Johan Driesen's research while affiliated with KU Leuven and other places
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Publications (311)
This paper introduces the District Optimization Testing (DOPTEST) concept, which naturally extends from the Building Optimization Testing (BOPTEST) framework, for simulation-based testing of advanced control strategies in districts. While the focus of the BOPTEST framework is on individual building control, DOPTEST is meant to assess system integra...
Optimization of thermostatically controlled loads, such as heat pumps, using data-driven models can significantly reduce domestic energy consumption besides providing critical grid services. However, these data-driven models often require a prohibitive amount of data before reaching sufficient accuracy for individual devices. Centralized or collabo...
In the literature, when optimizing the sizing and operation of a residential PV system in combination with a battery energy storage system, the efficiency of the battery and the converter is generally assumed constant, which corresponds to a linear loss model that can be readily integrated in an optimization model. However, this assumption does not...
The evaluation of differences between the electric
vehicle (EV) charging architectures is a crucial point in choosing
between AC and DC charging solutions, given the diverse
requirements of various use cases (e.g. workplace charging).
This research paper presents a model and simulation of EV
charging architectures, including the grid, photovoltaic...
GaN components allow to reduce power losses as the lower specific on-resistance and higher switching speeds reduce both the conduction and switching loss. However, parasitics in the gate loop cause ringing which endangers the component. To counteract these problems the switching speed is lowered renouncing part of the components superior performanc...
Automated demand response programs are being increasingly used to address voltage and congestion issues on the low-voltage distributed grid due to rapid proliferation of distributed energy resources and demand electrification. Data-driven methods, such as reinforcement learning (RL), can help realize these solutions in practice. However, these algo...
Energy communities will play a central role in the sustainable energy transition by helping inform and engage end users to become more responsible consumers of energy. However, the true potential of energy communities can only be unlocked at scale. This scalability requires data-driven solutions that model not just the behaviour of building occupan...
In building-integrated photovoltaics or BIPV, the solar cell module not only functions as energy source, but also acts as a structural element of the building. Curtain wall elements are abundantly applied in the construction sector and are particularly suitable for BIPV applications. Unfortunately, electrical cables must connect the outside solar m...
Façade building-integrated photovoltaics is a technology that transforms a passive façade into a distributed, renewable electrical generator by the inclusion of solar cells in the building envelope. Partial shading due to nearby objects is a typical problem for façade building-integrated photovoltaics as it strongly reduces the output power of the...
The built environment is responsible for more than a third of total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in both Europe and North America. Electrification of heat and transport, as well as decarbonization through efficiency improvements and distributed energy resources is paving the way for a more sustainable built environment. Today, in...
The operational expenditures of solar energy are gaining attention because of the continuous decrease of the capital expenditures. This creates a demand for more reliable systems to further decrease the costs. Increased reliability is often ensured by iterative use of design for reliability. The number of iterations that can take place strongly dep...
In this article, a family of interleaved high-step-down dc–dc converters is proposed integrating the
valley-fill
switched capacitor structure and a double-series capacitor Buck converter. This integration generates three converters, which will be extensively explored herein via theoretical and experimental analysis. A complete theoretical analysi...
Low Voltage DC microgrids emerge as a viable alternative to AC microgrids. A large research interest is noted towards fast and selective protection of DC grids, typically focusing on hybrid or full solid state solutions. In this paper, the use of fuses as short-circuit protection in Low Voltage DC microgrids is evaluated. The main advantage of fuse...
Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems may be catalyzers of sustainable, near-zero energy buildings. To maximize the benefits of employing BIPV, it is important to integrate them properly into the grid of the building. The discussion on AC versus DC distribution for microgrid and nanogrid backbones is currently revisited as the level of pe...
![Figure 2. Example of a ZVT network added to a converter [62].](profile/Wilmar-Martinez/publication/339270929/figure/fig1/AS:858468089069574@1581686150987/Example-of-a-ZVT-network-added-to-a-converter-62_Q320.jpg)
State-of-the-art reliability assessment typically starts from a given circuit topology, for which the most suitable components are selected using a Physics of Failure analysis. This paper, however, addresses the topology selection stage, which is the foundation in designing reliable converters. Based on an overview of the reliability performance of...
This paper evaluates the power conversion efficiency of the buck three-level DC-DC converter, when operating in unbalanced bipolar DC microgrids. Bipolar DC microgrids adopt a positive, neutral and negative wire to double the power transfer capability, reduce conduction losses and provide two voltage levels. Additional converters are however requir...
This study proposes a step‐down converter based on the non‐synchronous series‐capacitor buck converter. Instead of the regular capacitor of the series topology, the Valley‐Fill capacitor‐diode structure is inserted in order to extend the step‐down conversion ratio of the converter from D/2 to D/3, which leads to a gain ranging from 0 to 1/6, since...
