Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
30 Power Outlet Quality and Submeter System
Nicole Viz
Roshan Mahesh
Soham Manjrekar
Surya Vasanth design_document1.pdf
design_document2.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
proposal2.pdf
video1.mov
video2.mov
# Power Outlet Quality and Submeter System Project

Team Members:
- Nicole Viz (nviz2)
- Soham Manjrekar (sohammm2)
- Roshan Mahesh (roshanm2)

# Problem

In the rapidly evolving field of power electronics and energy technologies, maintaining consistent and high-quality power distribution and energy usage is critical for residential and commercial buildings. Using submeters can help create energy savings, lower operating costs, increase building efficiency and reliability, and improve occupant comfort. Devices today have several drawbacks, however. They can be cost-inefficient, complex to operate and to read, and they may lack real-time insights. Additionally, they may not employ sufficient power quality monitoring. These shortcomings can lead to difficulty in meeting recent sustainability efforts, and as such, an innovative solution is needed.

# Solution

For our project, we’d like to design and construct an improved device that monitors power quality and acts as a submeter to its loads – a device that is cost-effective, has high-fidelity data acquisition, and operates with an intuitive user interface LCD screen. Our project will solve the problems listed above by combining a power quality monitor along with a submeter in a cost-effective manner that stores real-time data and loads the data to a database that can be accessed through a website. More detailed specifications are presented below. We’ve divided our project into the following subsystems: Microcontroller/Software, Sensors and ICs, and Power. Note: We’ve looked into the work of a group who did a similar project last year and discussed some of the issues they faced; portions of this work will hopefully build on that and improve upon them.

# Solution Components

- Microcontroller/Software
1. ESP-32 or similar
- Offers DSP
- WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity
- Allows for expansion GPIO to add additional storage
- Low power draw
2. SD Card Module
- To save data in the event of power loss
3. Google Cloud hosting MySQL database or similar
- Any online cheap database management system
- Sensors and ICs
1. Voltage Sensing via Voltage Divider
2. Current Transformer (PA1005.070QNL by Pulse Electronics), measures current as well
3. ADE9153A
- Single Phase Energy Metering IC
4. ADE9430
- Power Quality Metering IC
- Power
1. 5V Li ion Battery (or can investigate other battery options if there are safety concerns with Li ion)
2. 3.3V Linear Regulator (to power PCB with IC’s and microcontroller)

# Criterion for Success

Our criterion for success is divided up into the following 5 categories: software, operation, power quality measurement, submeter measurement, and miscellaneous. These are our criteria for success:
- Software
1. Online database that holds data such as timestamp, voltage, current, power, time of harmonic disturbances/power outages/voltage changes larger than 5%
- Upload data to database every 15 minutes using WiFi/bluetooth
2. Displays waveforms of power outlet current and voltage
3. Displays whether or not there’s a power quality issue (for harmonic disturbances/power outages/voltage changes larger than 5%), the type of issue, followed by a notification
- Operation
1. Self powering our device for at least 24 hours
- Power Quality Measurement
1. Record harmonic disturbances 20 ms before and after
2. Record voltage changes larger than 5%, or power failures
3. Send this data to database when failures/disturbances occur
- Submeter Measurement
1. Measure voltage, current, power of electrical load
2. Have an LCD Screen displaying instantaneous voltage, current, power
- Miscellaneous / Stretch Goals
1. Keep construction costs as low as reasonably possible
2. Make device lean and visually tidy

Active Cell Balancing for Solar Vehicle Battery Pack

Tara D'Souza, John Han, Rohan Kamatar

Featured Project

# Problem

Illini Solar Car (ISC) utilizes lithium ion battery packs with 28 series modules of 15 parallel cells each. In order to ensure safe operation, each battery cell must remain in its safe voltage operating range (2.5 - 4.2 V). Currently, all modules charge and discharge simultaneously. If any single module reaches 4.2V while charging, or 2.5V while discharging, the car must stop charging or discharging, respectively. During normal use, it is natural for the modules to become unbalanced. As the pack grows more unbalanced, the capacity of the entire battery pack decreases as it can only charge and discharge to the range of the lowest capacity module. An actively balanced battery box would ensure that we utilize all possible charge during the race, up to 5% more charge based on previous calculations.

# Solution Overview

We will implement active balancing which will redistribute charge in order to fully utilize the capacity of every module. This system will be verified within a test battery box so that it can be incorporated into future solar vehicles.

Solution Components:

- Test Battery Box (Hardware): The test battery box provides an interface to test new battery management circuitry and active balancing.

- Battery Sensors (Hardware): The current battery sensors for ISC do not include hardware necessary for active balancing. The revised PCB will include the active balancing components proposed below while also including voltage and temperature sensing for each cell.

- Active Balancing Circuit (Hardware): The active balancing circuit includes a switching regulator IC, transformers, and the cell voltage monitors.

- BMS Test firmware (Software): The Battery Management System requires new firmware to control and test active balancing.

# Criterion for Success

- Charge can be redistributed from one module to another during discharge and charge, to be demonstrated by collected data of cell voltages over time.

- BMS can control balancing.

- The battery pack should always be kept within safe operating conditions.

- Test battery box provides a safe and usable platform for future tests.