Research Terms
Educational Technology Electrical Engineering Power Systems Electronics Electronic Circuits and Technology
Keywords
Control Of Power Electronics Energy Conversion Led Driving Circuits Power Electronics Power Factor Correction Renewable Energy Solar Energy Conversion
Industries
Smart Grid Microelectronics & Computer Products
Journal Publications (including 63 Full IEEE Trans.):
1. S. Milad Tayebi, C. Jourdan, I. Batarseh "Dynamic Dead Time Optimization and Phase-Skipping Control Techniques for Three-Phase Micro-Inverter Applications" Accepted to IEEE Transaction on Industrial Electronics 2016.
2. W.E. Alnaser1, A. Dakhel, M. Othman, I. Batarseh, J. Lee, S. Najmaii, W. Alnasser, “Dust Accumulation Study on the Bapco 0.5 MWp PV Project at University of Bahrain”, International Journal of Power and Renewable Energy Systems, Vol. 2, pp. 38-54, January 2015.
3. W.E. Alnaser, W. Alnaser, I. Batarseh, “Bahrain’s BAPCO 5MWp PV Grid–Connected Solar Project”, International Journal of Power and Renewable Energy Systems, Vol. 1, pp. 72-84, October 2014.
4. Issa Batarseh, “Reflections – A Personal Perspective on Jordanian Higher Education,” Leadership and Governance in Higher Education, Volume No. 4, pp. 1-16, 2014
https://www.dropbox.com/home/Jordan%20HE?preview=ABout+Jordan's+Higher+Education.pdf
5. L. Chen, A. Amirahmadi, Q. Zhang, N. Kutkut, I. Batarseh “Design and Implementation of Three-phase Two-stage Grid-connected Module Integrated Converter” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 3881-3892, March 2014
6. A. Amirahmadi , H. Hu, A. Grishina, Q. Zhang, L. Chen, U. Somani, I. Batarseh “Hybrid ZVS BCM Current Controlled Three-Phase Micro-inverter” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 2124-2134, 2014.
7. Q. Zhang, C. Hu, L. Chen, A. Amirahmadi, N. Kutkut, I. Batarseh “A Center Point Iteration MPPT Method With Application on the Frequency-Modulated LLC Microinverter” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 1262-1274, 2014.
8. H. Hu, S. Harb, N. Kutkut, I. Batarseh, J. Shen, “A Review of Power Decoupling Techniques for Micro-inverters with Three Different Decoupling Capacitor Locations in PV Systems”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 2711-2726, 2012.
9. H. Hu, S. Harb, N. Kutkut, I. Batarseh, J. Shen, “A Single-Stage Micro-Inverter without Using Electrolytic capacitors”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 2677-2687, 2012.
10. H. Hu, X. Fang, F. Chen, Z. J. Shen, I. Batarseh, “A Modified High-Efficiency LLC Converter with Two Transformers for Wide Input Voltage Range Applications” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 1946-1960, 2012.
11. X. Fang, H. Hu, L. Chen, S. Utsav, E. Auadisian, Z.J. Shen, I. Batarseh, “Efficiency Oriented Optimal Design of the LLC Resonant Converter Based on Peak Gain Placement” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 2285-2296, 2012.
12. A. Hussein, N. Kutkut, Z.J. Shen, I. Batarseh, “Distributed Battery Micro-storage Systems Design and Operation in a Deregulated Electricity Market”, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 545-556, 2012.
13. H. Hu, S. Harb, X. Fang, D. Zhang, Q. Zhang, Z.J. Shen, I. Batarseh, “A Three-port Flyback for PV Microinverter Applications With Power Pulsation Decoupling Capability”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 27, no. 9, pp. 3953 – 3964, 2012.
14. X. Fang, H. Hu, Z.J. Shen, I. Batarseh, “Operation Mode Analysis and Peak Gain Approximation of the LLC Resonant Converter”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 27 , no. 4 , pp. 1985 - 1995, 2012.
