalinates seawater and provides pure water. Mathematical modeling, analysis and implementation of the two methods have
been presented in this work. The effects of zeta potential, electric field screening, electric mobility on desalination have been discussed.
This research provides a new low pressure, low energy, portable method to desalinate water without the need for separation membranes, heat or chemical reactions. This method is energy efficient, cost effective, compact, environment friendly and suitable for portable desalination units. This technology, named as Polyphase Alternating current Bi-Ionic Propulsion System (PACBIPS) makes use of polyphase alternating current source to create a gradient in salt concentration. The gradient in salt concentration is achieved due to the creation of a traveling wave which attracts anions on its positive peak (crests) and cations on its negative peak (troughs) and travels along a central pipe thereby flushing the ions down.
Another method of PACBIPS is based on Helmholtz capacitor which involves the formation of an electric double layer between the electrode and electrolyte consisting of equal and opposite ions which can be approximated as a capacitor. Charging and discharging this capacitor helps adsorb the ions onto a carbon electrode which has high surface area and electrical conductivity. This desalinates seawater and provides pure water. Mathematical modeling, analysis and implementation of the two methods have
been presented in this work. The effects of zeta potential, electric field screening, electric mobility on desalination have been discussed.
ContributorsKrishna Kashyap, Suhas (Author) / Hui, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Rodriguez, Armando A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Substation ground system insures safety of personnel, which deserves considerable attentions. Basic substation safety requirement quantities include ground grid resistance, mesh touch potential and step potential, moreover, optimal design of a substation ground system should include both safety concerns and ground grid construction cost. In the purpose of optimal designing the ground grid in the accurate and efficient way, an application package coded in MATLAB is developed and its core algorithm and main features are introduced in this work.
To ensure accuracy and personnel safety, a two-layer soil model is applied instead of the uniform soil model in this research. Some soil model parameters are needed for the two-layer soil model, namely upper-layer resistivity, lower-layer resistivity and upper-layer thickness. Since the ground grid safety requirement is considered under the earth fault, the value of fault current and fault duration time are also needed.
After all these parameters are obtained, a Resistance Matrix method is applied to calculate the mutual and self resistance between conductor segments on both the horizontal and vertical direction. By using a matrix equation of the relationship of mutual and self resistance and unit current of the conductor segments, the ground grid rise can be calculated. Green's functions are applied to calculate the earth potential at a certain point produced by horizontal or vertical line of current. Furthermore, the three basic ground grid safety requirement quantities: the mesh touch potential in the worst case point can be obtained from the earth potential and ground grid rise; the step potential can be obtained from two points' earth potential difference; the grid resistance can be obtained from ground grid rise and fault current.
Finally, in order to achieve ground grid optimization problem more accurate and efficient, which includes the number of meshes in the horizontal grid and the number of vertical rods, a novel two-step hybrid genetic algorithm-pattern search (GA-PS) optimization method is developed. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used first to search for an approximate starting point, which is used by the Pattern Search (PS) algorithm to find the final optimal result. This developed application provides an optimal grid design meeting all safety constraints. In the cause of the accuracy of the application, the touch potential, step potential, ground potential rise and grid resistance are compared with these produced by the industry standard application WinIGS and some theoretical ground grid model.
In summary, the developed application can solve the ground grid optimization problem with the accurate ground grid modeling method and a hybrid two-step optimization method.
To ensure accuracy and personnel safety, a two-layer soil model is applied instead of the uniform soil model in this research. Some soil model parameters are needed for the two-layer soil model, namely upper-layer resistivity, lower-layer resistivity and upper-layer thickness. Since the ground grid safety requirement is considered under the earth fault, the value of fault current and fault duration time are also needed.
After all these parameters are obtained, a Resistance Matrix method is applied to calculate the mutual and self resistance between conductor segments on both the horizontal and vertical direction. By using a matrix equation of the relationship of mutual and self resistance and unit current of the conductor segments, the ground grid rise can be calculated. Green's functions are applied to calculate the earth potential at a certain point produced by horizontal or vertical line of current. Furthermore, the three basic ground grid safety requirement quantities: the mesh touch potential in the worst case point can be obtained from the earth potential and ground grid rise; the step potential can be obtained from two points' earth potential difference; the grid resistance can be obtained from ground grid rise and fault current.
Finally, in order to achieve ground grid optimization problem more accurate and efficient, which includes the number of meshes in the horizontal grid and the number of vertical rods, a novel two-step hybrid genetic algorithm-pattern search (GA-PS) optimization method is developed. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used first to search for an approximate starting point, which is used by the Pattern Search (PS) algorithm to find the final optimal result. This developed application provides an optimal grid design meeting all safety constraints. In the cause of the accuracy of the application, the touch potential, step potential, ground potential rise and grid resistance are compared with these produced by the industry standard application WinIGS and some theoretical ground grid model.
In summary, the developed application can solve the ground grid optimization problem with the accurate ground grid modeling method and a hybrid two-step optimization method.
