Electric Power and Energy Systems

OVERVIEW

The electric power and energy systems curriculum in the Department of Electrical Engineering includes six upper division undergraduate and eight graduate courses in the area of power system analysis, power generation, transmission and distribution, energy conversion, electric machines, power electronics and high voltage engineering. An undergraduate power laboratory supports the teaching of energy conversion. A relay protection and power electronics laboratory provide hands on experience in the field of electrical power supplies, drives and network protection systems. The graduate research program is supported by the Power System Computational Laboratory, the High Voltage Laboratory, Insulation Laboratory, Advanced Power Electronics Laboratories and Power Plant Diagnostics Laboratory. In addition, the use of computers is integrated into all of the upper division undergraduate and graduate courses to enhance the theoretical material taught in the courses.

The ASU power program focuses on the Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC), an industrially and federally supported program of industry/university cooperation. Students are exposed to industrial projects, professional society meetings, laboratory experience, and research partially supported by PSERC. More information about PSERC may be found at http://www.pserc.org 

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

Elective courses (for power option and persons wishing some exposure to power engineering)

EEE 360: Energy Conversion and Transport
EEE 460: Nuclear Concepts for the 21st Century
EEE 463: Electrical Power Plants
EEE 470: Electric Power Devices
EEE 471: Power System Analyses
EEE 473: Electrical Machinery

GRADUATE COURSES

Mandatory Courses

EEE 691: Electric Power Seminar (required every semester)

Elective Courses

EEE 571: Power System Transients
EEE 572: Advanced Power Electronics
EEE 574: Computer Solution of Power System
EEE 577: Power Engineering Operations and Planning
EEE 579: Power Transmission and Distribution
EEE 598: Power Plant Diagnostics, Modeling and Dynamics
EEE 598: Modern Power Plant Engineering
EEE 598: Electric Power Quality
EEE 598: Power System Stability
EEE 598: Advanced Power System Dynamics
EEE 770: Advanced Topics in Power Systems

Project Courses

EEE 490: Projects in power engineering are available.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

The power program concentrates on masters level and Ph.D. education, which is sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), National Science Foundation, National Laboratories, power utilities and private industry. The Center for the Advanced Control of Energy and Power Systems sponsors research in electric power quality and control of power systems. Particularly close cooperation has been developed with the local utilities: Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service Company. In the last five years, more than seven Ph.D. and ten M.S. students graduated. The yearly industrial support is around $1 million, and the faculty and students publish several journal and conference papers. Most of the Ph.D. students receive financial support in the form of research or teaching assistantships. The research effort is focused in the following areas:

Power Electronics

The development of new types of power supplies for both utility and high technology applications. The control of electric power systems by electronic devices and analysis of the dynamic interactions between the devices and systems. The work in recent years concentrated on power conditioning devices, force commutated PWM inverters, variable speed motor drives and evaluation of harmonics generated watt-hour meters disturbances.

Another area of interest is the characterization of magnetic fields generated by power electronic devices and development of advanced field management techniques, including the study of magnetic field effect on computer monitors.

High Voltage Engineering and Dielectric Studies

Study of the aging process in insulating materials and prediction of life expectancy. Investigation of flashover mechanisms in polluted insulator surfaces. Study non-ceramic insulators behavior in different environment. Field studies on insulation systems (ceramic and non-ceramic) and protective insulator coatings. Field and laboratory studies on polymeric cable terminations.

Studies of corona formation under different environmental conditions. Recent work concentrated on high electric field caused aging of fiber optic cables, brittle fracture study, investigation of field failures, development of new flashover theory and development of a new material screening test.

Power Systems Analysis and Computation

Research is done to develop better algorithms and computational tools for power systems analysis; for example, (i) non-divergent power flow programs to solve difficult power networks, (ii) faster transient stability programs using partitioning and frequency domain techniques and (iii) methods to optimize grounding at substations. Some projects focus on software development such as the modeling of electric arc furnaces using chaos theory.

Research to apply the latest computer technology to power system analysis; for example (i) the use of parallel and vector computers for transient stability analysis, (ii) the use of object-oriented programming for better maintenance of power analysis software and (iii) the use of windowing and graphics technology to develop easier user interfaces.

Power Generation

Development of advanced diagnostic methods applied to power generation facilities are under study. Such techniques include utilization of instrument fault detection, power plant modeling and process diagnostics. Advanced state estimation is applied to this area.

Electric Power Quality

Several projects are in progress in the area of electric power quality. These include the use of the fast Fourier transform for data analysis, power conditioner design, harmonics, active filters, impact of power electronic loads on power systems, software development for power quality analysis, fuzzy logic applications and state estimation.

Innovative Applications

Innovative research areas are under study at ASU, and students interested in advanced novel applications are invited to participate in this work. These areas include: applications of the global positioning satellite, generation of very high power pulses in military applications, advanced mathematical methods, chaos theory, artificial neural networks, design of statistical experiments in high voltage engineering, and NiCd battery systems.