Marcel Castro-Sitiriche | University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (original) (raw)
Papers by Marcel Castro-Sitiriche
The Electricity Journal, 2024
Valuing electric power, particularly its loss within the residential sector, has historically bee... more Valuing electric power, particularly its loss within the residential sector, has historically been a great challenge that many researchers have undertaken without reaching a consensus. Electric power can be troublesome to appraise because consumption is not the customer’s main goal, but rather a means to achieve a desired good or service that often has unquantifiable personal value. This paper proposes a market-based household production method that quantifies the customer electric service interruption costs in the residential sector. Because an individual’s personal time is necessary to replace services owing to the lack of electric power, we propose a method that estimates the weighted market cost of a person’s time in accordance with their occupation to better calculate customer outage costs. We also present a macroeconomic production method to estimate losses in the residential sector. Finally, we propose a method for calculating the true costs of electric services by factoring the outage costs with the electrical utility rate to be analyzed using reliability metrics. The proposed approach facilitates a closer estimation of the low-bound true costs of utility-supplied electrical services for consumers who have not taken mitigation measures, serving as a warning for energy regulators to impose corrective actions or appropriate penalties on unreliable utilities and/or as an indicator for customers to invest in alternative energy sources.
IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society
A central challenge for energy policy is to simultaneously accelerate the transition to carbon ne... more A central challenge for energy policy is to simultaneously accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality to tackle climate change while also addressing diverse forms of energy inequality and injustice. In this article, we argue that the public imagination is central to efforts to successfully confront this dual challenge. Specifically, we argue that theories of sociotechnical imaginaries have the potential to be leveraged both to strengthen public support for and engagement in carbon-neutral energy transitions and to identify and catalyze integrated sociotechnical designs and solutions that deliver on both accelerated technological change and just, equitable, and inclusive transitions. To explore these ideas, we present an in-depth case study of an emergent sociotechnical imaginary surrounding solar energy technologies in Puerto Rico. The results of our case study suggest that new imaginaries have the potential both to create powerful public support for renewable energy technologies that can accelerate energy systems change and, at the same time, help illuminate strategies for deploying energy technologies in ways that create meaningful impact and value in people's lives in diverse communities and thus contribute to making energy transitions more just and inclusive.
Recent efforts report the potential of microgirds to provide access to electric energy for remote... more Recent efforts report the potential of microgirds to provide access to electric energy for remote rural areas in a similar way that wireless phones technology has provided voice and data global connection to remote and underserved communities. While technical challenges are significant, an overall assessment framework is important to be able to meaningfully measure the success of current and future efforts in Electric Energy Access. Some of these technical challenges are related to the capital cost of reliable systems, consistency of renewable energy based systems, long term operation and maintenance, and the complexity of multiple sources of energy integration. This work focuses mainly in an overview of the capital cost to provide different levels of electric energy access and the overall assessment guidelines for microgrid projects. To assess projects and efforts focused on the so called “community development”, three main areas emerge to define a new overall impact evaluation strategy: human wellbeing, inequality, and natural ecosystems. Different approaches need to be considered to assess human wellbeing including subjective wellbeing, participatory methods, social return on investment, objective indicators such as life expectancy, and capabilities approach. Inequality adjusted indices have already been incorporated into the Human Development Index. One of the leading methods to evaluate the ecosystems is the ecological footprint, while other in-depth efforts have taken place such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. While a basic universal access to electric energy is undeniably important to reduce global and local inequalities, the process to enable that access and the ways of life that new technologies promote are crucial for communities to choose a path that lead them to meaningful healthy lives using a minimum of resources.
is a mechanical engineer with experience in appropriate technology, participatory design and huma... more is a mechanical engineer with experience in appropriate technology, participatory design and humanitarian innovation. She completed her bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012 and obtained her Master of Science in the same field at the University of Michigan in 2014. Through her business, PamLab Design and Engineering, she blends strategic design facilitation with mechanical engineering services to co-create innovative solutions for community challenges. Ms. Maggie Favretti, Design Ed 4 Resilience Maggie Favretti is a lifelong learner, and authentic engagement educator. Throughout her career teaching high schoolers and teachers, college students and professors, and community adult leaders, Maggie converges disciplines and aligns sectors toward shared efficacy and problem solving. Maggie's current work recenters the role of designer (design thinking) in youth, educators and community, and focuses on disaster recovery, youth empowerment, and climate justice.
