Help....need some project ideas.....power electronics

What do you call power?
Give a target current and voltage.
What do you mean by 'embedded systems' ? This term is often missused, a s'ystem' to do what? Any microcontroller circuit with inputs and outputs is virtually an embedded system.A box with a PC in it is not .

The more information you give, the more likely you are to get a response.
What topics interest and excite you?

I'd say electric vehicle motor control was power electronics and certainly difficult/interesting enough.

Del

Hey Del,

can u please explain a little elaborately about the electric vehicle control ?.....I think that is a good idea and want to look into it more....my email ID is jvikramin@gmail.com

This link will show you how little I know about the subject, and yet this was dificult enough as high currents are involved.
Power electronics isn't my field.

Del

I agree that vehicle motor control is a topic that has interested me and I'd thought of dabbling myself but, not while my overly curious children (all chips off the old block) have prodding fingers and the desire to poke things with screwdrivers, will I be able to get anything significant started.

Hey, my friend ! it's better U refer the book " Power electronics devices and applications" by Ned mOHAN

Geeehh... I will probably recomend you to stop by one of these electronics stores like 'Radio Shack' or something like that since they many times have some good booklets for projects with instructions in it with pictorials and or pictures. You'll get it somehow.

Hi-Tech Time,

MC

Hey thanks for the suggestion man....but i'm in India BTW....Chennai....I'll try ur idea anyways....

Hi vj,

Power electronics is such a vast subject that un less you narrow down your area of interest it is difficult to suggest a practically workable project. If you are a final year engineering student it is too late now to start a project. Normally students finalise their project in their third year itself as any good project which can be presented to any good university will take more than an year's time. Any project from an industrial unit will be more appropriate as you will get financial and technical help from them. A decision of a project will depend on the country you are studying and the standard of the university and what standard of project they expect from an engineering student. For an example project on Inverters , choppers and cycloconverters can be selected if you have a factory manufacturing UPS and Inverters. Similarly any project of DC or AC motor drives can be chosen. Most of the Industrial organisations provide facility for students to do projects in their factory provided you approach them with some innovative ideas related to their products.

I think you should make an intelligent power supply... an AC to DC switch-mode power supply with an embedded microcontroller that provides the capability to vary (in the digital domain) the output voltage, the current limit setpoint in the buck converter, and the output waveform so it can work as a high-power function generator (saw, sine, etc.).

You mention "power electronics" and then everyone starts talking about fairly "normal" stuff. When I saw "power" electronics I started thinking of million Volt Dc transmission lines with inverters and such, or at least 330kV on AC systems.

Switchgear reliability has always been an interesting area, metering and understanding actual line losses would also be another area for a project.

If you are in India, then monitoring line reliability and delivery efficiency might be an interesting field. Metering power into a transmission line and simultaneously metering power delivered at the customer end to determine transmission line losses and then determining how much is system based (transformer hysteresis, wire resistance and so on) and how much is environmental (humidity on insulators, atmospheric conditions etc.) and finaly how much is irresponsible activity by those not paying for power.

The beauty of embedded systems (read "smart microprocessors with good code") with a radio link is that you would be able to know that the power delivered by the generator is actually being delivered to the paying customers. I know that such a feature would be of significant use in some areas near Noida.

From India, OK how about powering a bicycle (front wheel) with a type of PM servo motor (Inside-out ). The windings are wound on what would be the stationary roter and th PM permanent magnets are on what wound be the rotating stator-No slip rings. These motors are manufactured Maybe you can Hack some existing servo motor.

Power elctronics for the Drive to match the inside-out servo moter unique in itself

Embedded control of the servo-drive is necessary for the unique load of a bicycle