Interfacing Major Subsistence for Resilient Electric Charging Facilities for Rural Areas
PI: Herbert Hess (UI), hhess@uidaho.edu, ORCID: 0000-0003-1099-3854
Co PIs: none
AMOUNT & MATCH: $40,000 from PacTrans; $40,000 Match
PERFORMANCE PERIOD: 3/16/2022 – 3/15/2023
STATUS: Completed
CATEGORIES: Electric Charging, Rural Areas
RESEARCH PROJECT HOT SHEET: 
UTC PROJECT DOCUMENTATION:
FINAL PROJECT REPORT:
PROJECT DATA:
DESCRIPTION: Our research group has developed major subsystems for our stand‐alone vehicle charging station for remote locations. These address major elements of such a complex system: energy capture, energy storage, and energy dispensing. Photovoltaic panels capture the energy.
A field regulated reluctance machine (FRRM) stores the energy and makes it available for a vehicle battery. A secure cyber physical control system arranges for dispensing the energy to an electric vehicle, providing billing and reliable, secure delivery. Each of these pieces is either complete or nearing successful development.
What is now necessary is an interface based on power electronics to assemble the pieces into a functional vehicle battery charging unit for remote, off‐grid locations typical of much of the rural Pacific Northwest. In this project, we propose to do this deceptively difficult task of interfacing this larger interconnected system. Beginning with working prototypes of each subsystem, we will build the necessary interface electronics and software, coordinate the communications and controls, and debug the combined result.
| DELIVERABLE | DUE DATE | DATE RECEIVED |
| Research Project Progress Report #1 | 10/10/2022 | N/A |
| Research Project Progress Report #2 | 4/10/2023 | 4/3/2023 |
| Draft Report | 4/30/2023 | 7/18/2023 |
| Final Project Report | 6/30/2023 | 12/4/2023 |
