A Report on the 13^th Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Lecture by Prof. Ned Mohan

On 24^th December, 2009, the Delhi's 13th Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Seminar was delivered by Prof. Ned Mohan, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and IEEE Fellow, on the topic ‘Research and Education in Sustainable Electric Energy Systems,’ in the Committee Room (Block II-241, 1st Floor) of the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, New Delhi under the aegis of IEEE PES-IAS Delhi chapter for the year 2009.

It started at 05.30 P.M. and continued for two hours with good interactive session in-between. Prof. Mohan has started his talk with worldwide scenario of energy, covering various sources of energy i.e. coal, oil, gas, wind, solar, geothermal, wave, nuclear etc.   He discussed various aspects of harnessing maximum power from any of these sources of energy with focus to preserve the nature by minimization of the hazardous effects of these extraction processes. He emphasized on the need for education on sustainable energy systems and discussed various research initiatives taken in this direction. One such effort is to maximize use of renewable energy systems in general and wind energy conversion system in particular. He presented many important issues of wind energy research such as reduction of bearing currents, use of matrix converters, use of high frequency transformers for power conversion at the wind tower itself so that the transformer and cable size can be reduced for power transmission from the wind generator to the base plant. He also discussed the new trends in the power conversion devices, materials and the energy storage batteries with emphasis on the sodium sulfur batteries. A new area of research initiated at University of Minnesota regarding use of magnetic fly-wheel for energy storage during off peak hours to be used later, was also discussed. Some of energy efficiency aspects in the transport sector by use of electric or hybrid electric vehicles were also presented in detail. On the appliances front he explained about an initiative to improve the efficiency of the ceiling fans by use of permanent magnet brushless dc motors, lighting systems, hybrid cars etc.

He explained a detailed curriculum on electric energy system which has been started at University of Minnesota, USA, as an initiative with a larger goal to achieve breakthrough in understanding and development of sustainable energy systems. This curriculum development is a combination of three main courses in electrical engineering i.e. Electric Drives, Power Systems and Power Electronics. Many other courses are also part of the curriculum, which support the understanding of these courses and later these concepts can be used to develop new systems with better efficiency and reliability. He presented that in the USA this has resulted in a commendable growth of students in these areas in the recent past and expected to grow even better in near future. He expressed his interest to implement similar courses in Indian universities also to increase the understanding about the electrical energy systems among the students at UG as well as PG level.

This presentation was of interest to all power, energy, power electronics engineering professionals, who came from academic institutions as well as power utilities and equipment manufacturers. In all 40 persons (9 IEEE Members and 31 others) attended this event.

Audience at EE Dept Committee Room of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi attending lecture of Prof Ned Mohan	Prof. Ned Mohan (left) being presented memento by Prof. Bhim Singh (right), IEEE PES-IAS Delhi Chapter Chair