15. F. Tian, K. Siri , I. Batarseh, “ An adaptive Slope Compensation for the Single-Stage Inverter With Peak Current-Mode Control”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 26, no.10, pp. 2857-2862, 2011.
16. Hussein, A.A.-H., Batarseh, I. “ A Review of Charging Algorithms for Nickel and Lithium Battery Chargers”, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol.60, no.3, pp. 830-838, 2011.
18. Xiang Fang, Nasser Kutkut, John Shen, Issa Batarseh, “Analysis of generalized parallel-series ultracapacitor shift circuits for energy storage systems.” Renewable Energy, Vol.36, no.10, pp.2599-2604, Oct. 2011.
19. Al-Atrash, H., Batarseh, I., Rustom, K., “ Effect of Measurement Noise and Bias on Hill-Climbing MPPT Algorithms”, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol.46,no.2,pp.745-760,2010.
20. Haibing Hu, Al-Hoor, W., Kutkut, N.H., Batarseh I. ,Shen Z.J., “Efficiency Improvement of Grid-tied Inverters at Low Input Power Using Pulse-Skipping Control Strategy”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol.25,no.12,pp.3129-3138, 2010.
21. Z. Qian, O. Abdel-Rahman, I. Batarseh, "An Integrated Four-Port DC/DC Converter for Renewable Energy Applications", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol.25,no.7, pp.1877-1887,2010.
22. W. Al-Hoor, J. Abu Qahouq, I. Batarseh, “Adaptive Digital Controller and Design Considerations for a Variable Switching Frequency Voltage Regulator ", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol.24, no.11,pp.2589-2602,2009.
23. Z. Qian, O. Abdel-Rahman, H. Al-Atrash, I. Batarseh, “Modeling and Control of Three-Port DC/DC Converter Interface for Satellite Applications,” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol.25,no.3, pp.637-649,2010.
24. M.G. Batarseh, W. Al-Hoor, L. Huang, C. Iannello, I. Batarseh, “Window-Masked Segmented Digital Clock Manager- FPGA based Digital Pulse Width Modulator Technique", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol.24,no.11, pp.2649-2660,2010.
27. Z. Qian, O. Abdel-Rahman, J. Elmes, M. Pepper, H. Al-Atrash, I. Batarseh, “Fault-tolerant Current Sharing for Integrated Three-port DC/DC Converters,” International Journal of Integrated Energy Systems, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 71-77, 2009.
37. J. Qahouq, O. Abdel-Rahman, L. Huang, I. Batarseh, “On Load Adaptive Control of Voltage Regulators for Power Managed Loads: Control Schemes to Improve Converter Efficiency and Performance”, IEEE Transaction on Power Electronics, , Volume 22, Issue 5, pp.1806 – 1819, Sept. 2007.
39. S. Luo, I. Batarseh, “Part II: Review of High Frequency AC Distributed Power Systems,” IEEE System Magazine on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 5-14, June 2006.
61. A. Khan, K. Kayyali, I. Batarseh, “Experimental Results for the Zero-Voltage-Switching Isolated DC-to-AC Inverter,” International Journal of Electronics, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 217-230, April 1998.
69. I. Batarseh, “State-Plane Approach for the Analysis of Half-Bridge Parallel Resonant Converters,” IEE Proceedings – Circuits, Devices and Systems, Vol. 142, No. 3, pp. 200-204, August 1995.
70. A. Khan, I. Batarseh, “Zero-Voltage-Switching Boost Converters for Power Factor Correction,” International Journal of Electronics, Vol. 78, No. 6, pp. 1177-1188, April 1995.
71. I. Batarseh, K. Siri, “LCC-type Series Resonant Converter with PWM Control,” IEE Proceedings –
G Circuits, Devices and Systems, Vol. 141, No. 2, pp. 73-81, April 1994.
