HARRISBURG, Pa. — Peter Idowu, assistant dean for graduate studies and professor of electrical engineering in Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, and Scott Van Tonningen, associate director for graduate programs and senior lecturer in electrical engineering in the school, have received a $276,000 research grant through the Office of Naval Research’s Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).
DURIP provides funding for institutions to acquire equipment to augment current or develop new research capabilities relevant to the Department of Defense.
Idowu and Van Tonningen’s project is to design, build and operate a 45-kilowatt laboratory scale plug-and-play microgrid test bed. Small-scale power grids, microgrids can be used, for example, as back-up power to an area’s main grid during periods of heavy electricity usage, Idowu said.
“We are working to find ways to adequately evaluate the impact of various technologies integrated into microgrids before they are fully deployed,” he said. “Hardware-based test beds are more desirable for testing and evaluation than software simulations because test bed systems can include features that closely approximate a real distributed generation environment.”
The proposed test bed at Penn State Harrisburg will include a range of features with the scope and flexibility to serve diverse needs for student learning and for conducting research, including graduate level research, graduate and undergraduate education in smart grids, and outreach to support industry product testing, research and development.
“It will also offer an easy and user-friendly environment to integrate new devices, new control/operation algorithms, diverse communication protocols, and to evaluate microgrid system and component performance,” Van Tonningen said.
The proposed project builds upon an original test-bed prototype currently located at Penn State Harrisburg’s PPL Electric Utilities Power Laboratory.
“Our existing prototype, initially designed around some aging and reconditioned hardware systems offers fewer options to integrate new technologies, limiting the range of studies that can be carried out,” Idowu said. “However, the experience we gained in its design, construction and operation will be very helpful in building this new, significantly enhanced system.”