Joseph Attachie

• PhD
• Faculty Training Officer at University of Mines and Technology

Power distribution in Ghana is managed by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which is responsible for ensuring accessibility of electricity to consumers. One of the challenges that affect the effective operation of ECG is the slow response to faults on the overhead distribution lines. Fault detection on the distribution lines is a very tedious...

The provision of universal access to electricity is the ultimate aim of many governments worldwide. This goal is however not easily attained, especially in Sub-Saharan African countries and across many developing nations due to the lack of capital, sufficient generation capacity to meet growing loads, aged or dilapidated transmission and distributi...

This work estimates the annual energy that could be generated from a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. The optimal location used for this analysis was selected based on a set of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods employed in an earlier research. The paper also determines the financial viability of implementing a CSP plant within the s...

With the global demand to increase the level of low-carbon renewable energy resources (RERs) for electric power generation, dwindling fossil fuel reserves, and concerns that fossil fuel emissions are leading to climate change with possibly disastrous consequences, research is underway to discover the probable large-scale usage of RERs that will not...

As a result of dwindling fossil fuel reserves and the negative impact of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on the environment, it is important that the search for a power grid that will comprise of only variable renewable energy (VRE) generation sources such as wind or solar energy which is available everywhere for free is given much attention. The main chal...

The rapid increase in wireless technology has enormously increased wireless control of lighting system in residential, commercial, and industrial settings of many countries across the world. However, this system lacks troubleshooting interface, making it very difficult for the identification of faults in the lighting system. This paper therefore se...

(e rapid increase in wireless technology has enormously increased wireless control of lighting system in residential, commercial, and industrial settings of many countries across the world. However, this system lacks troubleshooting interface, making it very difficult for the identification of faults in the lighting system. (is paper therefore seek...

Thyristor Voltage Controller is one of the well-known techniques used in controlling stator voltage supply of asynchronous motors. However, this technique of controlling motor generates some amount of harmonics in the voltage waveform of the supply. Research has shown that, the presence of harmonics in voltage waveform negatively affects the operat...

The development of cracks on wall structures has drawn researchers' attention to work on an effective way to detect and resolve it. This paper proposes a method of detecting cracks on wall structures through a series of image processing. The series of image processing included: image conversion from Red, Green, Blue (RGB) model to grayscale; image...

Harmonic resonance often manifests as high harmonic voltages in a power system. This produces losses and affects other consumers in the grid negatively. Capacitance switching applications also involve not only interrupting capacitive currents, but also the energizing of capacitor banks, cables and overhead lines. The applications of capacitors are...

In this study, Barlase, a semiconductor laser diode emulation tool, is used to emulate the by-emitter degradation of high power semiconductor laser diodes. Barlase is a software that uses a LabView control interface. We have demonstrated how Barlase works using a hypothetical laser diode bar (multiple emitters) to validate the usefulness of the too...

This study demonstrates the use of Barlase, a semiconductor laser diode emulation tool, to emulate the by-emitter degradation of high power semiconductor laser diodes. Barlase is software that uses a LabView control interface. In this study, a hypothetical laser diode bar (multiple emitters) was used to investigate a damaged single emitter randomly...

In most developing countries, there is a monopoly of electricity generation, transmission and distribution by some governmental agencies, resulting in little or no access to electricity in rural communities where a larger proportion of the population resides. A study of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) in Ghana is presented in this study. The re...

This study seeks to explain the effects of thermal runaway due to current competition between emitters in a laser diode bar using both experimental and simulation results. We have demonstrated a trend due to temperature and the evolution with aging using both experimental and simulation results. By-emitter degradation analysis was performed on two...

Inefficient use of electricity in residences and premises has been identified to be largely due to the use of certain household appliances. Household appliances such as refrigerators, deep freezers, television sets etc, have become an integral part of modern life. Though the power ratings of this equipment are not high, its misuse has led to energy...

This study describes and explores the use of a laser diode simulation tool at the single emitter level of operation and how they can be degraded. A test of the simulation tool is implemented to complement the by-emitter degradation analysis of high power laser diodes. The simulation tool is called Speclase, designed for the simulation of single emi...

In this paper, Barlase has been taken a step further by emulating the degradation processes in high power semiconductor laser bars using an upgraded version of Barlase by the introduction of a global thermal solver to further deepen the understanding of the behaviour of laser bars. In this paper, the emulation of a real laser bar was investigated t...

Electric power providers have a duty to ensure that consumers are supplied with the required voltage level at all times. Unfortunately, considerable levels of voltage drop in the sub-transmission system of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) deprive consumers at the extreme ends of the feeders from quality and reliable power supply. Surprisingly, th...

Utility companies in Ghana estimate that electricity theft costs them over a billion US dollars in annual revenues. The purpose of this work is to provide an algorithm for the design of electricity theft monitoring system which allows violators to be detected at a remote location. It begins with the analysis of losses in electrical power systems. T...

Streetlights in Ghana receive electrical energy from the national grid. To pay for the energy consumed, residential consumers on the grid are levied 0.0001 of their total monthly consumption. Unfortunately, these levies are inadequate to defray the cost. There is therefore the need to look at other alternative sources of electrical power, which do...