79. I. Batarseh, C.Q. Lee, “High Frequency Link Parallel Resonant Converter,” IEE Proceeding – G in Electronic Circuits and Systems, Vol. 138, No. 1, pp. 34-37, February 1991.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a modified LLC resonant DC-DC converter that achieves high power efficiency for wide input voltage applications. The technology improves the widely-used resonant converter topology and maximizes performance for PV panels or any wide voltage converters. There is high demand for DC-DC power conversion across a wide variety of applications, including solar and wind power generation, consumer electronics, and defense. Current DC-DC converters consist of a switching network for receiving an unregulated input voltage that is coupled to a resonant circuit, including a capacitor, inductor, and a single transformer that drives an output capacitor. However, achieving peak gain results in a smaller inductance index that leads to increased conduction loss and thus lower overall efficiency.
Advantages
Compared to previous methods for wide input converter applications, this wide voltage input DC-DC power converter from UCF improves power efficiency. It narrows operating frequency variation, which can help to increase the power density. This resonant power converter provides both high DC gain and high power conversion efficiency while also maintaining a wide input voltage range. The design method provides a straightforward and effective way to choose the converter parameter, which can be easily adopted and utilized for general LLC design.
Technical Details
This multi-transformer LLC resonant power converter has two transformers in series with one switched transformer that adaptively changes the magnetizing inductance (Lm) based on the Vin to provide different operation configurations. With this converter, the added transformer T2 can be enabled or disabled by controlling the bidirectional switch, S5 and S6, parallel to it. In addition, the converter can operate in two modes with different Lm values. For Vin below a certain threshold voltage (Vth), T2 is disabled and the operation of the converter is the same as the conventional LLC. For Vin above Vth, T2 is enabled, and the equivalent Lm is increased from Lm1 to Lm1+Lm2 so that the converter has lower gain and can keep the circulating current low.
A group of UCF researchers has developed a three-phase micro-inverter for low power applications, specifically batteries, solar panels, or fuel cells, with higher power density and efficiency. The entirely new control approach eliminates the need for expensive additional parts often required of hard switched inverters, such as SiC diodes or additional inductors, thereby increasing the power density and solving the light load efficiency problem. The three-phase grid-tied power micro-inverter provides a three-level control scheme. Phase skipping control is one of the control schemes, and it selectively injects power through each phase, ensuring that the phases' received power operates at a greater percentage of load capacity, thus significantly improving the micro-inverters power efficiency. For the first time, a power inverter employs a hybrid zero-voltage switching (ZVS) current control technique for a switching inverter and soft switched controls which increases the switching frequency and yields higher power conversion efficiency. Now, achieve power conversion with lower costs, higher reliability, and higher power density.
Technical Details
Micro-inverter use has been limited to small scale, single-phase residential and commercial PV installations. By extending the micro-inverter concept to large size PV installation where three-phase AC connection is used, advantages such as individual variable frequency maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to determine a switching frequency for a resonant power converter, redundant system architecture, ease of installation, removal of unreliable electrolytic capacitors, and less DC distribution losses can be gained. To make the idea of PV farm architecture based on three-phase micro-inverters feasible, a high efficiency, low cost, high reliability, high compact micro-inverter was designed and built. Invented three-phase micro-inverter can be used for any PV power plant, from small scale to proof applications for commercial building to large scale PV power plants.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have invented a robust DC link voltage control system that improves the performance, reliability and power density of two-stage microinverters used in solar photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion. The new, low-cost Phased-Locked-Loop (PLL)-Synchronized DC Link Voltage Control System enables microinverters to operate more efficiently by mitigating the effects of large voltage ripple and corresponding increases in total harmonic distortion (THD). Voltage ripple and THD in the output current of a microinverter may adversely affect an inverter's performance, such as its efficiency in transferring power from a solar cell and the ability to provide quality electrical power into the grid.
