Department | Electrical Technologies for Digital Energy Equipment

Mission

The Electrical Technologies for Digital Energy laboratory (TE4DE) was established in September 2023 with the aim of promoting research and technological development in the electrical sector.

The enhancement of digitalization of electrical infrastructures, combined with technological advances in real-time computing and communication capabilities, is at the heart of the transformation of the global operating model of electrical distribution networks. This transformation requires the development of new approaches for intelligent energy management, from production to end-use.

Design and testing of new devices with high capabilities of data processing and information elaboration aimed to make more efficient the electrical energy distribution and promote the development of renewable sources, also by accounting energy storage systems, is the main mission of all the activities hosted in the laboratory.

Activities

The lab activities are equally distributed between:

1. experimental tests on energy conversion devices and circuits
2. simulations by using circuital and/or behavioral models of complex electrical systems

both activities are aimed at studying and developing innovative technologies for the efficient and intelligent management of electrical energy using renewable sources and new digital tools.

Particular attention is paid to the following topics:

• control circuits and techniques for the grid connection of photovoltaic systems
• monitoring and diagnosis of renewable sources and storage systems
• energy management algorithms and forecasting models of energy productivity of renewable sources and energy consumption
• development on embedded systems of controllers and algorithms for energy management and electrical systems optimization.
• circuits for energy regulation in electric vehicle charging systems and energy storage
• real-time simulations and digital twin of complex electrical circuits

The laboratory hosts collaborations with national and international industries and research institutions among them:

• Bitron Industrie S.p.A;
• FuturaSun, italian photovoltaic panels producer;
• Italian National Research Council -Institute of Marine Engineering – Palermo
• Politecnico di Milano – SolarTechLab
• Università degli Studi di Napoli – Federico II
• Politecnico di Bari
• Cergy Paris University, SATIE Lab.
• Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Teaching

In addition to the university staff such as teachers, researchers and research fellows, the laboratory hosts undergraduates and graduates of the master's degree courses and PhD students of DIEM. The students in some cases are directly involved in research activities and projects and are supported by scholarships, research grants and collaboration contracts financed by the University and companies. The aim is to promote the development of high-level skills in the field of production and management of energy from renewable sources as well as on systems interconnection for energy distribution to facilitate the access of graduates into qualified companies operating in the energy sector.

Laboratory equipment

In lab is available the following instrumentations and equipment for testing devices and circuits for energy conversion:

• Impedance Spectroscopy BioLogic SP-200 (100mHz-3MHz; ±500mA; ±12V)
• Impedance Spectroscopy booster BioLocic HCV3048 (500kHz; ±30A; 0-48V)
• Oscilloscope Tektronix DPO3034 Digital Phosphor, 300 MHz 4 Channels
• Oscilloscope Lecroy Wavesurfer WS3054 4 Channels - 500MHz - 4GS/s
• Power Analyzer Yokogawa WT3000, Accuracy 0.02%
• Function Generator DiGiMess FG100
• Bipolar Power Supply/ Power Amplifier - Kepco -BOP 20-20D (±20V ±20A)
• Single Power Supply Hewlett Packard HP6030A, 1000W, 200V/17A
• DC Power Supply TTI QPx1200L 1200 Watt PowerFlex - 60V, 50A max.
• Triple Power Supply TTi EX354RD, 300W, 2x35V/4A, 1x5V/5A
• Triple Power Supply DeltaElektronika EST150, 2x20V/2.5A, 1x10V/5A
• Battery charger 12V/30A – 24V/15A
• Flexible Photovoltaic panels for mobility applications
• Single face and bifacial PV panels for stand-alone and residential applications

For the simulations and testing of complex networks and energy conversion circuits is possible to have access, either directly or by remote connection, to the following real-time simulator:

• OPAL-RT OP4512 (FPGA 4 cores; Intel® Xeon® E3-1240 v6 Processor 4 cores, 3.7 GHz; Xilinx Kintex®-7 410T FPGA)
• OPAL-RT/Imperix Power Modules Interface Board for Hardware in the Loop operation with
  • #2 PEB8038- Half-bridge SiC Module 38A/800V
  • #2 PEB4050 - IGBT Half-Bridge Power Module 400V 50A

Development boards for testing on embedded systems algorithm and software:

• STM32 microelectroinics boards for motor control and power electronic interfaces
• Raspberry PI3 e Raspberry PI4
• PIC development board MikroElektronika EASYPIC6
• FPGA reconfigurable control & monitoring system NI CompactRIO
• MICROCHIP 16-BIT 28-PIN Starter Development Board
• MICROCHIP Explorer 16-BIT Development Board
• 2 MICROCHIP MPLAB ICD3 In-Circuit Debugger
• Opal Kelly XEM 3010Xilinx Spartan-3 FPGA Integration Module
• Motor Control Development for TMS320F2808 eZdspTM with Socket
• C2000 Renewable Energy Developer's Kit TMDSENRGYKIT
• C2000 DC/DC Developer's Kit TMDSDCDC8KIT
• C2000 Digital Power Experimenter Kit TMDSDCDC2KIT
• DC/DC LED Developer's Kit TMDSDCDCLEDKIT