Engineering MS: Energy Engineering

MS

The Center for Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems, led by Professors Adel Nasiri and Rob Cuzner, is exploring methods to make electric power systems more sustainable, cost-effective, and secure through research on energy storage, microgrid systems, and renewable energy sources.

Research Focus:

• Synchronous Generator Modeling Under Unbalanced Conditions
• Hybrid Battery Life Testing
• Cost Effective Uninterruptible Power Supply
• Efficient Integrated Power System for Higher Power and Improved Survivability
• Hybrid Energy Module Development for High Efficiency Buildings

The Energy Storage Research Lab, led by Professor Deyang Qu, is a collaboration between UWM, the Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI) at UW-Madison and Johnson Controls. The lab links academic research with industrial product innovation to develop a new generation of energy products with longer and stronger storage abilities, increasing energy security and improving our environment by reducing carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.

Research Focus:

• Metal air (Li-air and Zn-air)
• Li-Sulfur
• Li-ion
• Advanced Lead-Acid Batteries (AGM and EFB)
• Supercapacitors
• Fuel Cells
• System diagnostics
• Hydrogen Storage Materials
• Alkaline Batteries

GRid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES), led by Professors Adel Nasiri and Rob Cuzner, is a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) with a mission to accelerate the adoption and insertion of power electronics into the grid in order to improve system stability, flexibility, robustness, and economy. Together with our partners we hope to make electric power systems more sustainable, cost-effective, and secure.

Research Focus

• Energy storage systems: inverter topology and controls, integrated compact systems, hybrid storage systems, high frequency inverters, wide band gap (WBG) devices for storage inverters, high voltage and high-power inverters, grid support functions
• Distributed generation (DG): inverters and interface for DG including wind and solar Photovoltaic (PV), controls for DG systems, integration of DG systems into grid
• Microgrids: grid-tie and island microgrids, controls for microgrids, microgrid-tie inverters, energy management
• Reliability for power electronics converters: low-frequency and high-frequency inverters, components, systems, and systems of systems
• High-frequency and high-power converters: converters with WBG power semiconductor switches, electromagnetic interference, cooling, and packaging
• Fault protection for AC and DC microgrids

UWM’s Industrial Assessment Center (UWM IAC), led by Professor Ryo Amano, helps manufacturers and utilities to increase their productivity and competitiveness by reducing energy and water consumption, enhancing cybersecurity, and adopting smart manufacturing technology. The UWM IAC provides assessment services on electric power consumption, waste material removal, water treatment studies, reclamation of energy in the process of heating, power, and water processes with the implementation of biofuel production, renewable energy technology, recuperation, and reheating methods.

To date, over 600 companies and water treatment plants have utilized the UWM IAC’s multidisciplinary energy assessment services, with average recommended savings of about $150,000 per facility and an average implementation rate of 40%.