Polycrystalline thin-film solar cells have reached a levelized cost of energy that is competitive with all other sources of electricity. The technology has significantly improved in recent years, with laboratory cell efficiencies for cadmium telluride (CdTe), perovskites, and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) each exceeding 22 percent. Both CdTe and CIGS solar panels are now produced at the gigawatt scale. However, there are ongoing challenges, including the continued need to improve performance and stability while reducing cost. Advancing polycrystalline solar cell technology demands an in-depth understanding of efficiency, scaling, and degradation mechanisms, which requires sophisticated characterization methods. These methods will enable reseachers and manufacturers to improve future solar modules and systems. This work provides researchers with a concise overview of the status of thin-film solar cell technology and characterization. Chapters describe material systems and their properties and then provide an in-depth look at relevant characterization methods and the learning facilitated by each of these. Following an introductory chapter, the book provides systematic and thorough coverage of the following topics: trends to improve CdTe solar cell performance; Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and related materials; perovskite solar cells; photovoltaic device modelling; luminescence and thermal imaging of thin-film photovoltaic materials, devices, and modules; application of spatially resolved spectroscopy characterization techniques on Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cells; time-resolved photoluminescence characterization of polycrystalline thin-film solar cells; fundamentals of electrical material and device spectroscopies applied to thin-film polycrystalline chalcogenide solar cells; nanometer-scale characterization of thin-film solar cells by atomic force microscopy-based electrical probes; scanning transmission electron microscopy characterization of solar cells; photoelectron spectroscopy methods in solar cell research; time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry and atom probe tomography; and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance characterization for photovoltaic applications. The final chapter provides an overview and describes future prospects.

This book addresses the very latest research and development issues in high voltage technology and is intended as a reference source for researchers and students in the field, specifically covering developments throughout the last decade.

Research in artificial intelligence has developed many techniques and methodologies that can be adapted or used directly to solve complex power system problems.

The application areas of batteries are currently booming. The recent generation of devices combines a high energy density with a reasonable cost and life expectancy, making them suitable not only for cars but also electric bikes, scooters, forklifts, gardening and household tools, storage batteries as well as airborne applications such as drones, helicopters, and small airplanes. Since manufacturing batteries requires a lot of energy and minerals, extending the life of the battery is worthwhile from both an ecologic and an economic point of view. The use of Battery Management Systems (BMS) can extend battery life, if they are used with a sound understanding of the internal electrical processes. This book provides insight into the electric behaviour of batteries for researchers involved with the design of battery management systems, and experts involved with electric vehicle development. It covers a range of options for designing battery management and cell balancing systems, with a focus on inductive balancing. After an overview of previous and current battery types, chapters convey a number of cell-balancing techniques, such as passive and active equalizer circuits, with a focus on transformer and coupled inductor based balancing methods. In addition, cell voltage monitoring and charging are investigated. Furthermore, solutions are provided to reduce the number of inductive components, the number of windings, and practical implementation.

At the heart of modern power electronics converters are power semiconductor switching devices. The emergence of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices, including silicon carbide and gallium nitride, promises power electronics converters with higher efficiency, smaller size, lighter weight, and lower cost than converters using the established siliconbased devices. However, WBG devices pose new challenges for converter design and require more careful characterization, in particular due to their fast switching speed and more stringent need for protection. Characterization of Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductor Devices presents comprehensive methods with examples for the characterization of this important class of power devices. After an introduction, the book covers pulsed static characterization; junction capacitance characterization; fundamentals of dynamic characterization; gate drive for dynamic characterization; layout design and parasitic management; protection design for double pulse test; measurement and data processing for dynamic characterization; cross-talk consideration; impact of three-phase system; and topology considerations.