![Figure 6: Mean Absolute Error [kWh] as a function of increasing data...](profile/Hussain-Kazmi/publication/335526620/figure/fig5/AS:798026239070208@1567275690406/Mean-Absolute-Error-kWh-as-a-function-of-increasing-data-collection-weeks-and-agency_Q320.jpg)
Hot water systems represent a substantial energy draw for most residential buildings. For design and operational optimization, they are usually either modelled by domain experts or through black-box models which makes use of sensor data. However, given the wide variability in hot water systems, it is impractical for a domain expert to individually...
This paper will revise, experimentally investigate, and discuss the main application challenges related to gallium nitride power semiconductors in switch-mode power converters. Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices are inherently gaining space in the market. Due to its high switching speed and operational switching frequency, challenges related to the circ...
As compared to two‐wire, unipolar DC microgrids (DCμGs), bipolar DCμGs apply a positive, neutral and negative conductor to increase the power transfer capability while retaining two voltage levels for supplying low‐ and high‐power devices at an appropriate voltage. However, connecting devices between the positive or negative pole and the neutral co...
...Designing the electrical system with string inverters and a possible wide variety of module sizes and technologies is a challenging task. To overcome this issue, Module-Level Converters (MLCs) can be used. A supplementary benefit is that the consequences of partial shading can strongly be reduced. This paper investigates whether the current gene...
The quest to increase the efficiency and power density of power electronics converters in electric vehicles and elsewhere, puts stress on the thermal management of these systems. Advanced liquid cooling methods as, for instance pin fins, were introduced by several manufacturers to increase the cooling capabilities and power density of IGBT inverter...
Over the last decade, supply-side constraints have resulted in widespread electricity shortage in Pakistan. At its peak, this amounted to over a 7 GW supply-demand gap and caused the electricity grid to be offline for vast swathes of population for many hours daily. Despite major supply-side investments acute shortages persist and a large percentag...
Since building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules are typically installed during, not after, the construction phase, BIPVs have a profound impact compared to conventional building-applied photovoltaics on the electrical installation and construction planning of a building. As the cost of BIPV modules decreases over time, the impact of electrica...
European legislation on building performance and energy efficiency pushes the shift towards minimizing the environmental footprint of buildings. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is a promising technology that can accelerate the transition to energy-neutral buildings. Quantifying the potential of BIPV is crucial and one means of obtaining th...
This paper explores and presents the application of the Inductor–Diode and Inductor-Capacitor-Diode structures in a DC–DC step-down configuration for systems that require voltage adjustments. DC micro/picogrids are becoming more popular nowadays and the study of power electronics converters to supply the load demand in different voltage levels is r...
Increasing energy efficiency of thermostatically controlled loads has the potential to substantially reduce domestic energy demand. However, optimizing the efficiency of thermostatically controlled loads requires either an existing model or detailed data from sensors to learn it online. Often, neither is practical because of real-world constraints....
We introduce a Bayesian inference based maximum power point tracker (BI-MPPT) and demonstrate it under static and dynamic irradiance conditions. BI-MPPT is based on a probability inference technique which uses the model of the photovoltaic (PV) module and accounts for noise in the system. Owing to the model-based approach, the tracker converges fas...
As compared to AC microgrids, DC microgrids reduce the hardware complexity of converter-dominated power distribution in the presence of a high number of renewable energy sources, energy storage systems and energy efficient loads. Another frequently highlighted advantage is their resiliency and tolerance against AC grid disturbances resulting in imp...
Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems have been attracting attention as a promising alternative to cope with the increasingly stricter building energy regulations. Although building energy simulation (BES) tools can be used to assess the BIPV potential contribution at the building level, the existing BIPV modelling in these tools is not f...
This contribution handles about BIPV modules made with plated bifacial n-PERT cells from imec. For the cell interconnection the advanced smart wire connection technology (SWCT) was used that can reduce silver consumption at cell level considerably. These modules were made for installation in a facade installation of the KU Leuven, with monitoring o...
Classical methods to control heating systems are often marred by suboptimal performance, inability to adapt to dynamic conditions and unreasonable assumptions e.g. existence of building models. This paper presents a novel deep reinforcement learning algorithm which can control space heating in buildings in a computationally efficient manner, and be...
This paper presents an algorithm for fast, directional detection of phase-to-ground faults in isolated neutral distribution grids. The method reacts directionally and very fast to fault conditions (1-2 samples after fault inception, even without large di0/dt). Moreover, the method is able to detect low- and high-impedance faults (HIF), permanent or...
Increasing energy efficiency in buildings can reduce costs and emissions substantially. Historically, this has been treated as a local, or single-agent, optimization problem. However, many buildings utilize the same types of thermal equipment e.g. electric heaters and hot water vessels. During operation, occupants in these buildings interact with t...
This paper investigates the numerical accuracy of currently employed methods for electromagnetic transient simulation with power electronics. Existing tools often employ the second-order accurate trapezoidal method for numerical integration. However, solution techniques employed to facilitate ideal power electronic switches do not always preserve t...
