Institutional Funding
1. Title: "Inter-area oscillation control using embedded energy storage in interconnected power system with distributed generation"
Seed Grant Scheme, BITS, Pilani, 11.15 Lakhs, Year 2011-13.
Involvement: As a Co-Investigator
Status: completed
Output: Development of d-space based laboratory experiments for research purpose
External Funding
1. Title: "Design and development of a multi output high voltage gain converter with multi- frequency operation for PV applications and green hydrogen generation"
Funding agency: CDAC under NaMPET Phase-III
Amount: 33.418 Lakhs
Role: As Chief Investigator
Year: 2023-25
Status: Ongoing
2.Title: "Examination on conversion of carbon black to carbon nano tubes (CNTs) using arc discharge method"
Funding Agency: Aditya Birlagroup (ABG), 10 Lakhs, Year 2011-13.
Involvement: As a Co-investigator
Status: Completed
Output:
Publications:
1.Neha Arora, K.N.K Chaitanya, Madhu Seetharaman, Shankar Bhawani, Rajneesh Kumar, “Morphological changes of Carbon Black during Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes”, International conference on Emerging Technology Micro to Nano [ETMN Goa 2013], 59-60.
Laboratory: DC Pulse Power System for Nanotube fabrication from Carbon Black
Experimental results: Established an optimum arc current and arc application time for MWNT synthesis under Argon atmosphere; As the time progresses the granular carbon black undergoes the transformation from small islands like structures to planar graphite like sheets and then finally into MWNTs; Optimum arc is found to be 40A
3.Title: "Design and development of an efficient soft-switching converter with adaptive maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllerfor a standalone photovoltaic power generation system”,
Funding agency: Ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), New Delhi,
Amount: 29.39 Lakhs,
Year 2014-16.
Involvement: As a Principle Investigator
Status: Completed
Output:
Publications:
P Upadhyay, R Kumar, S Sathyan, "Coupled inductor based high gain converter utilizing magnetizing inductance to achieve soft- switching with low voltage stress on devices”, IET Power Electronics,13(3), 576-591, 2020
P Upadhyay, R Kumar, "A ZVS-ZCS quadratic boost converter to utilize the energy of PV irrigation system for electric vehicle charging application”, Solar Energy, 206, 106-119, 2020
P Upadhyay, R Kumar, "A high gain cascaded boost converter with reduced voltage stress for PV application”, Solar Energy, 183, 829-841, 2019
R Kumar, S Khandelwal, P Upadhyay, S Pulipaka, "Global maximum power point tracking using variable sampling time andp-v curve shifting technique along with incremental conductance for partially shaded photovoltaic systems ”, Solar Energy ,189, 51- 178, 2019
P Upadhyay, S Pulipaka, M Sharma, R Kumar, "A proposed maximum power point operating strategy for photovoltaic applications using monthly irradiance estimates”, Solar Energy 141, 266-277, 2017
Laboratory:
Standalone PV system design using SAS and PSIM software
Product:
A new family of Quadratic boost converter with an efficiency ~93%
4. Title: "Design, development and implementation of a building integrated photovoltaic system for rural application", State Innovation Council, Rajasthan, 1.33 Crores, 2013-16
Involvement: As a Principal Investigator
Status: Completed
Output:
Publications:
Pulipaka, S., Mani, F. & Kumar, R. Modeling of soiled PV module with neural networks and regression using particle size composition. Sol. Energy 123, 116–126 (2016).
Mani, F., Pulipaka, S. & Kumar, R. Characterization of power losses of a soiled PV panel in Shekhawati region of India. Sol. Energy131, 96–106 (2016).
Pulipaka, S. & Kumar, R. Analysis of irradiance losses on a soiled Photovoltaic panel using contours Energy Conversion and Management 115 pp. 327-336(2016).
Pulipaka, S. & Kumar, R. Power Prediction of Soiled PV Module with Neural Networks using Hybrid Data Clustering and Division Techniques Sol. Energy 133 pp. 485-500(2016).
Mani, F., Pulipaka, S., & Kumar, R. (2015). Modeling of Soiled Photovoltaic Modules with Neural Networks Using Particle Size Composition of Soil. In Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, 1–4.(PVSC), 2015 IEEE 42nd
Major Finding: A new clustering based approach to find out relation between PV panel tilt angle and soiling losses
Concept: Remote monitoring of PV plants to take corrective measures for efficiency enhancement (lead to formation of a start-up “Soreva Energy”)
Chief Technical Advisor Pilani Photovoltaics/Soreva
1. Title: “Real time monitoring of power generation and consumption at NISE (A joint R&D project between NISE and SOREVA)”, Soreva Energy, 2016-17
Involvement: Chief Technical advisor and mentor
Status: Completed
Output:Publications:
S. Pulipaka, et.al., “Performance modeling of PV generation with inverter level data through Internet of Photovoltaic (IoPV) using artificial neural network”, in IEEE conference proceedings, ICEPE, Shillong, June 1-2, 2018
Software platform: Development of a user interface to monitor and predict irradiance of a PV system integrated to inverters
Communication architecture: Development of Internet of Photovoltaic (IoPV) concept to communicate among various sensors integrated to PV based systems including weather monitoring data
Device: “MITRA” in-situ, real-time, non-intrusive simulation, modeling and control of a photovoltaic system
2. Title: “Solar powered hydroponics system”, Central Coir Research Institute, Cochin, 2018
Involvement: As a chief technical advisorAim: To develop a solar powered hydroponics system to facilitate co-generation of plants and energy in urban environment
Status: A pilot project has been executed at with research support from Coir board, a Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium organization
3. Title: “In-situ monitoring of solar panels”, A Pilani Photovoltaics and ATUM joint R&D, 2018
Involvement: As a chief technical advisor
Aim: The main objective of this project is to develop integrated hardware for in-situ monitoring and control of solar panels. Ongoing prototype testing and pilot implementation in Hyderabad
Status: completedFindings and summary: Panel level monitoring hardware was developed to understand and address the anomalies of power generation in a solar array at 2 sites of ATUM in Hyderabad. ATUM manufactures Building Integrated Photovoltaic Modules. PPV developed an integrated software and hardware solution for them to test their installations’ efficiency under partial shading and soiling conditions and improved overall performance by 2-2.5%
4. Title: “Solar Power Efficiency Evaluation and Due-Diligence (SPEED)”, A Joint venture between Soreva and Trans India Law Associates, 2018
Involvement: As a chief technical advisor
Aim: evaluating the performance of existing as well as upcoming solar power plants and provide a comprehensive report on the technical as well as operational aspects of the power plant. Designed a 5-step data-oriented process to understand, model, evaluate and report intrinsic details of performance in a solar power plant
Status: completed