Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101361
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$366,069.00
Summary
Geo-thermometers based on laser absorption spectroscopy. The project will investigate a new laser measurement technique to study the geochemistry of carbon dioxide and methane as a geo-thermometer for the temperature at which these gases were formed. The project aims to develop field deployable instruments capable of determining the origins of natural gas and to provide clues as to how fast permafrost is thawing at the polar caps.
Optimal Control of Modular Multilevel Power Electronic Converter Systems for Electrical Distribution Networks. This project will improve the national capability to use multilevel power electronic converter systems to help operate and maintain more efficient electrical distribution networks. The outcomes of the project will also contribute to the implementation into electrical distribution systems of renewable and distributed energy generation systems, and hence will help to reduce greenhouse ga ....Optimal Control of Modular Multilevel Power Electronic Converter Systems for Electrical Distribution Networks. This project will improve the national capability to use multilevel power electronic converter systems to help operate and maintain more efficient electrical distribution networks. The outcomes of the project will also contribute to the implementation into electrical distribution systems of renewable and distributed energy generation systems, and hence will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it is anticipated that the control strategies to be investigated could lead to subsequent commercial developments with local industries. Finally, the project will foster and develop international links in power electronics between Monash University, and leading-edge international research groups in the area around the world.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100609
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$452,507.00
Summary
Green Water is Good: Control and Design of Low-Carbon Water Pumping Systems. This project aims to develop new theoretical tools for the control and design of low-carbon water pumping systems powered by renewable energy. One expected outcome is to establish advanced control frameworks that significantly reduce operational cost for water pumping systems and meanwhile produce the least carbon emissions. The control frameworks will integrate stochastic uncertainties of solar cloud cover, electricity ....Green Water is Good: Control and Design of Low-Carbon Water Pumping Systems. This project aims to develop new theoretical tools for the control and design of low-carbon water pumping systems powered by renewable energy. One expected outcome is to establish advanced control frameworks that significantly reduce operational cost for water pumping systems and meanwhile produce the least carbon emissions. The control frameworks will integrate stochastic uncertainties of solar cloud cover, electricity price and water demand. The control frameworks will be incorporated into a two-stage constrained optimisation as a codesign strategy for future low-carbon water pumping systems. This project will gain significant economic, commercial and environmental benefits to the Australian community.Read moreRead less
Low cost, efficient and more reliable power switching network. This project aims to propose new power electronics circuit integration concepts and control techniques to reduce power supply cost by at least 30 per cent while improving efficiency and reliability. Photovoltaic combined battery storage application will be implemented and tested in detail to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concepts. The outcomes of the project will benefit many emerging technologies such as electric vehic ....Low cost, efficient and more reliable power switching network. This project aims to propose new power electronics circuit integration concepts and control techniques to reduce power supply cost by at least 30 per cent while improving efficiency and reliability. Photovoltaic combined battery storage application will be implemented and tested in detail to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concepts. The outcomes of the project will benefit many emerging technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy and energy storage systems, wireless communications and portable devices.Read moreRead less
CMOS compatible nonlinear photonic integrated circuits. Bandwidth and energy demands of telecommunications networks are rapidly reaching a crisis point technologically, economically and from a sustainability viewpoint. At the same time, on-chip interconnects for silicon integrated circuits are also reaching a bottleneck. This project aims to combine the expertise of eight leading international groups to pioneer nonlinear photonic integrated circuits compatible with silicon technology (Complement ....CMOS compatible nonlinear photonic integrated circuits. Bandwidth and energy demands of telecommunications networks are rapidly reaching a crisis point technologically, economically and from a sustainability viewpoint. At the same time, on-chip interconnects for silicon integrated circuits are also reaching a bottleneck. This project aims to combine the expertise of eight leading international groups to pioneer nonlinear photonic integrated circuits compatible with silicon technology (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor technology, or CMOS) to achieve new capabilities on a chip for signal generation, processing and measurement for telecommunications, computers, and fundamental science. These platforms are expected to allow the integration of electronics with photonics and to be faster, cheaper, smaller, and more energy efficient than current technology.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100021
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$430,000.00
Summary
