Conventional agricultural utility vehicles used for crop cultivation involve complex operations such as ploughing and seeding, require trained personnel, and are expensive and not affordable to many farmers, especially in developing countries. Thus, there is a need for an agricultural utility vehicle for carrying out crop cultivation activities that alleviate the drawbacks of conventional practices.

Researchers at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering have been granted a patent for an invention entitled An Agricultural Utility Vehicle for Crop Cultivation Activities (Application number 202241051059). Assistant Professor Dr Somesh Vinayak Tewari and his students Gundrevula Sisir Srivastav, Kolisetty Jayanth, Tempalli Pallavi Sri, and Jayana Keerthi Tanvita have accomplished this milestone through their dedicated research.

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses an agricultural utility vehicle (1000) for carrying out crop cultivation activities comprising a framed structure (200) having wheels configured to be driven in an open plot of land. An agricultural implement (400) is configured to be attached to the vehicle. An electric drive system (100) is configured to drive the framed structure, and a battery (300) is coupled to the electric drive system to provide power.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering is a core engineering course in the market with an aspiring number of students securing admissions to reputed universities. Yet with the advent of the modern software era, the dilemma of future job opportunities for Electrical Engineers has been buzzing around the students of the field. The Power & Control Society, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering organised an invited talk on February 02, 2023, on “Career Opportunities for Electrical Engineers” to empower and enlighten young graduates on potential career prospects in the field. Prof. Praveen Kumar of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati was the distinguished speaker of the session.

Some of the frequently asked questions among Electrical Engineers are whether selecting Electrical Engineering as a core course instead of other engineering streams for their BTech degree was the right choice and whether it would hinder their career opportunities in this ever- transitioning job market. Nowadays, the engineering field is dominated by software and its application. It is quite evident that most jobs lie in the software or IT sectors, focusing more on coding and programming instead of our core streams.

Prof. Praveen Kumar addressed this pressing situation and reassured students that selecting the EEE stream was the right choice with it being an important core stream in the field of Engineering and giving flavour to understanding the physics behind the engineering model. He has addressed with examples of how such knowledge plays a major role when relating to other fields in any sector of the industry whether in assembling, production, AI, innovation etc. Prof. Kumar talked about coding and programming, reading syntax, and explained the importance of AI today, and how it plays an important role in engineering analysis such as Control theory, Electrical machines, Power electronics, Power systems etc. Prof. Kumar also highlighted different aspects of the transformation of the Nationwide EV ecosystem in India and encouraged students to learn various aspects of EV and solutions – To think and analyse the problem to create, innovate and present solutions per the market trend.

About the Speaker

A distinguished academician from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Professor Praveen Kumar had completed his MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He was conferred with PhD from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands and is an expert in the fields of Electric Vehicles, Wireless Power Transmission and Electrical Machines.

Dr Tousif Khan, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering has been awarded the “Young Researcher Award 2022” by the STEM Society at the International Conference organised at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla on December 17, 2022. The basic purpose of the STEM-RS is to bring together Researchers, Academicians, Industrialists and Experts from different parts of the country and the world, to exchange knowledge and breakthrough ideas at a common platform by organising national and international events such as Conferences, Seminars and Workshops that unite the Science, Technology, Engineering and Management for the empowerment of research and development.

Industrial visit is an efficient learning strategy that nullifies the distance between academia and industry. Students and faculty of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering visited Dr Narla Thatharao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) on November 21, 2022. The objective of the visit was to give an overview of the Thermal Power plant, which is a coal-based power plant where coal is transported from coal mines to the power plant by railway in wagons or a merry-go-round system.

The state-of-the-art construction and technologies amazed the students as they experienced an insightful industrial visit that exposed them to the actual working of a thermal power plant while enforcing their theoretical knowledge of Power Systems, Control Systems and Electrical Machines. Students from semesters one to four participated in the industry visit. Dr Somesh Vinayak Tewari, Dr Shubh Lakshmi, Dr Bhamidi Lokeshgupta, Dr Ramanjaneya Reddy U, and Dr Venkata Ramireddy Y were the faculty who accompanied the students.

A Detailed Account of the Industry Visit

Coal is unloaded from the wagons using wagon tippler units to a moving underground conveyor belt. This coal from the mines is of no uniform size. So, it is taken to the Crusher house and crushed to a size of 20 mm. From the crusher house, the coal is either stored in dead storage, which serves as coal supply in case of coal supply bottleneck or to live storage in the raw coal bunker in the boiler house. Raw coal from the raw coal bunker is supplied to the Coal Mills by a Raw Coal Feeder. The Coal Mills or pulverizer pulverizes the coal. The powdered coal from the coal mills is carried to the boiler in coal pipes by high-pressure hot air. The pulverized coal air mixture is burnt in the boiler in the combustion zone.

