| Name | Investigator | Tech ID | Licensing Manager Name | Micensing Manager Email | Description | Tags | 1-Clik License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1MHz Scalable Cascaded Z-Source Inverter Using Gallium Nitride (GaN) Device | Dr. Hui (Helen) Li | 11-127 | Michael Tentnowski | mtentnowski@fsu.edu | <p>Currently, implementation of photo-voltaic (PV) systems into power grids is limited. The reason for the limited use of PV systems in power grids is that the interface between the grid and the PV source very inefficient. These inefficiencies are caused by module mismatch, orientation mismatch, partial shading, and maximum power point (MPPT) inefficiencies. This technology provides a scalable cascaded Z-source inverter which can integrate distributed renewable energy sources and/or storages having a wide voltage range. The inverter uses a low voltage Gallium Nitride (GaN) device, which can be used to facilitate modular structure. The GaN transistor is able to facilitate this structure due to ultra-high frequency, a small AC filter, and a DC electrolyte capacitor. A comprehensive Z-source network design has been developed based on an innovative equivalent AC circuit model for the single phase photovoltaic system. The invention is also suitable for hybrid renewable energy sources/storages application in wide system operation range. A flexible and reliable control system is developed to improve the photovoltaic energy harvesting capability.</p> <h2><strong>Advantages</strong></h2> <ul> <li>Single energy conversion and boost function can be achieved simultaneously</li> <li>Independent maximum power point tracking for each Z-source inverter module can implement an efficient photovoltaic energy conversion</li> <li>This inverter is immune to shoot-through faults especially operating at high switching frequency and enhance the system reliability</li> <li>The scalable cascaded Z-source inverter is able to interface flexibly with different distributed renewable energy sources or storages in a wide voltage range, including: <ul> <li>wind power</li> <li>solar power</li> <li>battery</li> <li>fuel cell</li> <li>ultra-capacitor</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h2><strong>Applications</strong></h2> <ul> <li>Photo-voltaic systems</li> <li>Plug-in electric hybrid vehicle</li> <li>Motor drives</li> <li>Uninterruptible power supply</li> </ul> <p> </p> | ||
| A Rapid Laboratory Testing Protocol to Evaluate Pavement Interlayer System | Qian Zhang | 21-024 | Garrett Edmunds | gedmunds@fsu.edu | <p>The invention is a small-scale lab testing protocol, including testing apparatus, testing procedures, and data analysis procedures, for rapid and accurate evaluation of the performance of interlayer products and other treatment methods on delaying or suppressing the reflective cracking. The testing protocol will utilize bench-scale specimens and consider various effects of temperature and traffic loadings and load transfer coefficient on the performance of the pavement repair system.</p> <p>Advantages</p> <ul> <li>Quicker testing time</li> <li>Small scale environment is all that is needed.</li> </ul> | ||
| A Self-Balanced Modulation and Magnetic Rebalancing Method for Parallel Multi-level Inverters | Hui (Helen) Li | 16-098 | Michael Tentnowski | mtentnowski@fsu.edu | <p>A power inverter which can provide sinusoidal voltage or current is the key apparatus in the field of electrical machine drive and utility interface, such as in renewable energy generation systems and energy storage power conditioning systems. In order to achieve a higher power rating, each phase of the inverter may be constructed of paralleled phase legs. If two paralleled legs are connected to an output terminal by a magnetic coupling device, such as an "inter-phase transformer", or a "multi-winding autotransformer", or an "inter phase inductor", the output terminal of each phase will have a multilevel staircase waveform, which is closer to the desired sinusoidal waveform. Therefore, the inverter will require smaller magnetic components while still providing the benefit of higher dynamic response.</p> <p>The technology developed provides a finite state machine (FSM) based modulation method for parallel multi-level inverters. Within this invention, a modulation waveform is fed into a comparator to compare with carrier waveforms. Then, a digitized ideal waveform is generated, and the digitized ideal waveform is fed into a finite state machine (FSM) module to generate a switching pattern for each switch of the parallel multi-level inverter.</p> | ||
