FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers will create solar technologies to strengthen disaster resilience

From left, Yuan Li, assistant professor of electrical and personal computer engineering Eren Ozguven, associate professor of civil engineering and environmental engineering and Simon Foo, professor of electrical and personal computer engineering in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. The trio worked on a project to study modular photovoltaic energy systems to swiftly restore energy soon after organic disasters. (Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)

A group of researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is creating a modular solar electrical energy program that can assist communities preserve energy throughout organic disasters.

The perform is component of a US Division of Power (DOE) initiative identified as the Renewables Advancing Neighborhood Power Resilience (RACER) system, which aims to boost disaster resilience by way of the use of renewable power. DOE has committed $33 million to fund 20 analysis projects across the nation for analysis to assist communities strategy their transition to a clean power future and strengthen grid reliability and safety. This project will acquire funding of three million dollars.

“Intense climate can knock out energy for numerous days, specifically if it damages crucial components of the electrical infrastructure,” mentioned Yuan Li, an assistant professor in the Division of Electrical and Computer system Engineering who is top the project. “Our remedy is to create a program that duplicates that crucial infrastructure as a number of sub-modules, so the electrical program can continue to operate even if a component is compromised.”

Li and her group are creating lightweight, compact inverters for solar energy plants. Inverters, which convert direct existing into alternating existing, assist regulate the flow of electrical energy from energy plants to the energy grid. They are modest adequate that a two-particular person group can set up them without the need of heavy gear, permitting solar plants to swiftly restore energy soon after disruptions, such as the hurricanes that hit Florida in the summer time.

This inverter will have identical modules that deal with diverse components of the solar plant. If poor climate damages component of the inverter, the remaining modules will continue to function. The technologies also enables workers to replace a broken component when the rest of the inverter program is creating energy.

Along with fellow professors from the Division of Electrical and Computer system Engineering, the group involves researchers from the Center for Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response and the University of Florida’s Center for Sophisticated Power Systems. They will also perform with the city of Tallahassee, Florida, Northeastern University and the National Renewable Power Laboratory on the project.

“Constructing neighborhood resilience to deal with organic disasters is an interdisciplinary issue,” mentioned project member Simon Foo, a professor in the Division of Electrical and Computer system Engineering. “A disaster impacts so several elements of a neighborhood, so our response to it wants to take that into account.”