Texas A&M at Qatar students present research papers at IEEE
Published Jul 29, 2020
Three teams of electrical and computer engineering students recently presented papers at the at the 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC).
Recent graduates Abdelrahman Amer ’20, Seif Elgazar ’20 and Nabila ElBeheiry ’20 presented their paper, “A Techno-Economic Study of Rooftop Grid-Connected Photovoltaic-Energy Storage Systems in Qatar,” based on their senior design capstone project. They investigated techniques of optimal sizing the photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage system (ESS) components for a residential-based hybrid system in Qatar and techniques used for optimization, including load modulation to minimize overall installation and operating costs. The result of this study presents the implementation steps of an economically feasible PV-ESS grid-connected system in the State of Qatar and can also be used to set energy policies in Qatar. In February 2020, the team presented a concept of their project to Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, at the I AM QF event.
Undergraduate research scholars Rahul Balamurugan ’20, Fatima Al-Janahi ’20 and Oumaima Bouhali ’23 presented a poster on their paper, “Fourier Transform and Short-Time Fourier Transform Decomposition for Photovoltaic Arc Fault Detection.” The paper presents the development of an automated arc generator testbed for the in-situ generation and analysis of DC arcs, and a comparison of the Fast Fourier Transform and Short-Time Fourier Transform in analyzing the generated DC arcs. This publication was made possible by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund, a member of Qatar Foundation. Balamurugan and Al-Janahi received the Outstanding Thesis Award in STEM from Texas A&M’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program for their work on this project. The project was part of the Undergraduate Research Experience Program by the Qatar National Research Fund.
Safin Bayes ’21 and research assistant Sawsan Shukri ’19 presented their paper, “Parameter Extraction Testbed to Optimize Interconnections of Non-Planar Photovoltaics.” The paper presents results from an experimental study using a new testbed that was developed to extract PV parameters in-situ. The experimental testbed is flexible, scalable and suitable for research and development of non-planar PV applications. The benefit of this testbed is to collect data considering factors like cell aging, partial shading, and temperature effects. Such factors are not accounted for in the manufacturer’s datasheets. The experimental setup is used to obtain i-v and p-v curves of various PV array configurations to extract parameters that can be used model, simulate and emulate the operation of the non-planar PV systems. The project was inspired by one of Dr. Robert Balog’s National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) projects funded by QNRF.
The projects were supervised by Dr. Robert Balog as part of ECEN 491 where undergraduate students conduct research under the mentorship of a faculty member.
“I am very pleased by the outstanding work by Abdelrahman, Seif, Nabila, Rahul, Fatima, Oumaima, Safin, and Sawsan,” said Dr. Balog, professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. “These students should all be proud of their accomplishments – it is rare for undergraduate students to have research results that are of a significant nature to pass scientific review and be selected for presentation at a top international conference. Their research contributions are commensurate with a Masters of Science student, and showcases the potential for excellence of our undergraduate students at Texas A&M at Qatar.”