PAST PROJECTS

_

In 2017, EMPOWER was fortunate to be part of a team to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Wave Energy Prize. Wave energy converters harness potential and kinetic energy from ocean waves and process that energy into electrical energy. This contest was centered on finding the most cost conscious and technically competitive wave energy converter. Other projects include fault tolerant multi-level power converters. This research focused on finding operational modes that maintained full rated output power and quality in the event that the converter experienced internal faults of components or faulty operating conditions.

< Scroll down to see past projects >

NASA PROJECT

NASA SUGAR VOLT PROJECT

AVIATION

_

Marquette University is partnering with University of Wisconsin-Madison as a part of a NASA University Leadership Initiative (ULI) led by Ohio State. The focus of the project is to develop next generation high specific power electrical components to enable aerospace commercial hybrid propulsion. The team at Marquette will focus on the electrical machines (motors and generators) design aspects with special focus on design challenges related to higher system voltage at altitude, winding design and concepts for thermal management.

Contact Ayman EL-Refaie for more information.

MULTI-LEVEL CONVERTER

MULTI-LEVEL CONVERTER

ENERGY

_

In safety-critical applications, fault tolerance and resilience of power electronic converters is paramount. For multilevel power converters, the probability of device failures is escalated because of increased part count and system complexity.
Although the larger number of switches in a converter leads to a more sophisticated control scheme, the application of fault-tolerant power converters can be justified in safety-critical missions where the continuous operating availability of power converters is given higher priority. These applications include the emerging more-electric aircrafts (MEA), uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), high-power medical instruments, renewable energy conversion for grid applications, electric/hybrid vehicles (EV/HEV), and the like.

Contact us for more information.

WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER

WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER PROJECT

ENERGY

-

Marquette University competed in the DOE Wave Energy Prize as part of Team RTI. Marquette University was the electrical engineering lead and designed the data acquisition system, power electronics, electric machine, control system, and electronic brake. Team RTI was a finalist in the DOE competition and traveled to Carderock, Maryland. The team completed testing for one week at the US Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division. Team RTI ultimately finished in fifth place out of nine finalists

Contact us for more information.

WANT MORE INFORMATION?