This award supports international research experience for students in a project by Dr. Issa Batarseh, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, Florida in collaboration with Dr. Ahmed Harb, Department of Electrical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Irbid, Jordan. The project will support at least eight US students to perform power electronics research in Jordan. This 8 week long summer project will run for three consecutive summers starting in May 2007. The students, six undergraduate and four graduate, will come from the UCF and will work alongside students and faculty of Electrical Engineering at JUST. The project will focus on power conversion technologies (inverters) for photovoltaic applications and will expose students to the dynamics of research in international and multi-cultural settings. Renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaic systems are of interest to the United States and Jordan as each nation is looking at diversifying their energy supply portfolios. Bringing together students and faculty from both nations to work towards this common goal will provide US participants with a solid foundation for future collaborative efforts, which are necessary for the United States to maintain its competitive edge.
Intellectual merit: The objective of the proposed collaboration is to improve on inverter technology for photovoltaic systems. A strong emphasis will be put on increasing inverter functionality through digital control techniques. The specific intellectual merits include: 1. Systematic comparative analysis of single and two stage inverter technologies. The measure of merits will include efficiency, reliability and cost. 2. Consolidation of all control functions into a digital controller. This approach will add more versatility to the inverter and make it suitable for a wide range of custom-applications. 3. Development of a comprehensive inverter design automated tool through software or combination of software such as PSpice, Saber, MathCAD, and Matlab. Other software design tools such as C++ may be used to ensure wider portability across a wide range of design platform.
Broader impact: International research collaboration is necessary to help create a venue to promote the exchange of intellectual knowledge, to stimulate growth of local economies, and to foster a spirit of cooperation in engineering research and education globally. The proposed project has the potential to: 1. excite and motivate young electrical engineers to specialize in the area of renewable energy systems and power electronics, 2. strengthen the scientific and technological capabilities of the United States through the integration of research and engineering education in the area of renewable energy systems and power electronics, 3. broaden and expand relations between the extensive scientific and technological communities of electrical engineers in the United States and abroad.
