THE TRADITIONAL electrical engineering curriculum requires a basic course in electrical machinery, which includes three-phase networks, electromagnetics, transformers, synchronous generators, induction-machine and DC-machine modeling, construction, and performances analysis.

The knowledge of these concepts does not fully prepare students to understand, analyze, and participate in the design, development, and deployment of future grids with features of micro-smart-grid functions. The skills needed include knowledge of classical machine control, real-time measurements, renewable energy resources, storage technology, inverters and converters, and power electronics for processing different energy sources to serve different load models. This book introduces energy-processing concepts and topics needed by students in electrical engineering—and those outside of electrical engineering who will work in future grid development.

The intended audience includes undergraduates and first-year graduate students in a typical engineering program. It is assumed that these students have taken network analysis and electromagnetics courses and hence these topics are only summarized. Full treatment can be found in textbooks on standard machines and electromagnetics.

The idea of this book stems from a research grant from the Department of Energy/National Science Foundation future-grid initiative to the Power System Engineering Research Center/Industry University Collaboration Research Center Research and Workforce Award. As part of this grant, the Howard University team designed research and workforce education materials to contribute to the development of a new curriculum for teaching future energy conversion that will prepare students for handling research and education modules involving future-grid development.

The workforce-education module discussed in this text is a timely assignment since the electrical engineering program at Howard University—like at other universities—is reviewing its curriculum to accommodate new topics in future grid, since there appears to be no single book to present the balance of classical-machine and new trends in energy conversion and processing. This book serves as a reference for students as well as consultants who wish to have a quick overview of machines and energy processing and their relevance to microgrid with smart-grid functions.

Basic materials have been explained with illustrative examples and pictures. In the last few years, the materials in this book have been used to teach required undergraduate courses at Howard University, and some materials were used for teaching first-year graduate students who have a minimum background in energy processing for smart grid. We recommend that any materials too basic for the reader be skipped.

Throughout the book, we tried to minimize details on classical-machine concepts to allow for understanding and working knowledge of processing energy sources in the microgrid/smart-grid environment. We urge the reader to consult advanced books for further reading on these topics.

As noted, we have added some modern topics such as renewable energy, storage technologies, inverters and converters, power electronics, metering, and control for microgrid systems. From our experience thus far, this book will help kindle students’ interest in old-machine analysis and also their pursuit of new topics in design and development of smart-grid and microgrid systems.

The book is organized into nine major sections:

1. Basic concepts of network analysis applied to power and electromagnetic concepts as relevant to design and understanding of electromechanical systems, which form the backbone of energy processing
2. Fundamentals of machinery functions, construction, modeling, and performance for transformers, synchronous machines, induction machines, and DC machines
3. Renewable-energy and storage-technology options for sustainability of energy needs in future grids
4. Design of inverter and converter and power electronics for energy processing from different sources to serve different loads
5. Microgrid applications design, technology, and operational management
6. Review and evaluation of metering communication and control for enabling different functions for operating and managing smart-grid and microgrid systems
7. Smart-grid design, architecture, security protocols, and real-time measurements
8. Different test beds and their features with useful energy-processing technology
9. Exercises for design, testing, and evaluation of energy processing as experimental case studies; this involves a ‘power game’ within an energy-processing platform with OPAL RT in the loop