| A Single-Phase Single-Stage Grid-Interactive Inverter with Wide Range Reactive Power Compensation | Dr. Liu and Dr. Li | 11-131 | Michael Tentnowski | mtentnowski@fsu.edu | <p>In this invention, a novel single-phase single-stage grid-interactive inverter based on a discrete Fourier Transform Phase Locked Loop technique is developed to separate the real and reactive power between different energy sources/storages. The hybrid modulation technique and sophisticated power allocation strategy are developed for the power generation system to achieve wide range reactive power compensation and enhance energy conversion efficiency. One distributed energy source and two energy storages are interfaced to the inverter with three cascaded H -bridge cells used to investigate the performance of the proposed system. Different energy source/storages with wide voltage change range can be directly connected in the invention and the single-stage energy conversion can be implemented. The present invention can integrate distributed energy sources/storages in one cascaded inverter. Due to the absence of DC-DC converter, single-stage energy conversion can be achieved. The hybrid modulation technique and power allocation strategy corresponding to the proposed system are developed to achieve the wide range reactive power compensation, voltage boost function, and the optimized power management.</p> <p>The proposed single-phase single-stage grid-interactive inverter is particularly suitable to meeting the increasing distributed power generation needs. It can facilitate to interface different distributed renewable energy sources or storages such as wind power, solar power, battery, fuel cell, Ultra-capacitor and so on. The switching loss will be decreased due to the cascaded structure and hybrid modulation technique.</p> <h2>Advantages</h2> <ul> <li>The multilevel AC output voltage will reduce the AC filter size, improve power quality and enhance the system reliability</li> <li>The transformerless structure will lead to lower cost and lighter weight, in addition to facilitating high power application</li> </ul> | ||
| A System for Removing Trichloroethane, Trichloroethene, and 1,4-Dioaxane from Contaminated Wastewater | Bruce Rittman | 20-056 | Garrett Edmunds | gedmunds@fsu.edu | <p>This invention relates to a synergistic system featuring coupled precious-metal catalysis and biodegradation in series. It contains methods for forming catalyst-film capable of removing TCA and TCE. It contains methods for forming ethane-oxidizing biofilm capable of 1,4-dioxane biodegradation. It contains methods for removing TCA, TCE, and 1,4-D using the synergistic system containing a reactor with catalysts followed by a reactor with microorganisms. In a certain embodiment, the system comprises a membrane, a catalyst-precursor medium, a microorganism-enrichment medium, an inoculant comprising a biofilm-forming population of microorganisms, and a hydrogen-gas source along with an oxygen-gas source.</p> <p>Advantages</p> <ul> <li>State-of-the-art technology that removes TCA, TCE 1,4-dioxane which cannot be done solely by chemical or biological processes.</li> <li>Easy yet accurate method of chemical regulation to mitigate these chemical toxins.</li> </ul> | ||
| Active Flow Control for Wall-Normal Columnar Vortex | Kunihiko Taira | 18-004 | Michael Tentnowski | mtentnowski@fsu.edu | <p>Flow control is often employed to diminish the appearance of vortices or alter the characteristics of vortices in a liquid. For example, in a sump pump, the emergence of submerged vortices may degrade pump performance. If the submerged vortices are sufficiently strong, these vortices can include strong low pressure cores, which can entrain air/vapor along their vortex cores. If such hollow-core vortices are engulfed by the pump, they can cause unbalanced loading and vibration, leading to undesirable noise and possible structural failure. Strong wall-normal vortices appear inside and outside of many fluid-based machines as well as in natural settings, including tornadoes and hurricanes.</p> <p>There have been numerous attempts to introduce passive vortex control techniques to prevent the generation of the aforementioned vortices or alter their pressure distributions. Yet passive control techniques do not offer the ability to adaptively adjust the control efforts to unsteady flow conditions (beyond design conditions). Moreover, some passive control devices are difficult to manufacture. Thus, these past efforts have shortcomings in offering reliable techniques to modify the pressure distribution of these vortices. Designing a more efficient and flexible vortex control strategy remains a challenge.</p> <p>This invention is directed to spreading the core region of a coherent wall-normal vortex and alleviating the low-pressure in the core in a flow field. Such vortices are ubiquitous in nature and engineering systems, ranging from hydrodynamic/aerospace applications to nature, such as hurricanes and subsurface vortices. Many passive control techniques exist for wall-normal vortices, but none include active flow control methods that can be applied in an adaptive manner. In order to solve this problem, this technology introduces forcing input (e.g., fluid jet and suction) near the core region of the vortex to destabilize the local<br />flow and spread the core region. This in turn lowers the local angular velocity and increase the core pressure of the vortex. The increase of the pressure has engineering benefits because low pressure at the core can create detrimental engineering effects for vortices in air and liquids. In some instances, the forced input follows a sinusoidal form in time and in a co-rotating/counter-rotating direction for effective breakup of the vortex.