Renewable Energy and Power Electronics Advanced Research Lab (RE-PEARL)
Renewable Energy and Power Electronics Advanced Research Lab (RE-PEARL)
The focus of the Renewable Energy and Power Electronics Advanced Research Lab (RE-PEARL) is to conduct research in power electronics and power system, provide our graduate students with hands-on training of hardware prototyping and testing. The lab features a distribution voltage regulator testing platform and a wave energy emulation system, which serve as valuable platforms to collaborate with energy industries and conduct research on power electronics and renewable energies. There are currently a few active projects using the lab to conduct research and prototype development.
The lab will bring generated power from soon-to-be installed solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the EPIC building. Students will be able to perform control and energy management in microgrid settings once the lab is completed.
Current Projects:
- Reliability oriented control for wave energy systems using heterogenous underwater communication network (sponsor: UNC Coastal Studies Institute)
- Power electronics assisted distribution voltage regulator (sponsor: CAPER)
- Wireless power transfer for switcher trains
Primary faculty: Tiefu Zhao and Badrul Chowdhury
Collaborators: Tao Han and Shen-En Chen (CEE)
Location: EPIC G238