OU Engineers Help Build Power Grid of the Future

-

There’s no doubt that today’s electric grid is aging and being pushed to do more than intended. Extreme weather, natural disasters and increased demand – all are taking a toll on America’s century-old infrastructure.

Across the globe, hundreds of researchers have dedicated their careers to studying renewable energy to help reduce carbon emissions and energy independence. In September, University of Oklahoma assistant professor Jie Cai, Ph.D., and a team of researchers were awarded funding to study thermal energy storage in commercial and residential buildings to promote renewable energy utilization. 

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Establish Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Cai’s project was one of 29 new projects nationwide to receive research funding totaling $21 million.

The project is titled “Aging-Aware Management of Motorized Energy Storage for Grid Flexibility Provision.” Paul Moses, Ph.D., an assistant professor in OU’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Bo Shen, Ph.D., a senior research and development scientist at the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center at Oak Ridge National Labs, collaborate with Cai. 

“Our project aims to unlock the flexibility potential of demand-side resources and promote deeper renewable energy utilization by significantly reducing the lifecycle management and grid integration costs,” said Cai who joined the OU School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in 2017.

Cai points out that real-time supply and demand balance is the key to the stable and reliable operation of the electric grid.

“The intermittency and uncertainty of renewable resources, such as solar and wind, pose challenges for maintaining real-time supply and demand balances. These challenges lead to a growing demand for fast-ramping resources such as diesel and natural gas generators to compensate for imbalances, which in turn increases the grid integration cost of renewable energy,” Cai said.

Philani Hlanze (left), a doctoral student
 in mechanical engineering,
with Jie Cai, assistant professor in AME.

One effective measure to cut the renewable integration cost is to make better use of the existing motorized energy storage systems, which refer to storage technologies that rely on electric motors to drive the energy charge and discharge processes, Cai says.

Prominent examples include pumped storage hydropower and heat pump-driven thermal storage in buildings. “However, the impact of flexibility provision on the lifetime of motorized energy storage is largely unknown and represents a major deterrent to their widespread adoption in the electricity market,” Cai said. 

Ultimately, the researchers want to develop a numerical model that can predict the aging of electric motors under different control conditions, as well as leverage the motor aging model for the synthesis of an improved control strategy to minimize the aging effect of grid flexibility provision. 

Project findings are anticipated to address equipment reliability and lifetime concerns and promote the participation of motorized energy storage in the electricity market. 

About the equipment: Cai and Hlanze are shown in a testing facility that holds a psychrometric chamber used to reproduce climate conditions for any location and to experimentally evaluate the energy efficiency of air-conditioning/heat pump systems. The chamber can accommodate testing of heat pump equipment up to 10 tons with a temperature range from minus 20 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius. The York unit is a full variable-speed heat pump with a SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) value of 21, one of the most efficient units on the market, Cai says. Cai and his team have retrofitted the unit into a flexible testbed for developing and testing advanced control algorithms geared toward next-generation cold climate heat pumps. 

To learn more about the Gallogly College of Engineering, visit ou.edu/coe.

By Lorene A. Roberson, OU Gallogly College of Engineering




Popular posts from this blog

OU Engineering Students Shine in Community Projects

-
Image
At the University of Oklahoma, a transformative course called Pathways to Engineering Thinking is leaving a mark on OU students and the community. In the first-year engineering course, over 800 students across 16 sections collaborated to tackle real-world challenges presented by community partners. Their projects ranged from developing prosthetic limbs for injured animals to creating innovative solutions for community gardens and zoos. The course aims to guide students through the engineering design process, emphasizing collaborative teamwork and problem-solving skills.  This semester’s projects reached many areas of the community. Partnerships with the OU Food Pantry, OU Community Garden, Oklahoma City Zoo, OU Engineering K-12 Outreach, a local dog rescue and the City of Norman provided students with real-world challenges to address. Each team delved into issues presented by the partners, working toward delivering functional design solutions by the semester’s end. The heart of the cou
Read more

OU Students Take on Habitat Challenge: Sooners Without Borders Constructs Ramp, More in Iowa

-
Image
In early January, six students from Sooners Without Borders at the University of Oklahoma headed to Des Moines, Iowa, teaming up with Habitat for Humanity. Their goal: construct an accessibility ramp for a local family. Their mission was part of Habitat’s Collegiate Challenge program, providing year-round volunteer opportunities for college students. The students, all from the Gallogly College of Engineering at OU, embraced the challenge. Formerly Engineers Without Borders, Sooners Without Borders had changed its name to be more inclusive of all majors at OU, says Lisa Morales, the group's staff adviser. “A lot of projects used to focus on clean water and students had the opportunity to travel abroad. Once Covid happened, we had to shift the focus of Sooner Without Borders,” Morales said.  In Des Moines, the project expanded beyond the ramp, involving tasks like installing kitchen cabinets and flooring for a new home. Morales says she was impressed with the student’s adeptness with
Read more

OU Engineering Welcomes 14 New Faculty Members for 2023-24

-
Image
OU Engineering has welcomed 14 new faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year. This marks a milestone in the college's growth journey, with faculty numbers increasing from just over 100 in 2017 to 175 in 2023. OU Engineering is committed to expanding its faculty ranks, aiming for over 200 faculty members by the 2025-26 academic year, says OU Engineering Dean John Klier. To achieve this goal, the college has initiated more than 20 faculty searches. The State of Oklahoma continues to acknowledge the need for more engineers. They recently responded to OU Engineering’s request for additional recurring funding. The funding will play a crucial role in offering undergraduate student tuition waivers, supporting graduate students and helping recruit new faculty and staff. These positions will be phased in over the next three years. "OU Engineering extends its gratitude for the ongoing support from the State of Oklahoma as it continues to address the growing demand for engineers,&quo
Read more