Generally, in modern boilers, a tangential firing system is used where the coal nozzles/guns form a tangent to a circle. The temperature in the fireball is of the order of 1300˚C. The boiler is a water tube boiler hanging from the top. Water is converted to steam in the boiler, and steam is separated from water in the boiler Drum. The saturated steam from the boiler drum is taken to the Low-Temperature Superheater, Platen Superheater and Final Superheater, respectively, for superheating. The superheated steam from the final superheater is taken to the High-Pressure Steam Turbine (HPT). In the HPT, the steam pressure is utilised to rotate the turbine, and the resultant is rotational energy. From the HPT, the outcoming steam is taken to the Reheater in the boiler to increase its temperature as the steam becomes wet at the HPT outlet. After reheating, this steam is taken to the Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) and then to the Low-Pressure Turbine (LPT). The outlet of the LPT is sent to the condenser for condensing back to water by a cooling water system. This condensed water is collected in the Hot well and sent to the boiler in a closed cycle. The rotational energy imparted to the turbine by high-pressure steam is converted to electrical energy in the Generator.

In future, there is a lot of scope for enhancing the power quality using various controllers whose gains are obtained using different optimisation techniques to mitigate several issues. Assistant Professor Dr Ramanjaneya Reddy, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, envisions this tomorrow through his new research paper PV/WT Integrated System Using Grey Wolf Optimization Technique for Power Quality Improvement. The paper is published in the Process, and Energy Systems Engineering section of the Frontiers in Energy Research journal and has an impact factor 4.008. For this research paper, he has collaborated with Assistant Professor Srikanth Goud, Anurag College of Engineering Ghatkesar, Telangana.

Abstract

This work presents the integration of renewable energy sources such as PV and wind into the grid. Hybrid shunt active power filter (HSHAPF) is optimised with the grey wolf optimisation (GWO) and fractional order proportional integral controller (FOPI) for harmonic reduction under non-linear and unbalanced load conditions. With the use of GWO, the parameters of FOPI are tuned, effectively minimising the harmonics. The proposed model has effectively compensated the total harmonic distortions (THD) when compared with filter, without filter, with passive filter, active power filter with PI controller, and GWO- FOPI-based controller. The performance of the proposed controller is tested under non-linear and unbalanced conditions. The parameters of the FOPI controller are better tuned with the GWO technique. The comparative results reflect the best results of GWO-FOPI based HSHAPF. The suggested controller is built in the MATLAB/Simulink Platform.

Explanation of the research

Power quality (PQ) problems in the distribution system occur when non-linear loads are used. With the development in semiconductor technology, the modelling and usage of power electronic devices are increasing on the end-user side. Because of the usage of power, electronic devices give rise to many problems like a disturbance in reactive power, poor power factor, harmonic distortion, etc. These problems cause severe effects on the distribution system, which results in PQ issues. To mitigate PQ issues, there are many controlling techniques that ensure harmonic free. Initially, passive filter usage was widely considered for harmonic elimination and reactive power compensation. Due to various remarkable disadvantages like constant compensation performance, large size, resonance, etc., the usage became less. To mitigate the reactive power compensation and harmonics, active power filters (APF) became more prominent as the performance characteristics are very effective compared to conventional filters. APF is the device that generally produces an equal quantity of harmonics when compared with the load with a phase shift of 1800. These harmonics are injected into the linear PCC, load current harmonics mitigate, and supply becomes sinusoidal. The active power filters are broadly classified as series APF and shunt APF. The basic structure of shunt APF is illustrated in Figure.1, which mitigates the load current harmonics by inserting equal but opposite harmonic compensating current. Several authors have conducted research on grid integration using RES, active power filters, PQ issues, and various types of controllers designed to mitigate in the hybrid integrated system. In this work, THD reduction under non-linear load, unbalanced load without filter, with passive filter, with active power filter using a PI controller, and the proposed controller is introduced, which results in the best reduction of harmonics under various load conditions.

Practical implementation of the research

The proposed system is designed using both passive and active filters. The designed model improves the filer’s compensation characteristics, reducing the disadvantages of both active and passive filters. In this proposed work, HSHAPF is implemented with the combination of LC passive filter and voltage source PWM converter illustrated in Figure. 2, which illustrates the RES and HSHAPF connected to the grid. This design is tested at various loads, such as non-linear loads and unbalanced loads. Both filters’ characteristics are designed to provide the best performance under different operating conditions. To filter out the harmonics, the designed structure is modelled with storage systems using the battery, DC link and switches with antiparallel diodes. At PCC compensating current is injected using a voltage source converter to mitigate the harmonics. To overcome the power rating required for the PWM converter, the system is modelled using both active as well as passive filters to mitigate the harmonics. Here power MOSFETs are used in designing the PWM converters, which is cost-effective. To eliminate the harmonic at the PCC, equal and opposite magnitude harmonic current has to be injected, which also improves the PQ in the distribution system.

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