</p> <p>The invention provides a more adaptive technique than passive controls for alleviating the low-pressure effect of the vortex core using active flow control techniques. That is, the method of control provides a vortex control technique and device for vortices in different flow conditions. In order to achieve this, two different types of control strategies are disclosed based on co-rotating and counter-rotating mass injection and suction from the wall surface on which the vortex resides. The control strategy is employed on the wall where the vortex core is pinned and the mass injection/suction device is placed underneath the surface. The control input is adjusted with its frequency, amplitude, and direction of mass injection/suction.</p> | ||
| Alkylamine-Gold Nanoparticle Monolayers having Tunable Electrical and Optical Properties | Daniel Hallinan | 16-068 | Garrett Edmunds | gedmunds@fsu.edu | <p>The unique physical and chemical properties of most traditional materials are largely determined by the spatial arrangement of the constituent building blocks (i.e. atoms) relative to one another. When the scale of the building blocks extend to the range outside that of atomic elements (e.g. nanoparticles), the 'artificial solids' composed of such nanoparticles exhibit unique properties different from their bulk counterparts. In particular, monolayer two-dimensional (2D) artificial solids, serving as the structural basis for more complicated nanostructures, display distinct collective optical, electrical, and catalytic properties, thus finding vast prospective applications in high-performance solar cells, electrogenerated chemilumines, chemical sensors, transistors, integrated microcircuitry, batteries, capacitors, and thermolectrics. Akin to traditional materials, the physical and chemical properties of artificial solids are not only dependent on the elementary nanoparticle size and shape, but as importantly on the interparticle separation and the periodic arrangement of the constituents.</p> <p>FSU researchers have successfully prepared monolayer gold nanoparticle (Au NP) films using a water/organic solvent self-assembly strategy. A new approach, “drain to deposit”, is demonstrated most effective to transfer the Au NP films from a liquid/liquid interface to various solid substrates while maintaining their integrity. The interparticle spacing was tuned from 1.4 nm to 3.1 nm using different length alkylamine ligands. The ordering of the films increased with increasing ligand length. The surface plasmon resonance and the in-plane conductivity of the Au NP films both exhibit an exponential dependence on the particle spacing. These findings show great potential in scaling up the fabrication of high-performance optical and electronic devices based on metallic nanoparticle superlattices.</p> <p>In addition, these FSU researchers have developed a three phase system for depositing monolayer gold nanoparticle films. Using this three-phase system, centimeter-scale monolayer gold nanoparticle (Au NP) films have been prepared that have long-range order and hydrophobic ligands. The system contains an interface between an aqueous phase containing Au NPs and an oil phase containing one of various types of amine ligands, and a water/air interface. As the Au NPs diffuse to the water/oil interface, ligand exchange takes place which temporarily traps them at the water/oil interface. The ligand exchanged particles then spontaneously migrate to the air/water interface, where they self-assemble, forming a monolayer under certain conditions. The spontaneous formation of the NP film at the air/water interface was due to the minimization of the system Helmholtz free energy. However, the extent of surface functionalization was dictated by kinetics. This decouples interfacial ligand exchange from interfacial self-assembly, while maintaining the simplicity of a single system. The interparticle center-to-center distance was dictated by the amine ligand length. The Au NP monolayers exhibit tunable surface plasma resonance and excellent spatial homogeneity, which is useful for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. The “air/water/oil” self-assembly method developed here not only benefits the fundamental understanding of NP ligand conformations, but is also applicable to the manufacture of plasmonic nanoparticle devices with precisely designed optical properties.</p> <h1>Applications and Advantages</h1> <ul> <li>Batteries <ul> <li>Electric car</li> <li>Laptop</li> <li>Mobile device</li> <li>Other electric vehicles and locomotion devices</li> </ul> </li> <li>Extremely precise detection of compounds</li> <li>Increases reliability of batteries</li> <li>Increases the performances of batteries</li> <li>Reduces the possibility of catastrophic failure of devices due to battery failure</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p> </p> | ||