The unique PLL-Synchronized DC Link Voltage Controller regulates a two-stage microinverter in which the input couples a DC/DC converter to a PV panel and the output couples a DC/AC inverter to a power grid. The invention supports single-phase half-bridge, single-phase full-bridge, or three-phase half-bridge configurations. An example embodiment comprises an analog-to-digital converter (A/D), a loop compensator, and a PLL synchronized to the grid voltage.
Key to the invention is a synchronous control method that measures and tightly regulates the DC link average voltage.
Mitigation of Current Distortion in a Three-Phase Microinverter with Phase Skipping using a Synchronous Sampling DC Link Voltage Control, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, DOI 10.1109/TIE.2017.2760864
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a heat pump water heater (HPWH) system that enables homes and businesses to maintain a steady supply of hot water while optimizing energy usage from both solar panels and conventional power sources. Cost-efficient and easily implemented, the new Photovoltaic-Assisted Heat Pump Water Heater system operates with standard heat pump water heaters and PV modules. Key to the system is a customizable and programmable controller that allows extended thermal energy storage that can displace, shift and save electricity.
The invention comprises the following:
In one example use of the system, its 1-year averaged coefficient of performance (COP) was 5.4 and a daily average grid-energy consumption of only 1.2-kilowatt hours per day. The system easily provides hot water for a family of four (59 gallons per day) regulating delivery temperatures to 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a new multi-input power DC-DC converter that uses a single LLC resonant tank to transfer energy and perform power conversion from multiple sources. With other technologies, the number of switches and circuit components increases with each added power source, thus raising total costs and reducing reliability. In comparison, the new UCF technology allows several photovoltaic (PV) panels and battery storage to share the same resonant tank without the need for more circuit components. Thus, it provides a more reliable and cost-effective means of improving power density for conventional inverters, microinverters, and motor controllers.
Technical Details
The UCF power converter comprises a single LLC resonant tank that includes an inductor, a capacitor, and the magnetizing inductance of a transformer. Bridge circuits can receive power from two or more PV panels and external batteries. The power converter employs a phase-shift pulse width modulation (PWM) control to implement independent maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for each PV panel. Zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) occurs in all switches over the entire range of source voltage and load conditions. Also, voltage stress across switches does not exceed the input PV voltage. To demonstrate the performance of the topology, the researchers built a 500-W prototype with an input voltage range between 25 V to 50 V and an output voltage regulated at 440 V DC. Experimental results show that the converter can achieve peak efficiency of 95.8 percent while maintaining a wide input voltage range and implementing MPPT for each PV panel.
Partnering Opportunity
The research team is looking for partners to develop the technology further for commercialization.
Stage of Development
Prototype available.
UCF researchers have invented a variable MPPT method that overcomes the limitations of conventional P and O algorithms. This method can be used with resonant power converters that have various power frequency curves which can be distorted by conventional MPPT algorithms. Compared to previously known MPPT methods, this invention is faster, simpler, and more reliable. Additionally, the inventors have created a resonant power converter prototye to be used along with the MPPT algorithm.
Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is an essential technique used to harvest photovoltaic (PV) power within various environments. Due to their effectiveness and ease of use, perturb and observe (P and O) algorithms are the most commonly used for MPPT. However, with its fixed perturbation increments, conventional P and O is difficult to balance the tracking speed and oscillation requirements. Adaptive P and O techniques are based on duty-cycle modulation for conventional pulse width modulation (PWM) power converters and are suggested to remedy these issues. Currently, there are no MPPT methods that deal specifically with frequency modulation.
Technical Details
A center points variable frequency iteration adjusts the switching frequency of a resonant power converter paired to receive power from a variable output power source. Built to implement the variable MPPT, an LLC resonant power converter prototype contains the following components: a DC/DC converter section that includes power semiconductor switches with an input for receiving electrical power, a resonant circuit that contains an input paired to an output of the DC/DC converter section, and a processor paired to the input drivers that are paired to control inputs of the power semiconductor switches. This processor is programmed to implement the MPPT algorithm.