Energy consumption for hot water production is a major draw in high efficiency buildings. Optimizing this has typically been approached from a thermodynamics perspective, decoupled from occupant influence. Furthermore, optimization usually presupposes existence of a detailed dynamics model for the hot water system. These assumptions lead to subopti...
Access free up to 21 October 2017: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Vejd_,5Ymj5QT
This article introduces the normalised efficiency of photovoltaic modules and systems as a performance monitoring metric, and its similarity to the Performance Ratio is shown. Detection of shading using the normalised efficiency is presented. From module temperature m...
We present a method for real-time analysis and overall evaluation of some avoidable losses in large grid-connected PV systems. Plane-of-array (PoA) irradiance for each orientation is not required. For the 368.5-kWp flat-roof PV system at EnergyVille with modules facing South, East, West, and North (tilted at 10° from horizontal), we estimated 8.9%...
A holistic approach for energy yield evaluation of photovoltaic (PV) modules has been developed. The optical, thermal and electrical behaviour of PV modules is integrated into the simulation framework, and as such is based on bottom-up and physics-based models. Incorporating a fine-grain temporal and spatial resolution, the framework enables accura...
Energy efficiency in the built environment has been identified as one of the key enabling technologies to meet global climate change targets. In this paper, we present promising results from a black box method to automatically characterize various aspects of heat pump operation in residential settings. Experimental data is gathered from heat pumps...
Currently, most of the state-of-the-art energy yield prediction and evaluation models reported in the literature assume a uniform photovoltaic (PV) module temperature and air flow. However, during realistic wind flow conditions, local temperature variations occur over PV modules due to forced convection. This study aims to investigate how spatial t...
This paper aims to emulate the IV characteristics of a multiple-substring photovoltaic (PV) module under nonuniform irradiance levels by taking into account the breakdown voltage of shaded cells, configurations of bypass diode connections, and cell temperatures. A suitable control scheme for the emulator’s power stage significantly improves the per...
Deep learning has achieved state of the art results in many problems of practical interest. Training deep networks remains however a notoriously time consuming process. In this paper, we consider the practicality of deep neural network based models for reinforcement learning. This can be challenging for agents which have a limited computational bud...
The high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) generators leads to a voltage rise in the distribution network. To comply with grid standards, distribution system operators need to limit this voltage rise. Reactive power control is one of the most proposed remedies. A popular form of reactive power control is an active power dependent characteristic to d...
Partial shading causes power loss in a photovoltaic module by inducing a power mismatch within the module. This power loss can be significant in building-applied and building-integrated photovoltaic installations. Given the often repetitive nature of shade profiles in such applications, we propose to employ non-reconfigurable or static configuratio...
Lumen is an exciting way of explaining and demystifying energy and electricity. By modifying the popular computer game Minecraft, electric blocks can be used to create physically representative constructions. Minecraft is essentially turned into a real-time interactive grid simulator. Sources such as solar panels and combustion engines can be conne...
Small wind and solar units are becoming a common view within the urban, suburban and rural landscapes. Intermittent renewable energy sources (iRES) and electric vehicles (EVs) are integrating into local grids at increasing rates. The number of congestion events is therefore increasing and hence investment in grid infrastructure is required. If cong...
Voltage unbalances in low voltage grids have a renewed interest due to the massive deployment of single-phase grid-coupled PV inverters. Three-phase converters have the potential to compensate voltage unbalance, but commonly only have three legs. The goal of this paper is to theoretically compare unbalance compensation with or without a neutral con...
This work presents the results of an extensive large-scale field test of a local voltage control mechanism in Low Voltage (LV) distribution grids. The main goal of the voltage control system is to mitigate over- and under voltages in the feeder, and for that the readily available flexibility of residential smart appliances is used. The advantage of...
Over the past few years, both the integration of small-scale embedded generators (SSEGs) and the electric power consumption have been increased rapidly in the LV distribution networks. These two trends are likely to result in a number of power quality issues such as voltage rise/drop and voltage unbalance. Regarding the mitigation of the voltage ri...
Rapid development of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and DC-powered loads entails the possibility of DC micro-grids to revenge conventional AC distribution networks. In addition, a continuous evolution of the power electronic technology allowing the highest possible power of DER production also makes the DC micro-grids more feasible in the near...
The burden on conventional units to regulate the system frequency increases if they are replaced due to wind farms. This paper explores up to which time scales the rotating kinetic energy in wind turbines can smooth frequency variations and assist with the regulation task. To this end, a comparison is made between a standard wind turbine controller...
This paper presents MatLVDC, i.e. an open source Matlab toolbox to analyse dynamic phenomena in DC distribution networks, that are gaining importance because of reported energy savings and the increasing number of DC loads and distributed energy resources (DER). The toolbox aims at facilitating the design processes and research on DC distribution n...
High penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) with different dynamic responses cause interaction between components in a DC microgrid. This paper proposes a method called object-oriented modeling, which allows analyzing converter-interfaced DC microgrids in steady states and transients. The analysis mainly focuses on transient behavior of...