Smart grid testing facility. Smart grid testing facility: This project aims to establish an essential part of infrastructure required for experimental research in the area of distributed resources under a smart grid. The innovative theoretical methodologies being developed under existing or completed research projects in this area will be validated through experimental research. The experimental platform is intended to help to resolve technical issues related to future power supply systems inclu ....Smart grid testing facility. Smart grid testing facility: This project aims to establish an essential part of infrastructure required for experimental research in the area of distributed resources under a smart grid. The innovative theoretical methodologies being developed under existing or completed research projects in this area will be validated through experimental research. The experimental platform is intended to help to resolve technical issues related to future power supply systems including real-time data from smart meters, application of vehicle to grid systems, demand management, control, and protection aspects under the uncertain nature of renewable energy sources. It is expected to bring together the researchers in this area for collaborative research.Read moreRead less
A Segmented Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor for Wide Field Weakening Range and its Sensorless Control using Improved Flux Estimators. Australia has the world's second largest reserve (after China) of high energy-density permanent magnet (neodymium-iron-boron) material for the IPM motor. The present limitation of the machine to be driven sensorless over a wide speed range with field weakening is believed to be holding back its widespread use in applications other than servo-type which ....A Segmented Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor for Wide Field Weakening Range and its Sensorless Control using Improved Flux Estimators. Australia has the world's second largest reserve (after China) of high energy-density permanent magnet (neodymium-iron-boron) material for the IPM motor. The present limitation of the machine to be driven sensorless over a wide speed range with field weakening is believed to be holding back its widespread use in applications other than servo-type which requires high-resolution mechanical sensors. Extension of the motor speed range by a combination of magnetic system design (for large field weakening range), and sensorless position and flux estimation with sufficient accuracy for fast dynamic control should lead to large scale adoption of this motor, and hence to significant improvement in energy efficiency and market share for Australia.Read moreRead less
Improvements of Direct Torque Controllers for the Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor. The Direct Torque Control (DTC) strategy has recently been applied successfully to the interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor which offers the highest torque/volume and efficiency of all known machines. Exploitation of the recently developed Neodynium-Iron-Boron material, of which Australia is the world's second largest producer, in the IPM motor and of new sensorless control strategies such as the DTC ....Improvements of Direct Torque Controllers for the Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor. The Direct Torque Control (DTC) strategy has recently been applied successfully to the interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor which offers the highest torque/volume and efficiency of all known machines. Exploitation of the recently developed Neodynium-Iron-Boron material, of which Australia is the world's second largest producer, in the IPM motor and of new sensorless control strategies such as the DTC controller, promises to open vast application potentials, such as in the upcoming hybrid and totally electric automobiles, for these motors. The new DTC controller developed at UNSW shows high promise for delivering a high-performance, sensorless IPM motor drive. This project aims to investigate, and overcome, the remaining problems of this technique.Read moreRead less
Advanced fault tolerant drives for safety critical applications. The key aim of this project is to develop an electrical drive system with enhanced tolerance to system faults. The research is significant as it aims to satisfy the demands of emerging high-reliability applications for electric drive systems utilising a patented concentrated-wound permanent magnet machine. Applications for the research include the automotive, aerospace and resource sectors which are global growth sectors. A new hig ....Advanced fault tolerant drives for safety critical applications. The key aim of this project is to develop an electrical drive system with enhanced tolerance to system faults. The research is significant as it aims to satisfy the demands of emerging high-reliability applications for electric drive systems utilising a patented concentrated-wound permanent magnet machine. Applications for the research include the automotive, aerospace and resource sectors which are global growth sectors. A new high-quality model of the machine is expected to be realised. This new model is proposed to then inform the development of suitable control techniques for the machine driven by fault-tolerant inverter topologies. The research is then planned to be demonstrated on prototype research machines and the system performance compared with existing state-of-the-art technology.Read moreRead less
Optimum rotor and concentrated stator-winding structures for improving the torque, field-weakening and power-density characteristics of interior permanent-magnet machines. The successful completion of this project will deliver one of the most energy efficient and compact motor which will meet the expectations of future electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The current generation of surface Permanent Magnet (PM) and Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) motors are not optimized in terms of compactness ....Optimum rotor and concentrated stator-winding structures for improving the torque, field-weakening and power-density characteristics of interior permanent-magnet machines. The successful completion of this project will deliver one of the most energy efficient and compact motor which will meet the expectations of future electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The current generation of surface Permanent Magnet (PM) and Interior Permanent Magnet (IPM) motors are not optimized in terms of compactness, energy-density and efficiency, and torque characteristics. Australia has the world's second largest reserve of the magnet material for IPM machines. It also has a significant niche industry for specialized machine design. These twin advantages should offer Australia huge potential benefits in the world market for electric and hybrid electric vehicles and for substantial reduction in our dependence on importing petrol and greenhouse gas emissions.Read moreRead less