| Antifouling Coatings for Ion Exchange Resins | Professor Joseph Schlenoff | 17-053 | Garrett Edmunds | gedmunds@fsu.edu | <p>Ion exchange resins are widely used for water polishing and purification (e.g. removal of heavy metals). This FSU invention provides a way to rapidly add a coating of nontoxic polymer to an existing anion exchange resin. This coating reduces fouling by algae, other microorganisms, and more, extending the life of the resin and making it easier to clean the resin bed by backflushing.</p> <p>The coating is produced by negative polyelectrolytes, which interacts with the positively charged resin and forms a thin film on the surface of the resin bead. Because the positive charge at the surface of the bead is substantially reduced, or even switched to negative, potential fouling materials interact less strongly with the resin surface.</p> <p>The molecular weight of the negative polyelectrolyte is selected to be sufficiently high such that it does not absorb into the resin bead. Thus, an ultrathin film of complex is limited to the surface of the bead. The bead capacity is not diminished and the amount of material consumed is on the order of a few mg per square meter of resin surface.</p> <p>The polyelectrolyte is water soluble and of low toxicity. Beads can be treated in situ or they can be pretreated in a batch during a typical washing step.</p> | water,filter,water purification,potable water,ion exchange resin,antifouling | |
| Calcium-Resistant Clay-Polymer Liner for Containment of Aggressive Leachates | Tarek Abiochou | 20-046 | Garrett Edmunds | gedmunds@fsu.edu | <p>There is a need for soil-based liner systems in containment facilities as an alternative to compacted clay liners to control groundwater contamination from leaches. Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GCL’s) made with bentonite have been widely used in these applications. However, bentonite only GCL’s are not effective for calcium-rich leachates such as waste from energy power plants, leachates from coal-ash by-products, and leachates from mining operations.</p> <p>The industry has developed “Polymer-Modified” GCL’s containing bentonite and water-soluble polymers. Some of these new products seem to work only when the ionic strength of the leachates is below a certain value. These polymers also elute from the GCL (leave the GCL) when permeated with harsher leachates. This can lead to even higher permeabilities.</p> <p>We have developed a mix of granular bentonite and a specific super-absorbent polymer that can be used to manufacture a new generation of Geosynthetic Clay Liners. The polymer is resistant to aggressive leachates that are rich in divalent cations. The polymer used in the new mix design does not elute from the GCL substrate. Therefore, it maintains low permeability in the long-term. There is no product currently on the market that can achieve the performance of our new design with this new polymer at its base.</p> <p>Advantages</p> <ul> <li>The polymer is resistant to aggressive leachates that are rich in divalent cations.</li> <li>The polymer used in the new mix design does not elute from the GCL substrate.</li> <li>Therefore, it maintains low permeability in the long-term.</li> </ul> | ||
| Data-Driven Recirculating Aquaculture System | Moses Anubi | 21-055 | Michael Tentnowski | mtentnowski@fsu.edu | <p>A recirculating aquaculture system with a data-driven control strategy that improves the growth rate of cultured species (ex: shrimp, tilapia), minimizes required feed, reduces water consumption by improving waste removal from recirculating water, and provides robustness against uncertainty and disturbances. The system uses low-cost and readily available sensors to obtain estimates of concentrations of hard to measure target parameters such as ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, chemical oxygen demand, and phosphate). It is controlled in real-time using data-driven (including machine learning) algorithms.</p> <p>In addition to the main culture tank, the system houses bioreactors for nitrification and denitrification in the waste removal process. The type of reactor varies but may include a mixed bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and an anaerobic suspend growth reactor or sequencing batch reactor (SBR). These reactors are equipped with sensors and dosing pumps to cultivate a monitored biomass (biofloc). An intelligent control strategy is constructed from measurement data to optimize the waste removal ability of the biomass and to track reference setpoints which can be sized appropriately to feed plants in an aquaponics or hydroponics operation. The purpose of this design is to create a semi-automated method to continuously monitor and control aquaculture systems for maximum food production.</p> |