ContributorsZhang, Qianzhi (Author) / Tylavsky, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Undrill, John (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Due to restructuring and open access to the transmission system, modern electric power systems are being operated closer to their operational limits. Additionally, the secure operational limits of modern power systems have become increasingly difficult to evaluate as the scale of the network and the number of transactions between utilities increase. To account for these challenges associated with the rapid expansion of electric power systems, dynamic equivalents have been widely applied for the purpose of reducing the computational effort of simulation-based transient security assessment. Dynamic equivalents are commonly developed using a coherency-based approach in which a retained area and an external area are first demarcated. Then the coherent generators in the external area are aggregated and replaced by equivalenced models, followed by network reduction and load aggregation. In this process, an improperly defined retained area can result in detrimental impacts on the effectiveness of the equivalents in preserving the dynamic characteristics of the original unreduced system. In this dissertation, a comprehensive approach has been proposed to determine an appropriate retained area boundary by including the critical generators in the external area that are tightly coupled with the initial retained area. Further-more, a systematic approach has also been investigated to efficiently predict the variation in generator slow coherency behavior when the system operating condition is subject to change. Based on this determination, the critical generators in the external area that are tightly coherent with the generators in the initial retained area are retained, resulting in a new retained area boundary. Finally, a novel hybrid dynamic equivalent, consisting of both a coherency-based equivalent and an artificial neural network (ANN)-based equivalent, has been proposed and analyzed. The ANN-based equivalent complements the coherency-based equivalent at all the retained area boundary buses, and it is designed to compensate for the discrepancy between the full system and the conventional coherency-based equivalent. The approaches developed have been validated on a large portion of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) system and on a test case including a significant portion of the eastern interconnection.
ContributorsMa, Feng (Author) / Vittal, Vijay (Thesis advisor) / Tylavsky, Daniel (Committee member) / Heydt, Gerald (Committee member) / Si, Jennie (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
All-dielectric self-supporting (ADSS) fiber optic cables are used for data transfer by the utilities. They are installed along high voltage transmission lines. Dry band arcing, a phenomenon which is observed in outdoor insulators, is also observed in ADSS cables. The heat developed during dry band arcing damages the ADSS cables' outer sheath. A method is presented here to rate the cable sheath using the power developed during dry band arcing. Because of the small diameter of ADSS cables, mechanical vibration is induced in ADSS cable. In order to avoid damage, vibration dampers known as spiral vibration dampers (SVD) are used over these ADSS cables. These dampers are installed near the armor rods, where the presence of leakage current and dry band activity is more. The effect of dampers on dry band activity is investigated by conducting experiments on ADSS cable and dampers. Observations made from the experiments suggest that the hydrophobicity of the cable and damper play a key role in stabilizing dry band arcs. Hydrophobic-ity of the samples have been compared. The importance of hydrophobicity of the samples is further illustrated with the help of simulation results. The results indi-cate that the electric field increases at the edges of water strip. The dry band arc-ing phenomenon could thus be correlated to the hydrophobicity of the outer sur-face of cable and damper.
ContributorsPrabakar, Kumaraguru (Author) / Karady, George G. (Thesis advisor) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Recent changes in the energy markets structure combined with the conti-nuous load growth have caused power systems to be operated under more stressed conditions. In addition, the nature of power systems has also grown more complex and dynamic because of the increasing use of long inter-area tie-lines and the high motor loads especially those comprised mainly of residential single phase A/C motors. Therefore, delayed voltage recovery, fast voltage collapse and short term voltage stability issues in general have obtained significant importance in relia-bility studies. Shunt VAr injection has been used as a countermeasure for voltage instability. However, the dynamic and fast nature of short term voltage instability requires fast and sufficient VAr injection, and therefore dynamic VAr devices such as Static VAr Compensators (SVCs) and STATic COMpensators (STAT-COMs) are used. The location and size of such devices are optimized in order to improve their efficiency and reduce initial costs. In this work time domain dy-namic analysis was used to evaluate trajectory voltage sensitivities for each time step. Linear programming was then performed to determine the optimal amount of required VAr injection at each bus, using voltage sensitivities as weighting factors. Optimal VAr injection values from different operating conditions were weighted and averaged in order to obtain a final setting of the VAr requirement. Some buses under consideration were either assigned very small VAr injection values, or not assigned any value at all. Therefore, the approach used in this work was found to be useful in not only determining the optimal size of SVCs, but also their location.
ContributorsSalloum, Ahmed (Author) / Vittal, Vijay (Thesis advisor) / Heydt, Gerald (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This thesis concerns the impact of energy storage on the power system. The rapidly increasing integration of renewable energy source into the grid is driving greater attention towards electrical energy storage systems which can serve many applications like economically meeting peak loads, providing spinning reserve. Economic dispatch is performed with bulk energy storage with wind energy penetration in power systems allocating the generation levels to the units in the mix, so that the system load is served and most economically. The results obtained in previous research to solve for economic dispatch uses a linear cost function for a Direct Current Optimal Power Flow (DCOPF). This thesis uses quadratic cost function for a DCOPF implementing quadratic programming (QP) to minimize the function. A Matlab program was created to simulate different test systems including an equivalent section of the WECC system, namely for Arizo-na, summer peak 2009. A mathematical formulation of a strategy of when to charge or discharge the storage is incorporated in the algorithm. In this thesis various test cases are shown in a small three bus test bed and also for the state of Arizona test bed. The main conclusions drawn from the two test beds is that the use of energy storage minimizes the generation dispatch cost of the system and benefits the power sys-tem by serving the peak partially from stored energy. It is also found that use of energy storage systems may alleviate the loading on transmission lines which can defer the upgrade and expansion of the transmission system.
ContributorsGupta, Samir (Author) / Heydt, Gerald T (Thesis advisor) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012