District energy (DE) systems use central heating and/or cooling facilities to provide heating and/or cooling services for communities and can be particularly beneficial when integrated with cogeneration plants for electricity and heat. This book provides information on district energy and cogeneration technologies, and the systems that combine them, with a focus on their modelling, analysis and optimization. Topics covered include a brief introduction to district heating and cogeneration; background material on thermodynamics and exergy analyses; models for cogeneration, heating and district heating, and chilling and district cooling; descriptions and analyses of configurations for integrating cogeneration and DE technologies; economics of cogeneration and DE; environmental impact of cogeneration systems, including wastes and carbon dioxide emissions and their allocations; modelling and optimization of cogeneration-based district energy systems accounting for economics and environmental impact; developments and advances in technologies and systems for cogeneration and DE; and future directions. Examples and case studies are included throughout the book to illustrate the material covered, and to demonstrate the importance, benefits and value of cogeneration and district energy technologies in achieving sustainable and efficient energy systems.

Cogeneration, also called combined heat and power (CHP), refers to the use of a power station to deliver two or more useful forms of energy, for example, to generate electricity and heat at the same time. All conventional, fuel-based plants generate heat as by-product, which is often carried away and wasted. Cogeneration captures part of this heat for delivery to consumers and is thus a thermodynamically efficient use of fuel, and contributes to reduction of carbon emissions. This book provides an integrated treatment of cogeneration, including a tour of the available technologies and their features, and how these systems can be analysed and optimised. Topics covered include benefits of cogeneration; cogeneration technologies; electrical engineering aspects; applications of cogeneration; fuels for cogeneration systems; thermodynamic analysis; environmental impacts of cogeneration; reliability and availability; economic analysis of cogeneration systems; regulatory and legal frameworks; selection, integration and operation of cogeneration systems; simulation and optimisation; synthesis, design and operation; examples of cogeneration projects; research and development of cogeneration; summary and conclusions. This book is intended for instructors and students at advanced undergraduate as well as graduate level, for professional engineers who design, build and operate cogeneration systems, and for researchers on analysis and optimisation of energy systems.

The intermittency of renewable energy sources is making increased deployment of storage technology necessary. Technologies are needed with high round-trip efficiency and at low cost to allow renewables to undercut fossil fuels. The cost of lithium batteries has fallen, but producing them comes with a substantial carbon footprint, as well as a cost to the local environment. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) uses excess electricity, particularly from wind farms, to compress air. Re-expansion of the air then drives machinery to recoup the electric power. Prototypes have capacities of several hundred MW. Challenges lie in conserving the thermal energy associated with compressing air and leakage of that heat, materials, power electronics, connection with the power generator, and grid integration. This comprehensive book provides a systematic overview of the current state of CAES technology. After an introduction to motivation and principles, the key components are covered, and then the principal types of systems in the order of technical maturity: diabatic, adiabatic, and isothermal. Experts from industry write about their experiences with existing major systems and prototypes. Economic aspects, power electronics and machinery, as well as special systems for offshore applications, are dealt with. Researchers in academia and industry alike, in particular at energy storage technology manufacturers and utilities, as well as advanced students and energy experts in think tanks will find this work valuable reading.

Condition monitoring of engineering plant has increased in importance as engineering processes are automated and manpower is reduced. However, electrical machinery receives attention only at infrequent intervals when plant is shut down and the application of protective relays to machines has also reduced operator surveillance. A first edition of Condition Monitoring of Electrical Machines, written by Tavner and Penman, was published in 1987. The economics of industry have now changed, as a result of the privatisation and deregulation of the energy industry, placing emphasis on the importance of reliable operation of plant, throughout the whole life cycle, regardless of first cost. The availability of advanced electronics and software in powerful instrumentation, computers, and digital signal processors (DSP) has simplified our ability to instrument and analyse machinery. As a result condition monitoring is now being applied to a wider range of systems, from fault-tolerant drives of a few hundred watts in the aerospace industry, to machinery of a few hundred megawatts in major capital plant. In this new book the original authors have been joined by Ran, an expert in power electronics and control, and Sedding, an expert in the monitoring of electrical insulation systems. Together the authors have revised and expanded the earlier book, merging their own experience with that of machine analysts to bring it up to date. The book is aimed at professional engineers in the energy, process engineering and manufacturing industries, plus research workers and students.

Offers a theoretical and practical treatment of both conduction and induction heating, comprising four parts: conduction theory, induction theory, heat flow, and practice.