2018 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica, 2018
In order to achieve the objective of universal electricity access by 2030, new microgrids need to... more In order to achieve the objective of universal electricity access by 2030, new microgrids need to serve 630 million people globally. To achieve this goal, new finance models need to be developed and implemented. Load profiles of rural consumers are crucial for off-grid systems capacity planning and control. The combination of detailed load profiles with benefit assessment of rural electricity can provide important insights into the social dynamics of communities ready to adopt microgrid technologies and an important incentive to guide demand side management. We propose a Load Profile - Benefit Assessment (LPBA) methodology that integrates microgrid data, analyzed through mean shift clustering clustering technique, with mixed method instrumentation to adequately assess the impact electricity use has on consumers. Enabled by wellbeing assessment methodology, LPBA could change the perceived investment risk by taking a deeper look at the reasons why a rural electrification business succeeds or fails. Preliminary data from a case study of a rural secondary school in Tanzania is used here to illustrate the methodology. While microgrids connected to a reliable grid seek to reduce cost or maximize the hours of power output when the price per kWh is higher, the LPBA provides a general guideline for microgrid users to manage power consumption with the goal of maximizing wellbeing benefits. Initial results indicate that in order to scale up methodologies such as LPBA, innovation is needed in affordable smart meters, near-real time signal processing tools, and transactive energy appropriate technology.
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2017
The present study uses power data from panel meter connected to the micro-grid to identify electr... more The present study uses power data from panel meter connected to the micro-grid to identify electrical energy consumption of the school appliances and their behavior in both warm-up, standby and active operation states. Before the conduction of experiments a load auditing of the school appliances was carried out by reading the rated power of each device (e.g. photocopy machine, printer, and fridge). The captures of this kind of information were essential as it provides a starting point to determine energy use of each appliance and hence simplify the process of identification. The electric parameters such as active power, reactive power and current were used to analyze the behavior of electrical appliances in all states. Experimental results show that, both active and reactive power were found to be high for old Canon photocopy machine as compared to new Canon photocopy machine. Another experiment reveals that printing one copy by using HP laser printer consumes about 700 W, while photocopying one copy with new Canon machine utilizes approximately 1100 W. This study concludes that new photocopy machine consumes more electric energy in warm-up state as compared to other states (standby and active operation states). Future work is to develop an algorithm for demand side management strategies which will enable efficient utilization of the electric energy from the micro-grid and hence bring the intended energy impact to the school.
2018 Clemson University Power Systems Conference (PSC), 2018
In this study, we monitored power consumption to analyze the impact of energy usage on people’s w... more In this study, we monitored power consumption to analyze the impact of energy usage on people’s well-being. Data analytics is playing a key role in grid operation and the benefits derived from it. We use change point detection techniques to identify instances where power consumption time-series significantly change. Wavelets and adaptive chisquare and Ljung–Box tests are computed to detect these changes using real-world data. It has been shown that there is a strong positive correlation between quality of life and electricity consumption in impoverished countries. Once different levels of consumption are identified due to the use of different appliances, citizens well-being derived from these levels are linked to the relevant elements described in the Gallup-Healthways Report. Furthermore, it is important to come up with methodologies that rely on affordable meters, and thus allow users to manage their power consumption in a distributed manner and maximize their well-being.
2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Papadopoulos has diverse research and teaching interests in structural mechanics, biomechanics, e... more Papadopoulos has diverse research and teaching interests in structural mechanics, biomechanics, engineering ethics, and engineering education. He is PI of the project Graduate Research and Education for Appropriate Technology: Inspiring Direct Engagement and Agency (GREAT IDEA) that supports and prepares graduate researchers to pursue research and development activities that address issues of developing communities. Papadopoulos is also the Secretary of the ASEE Mechanics Division and serves on numerous committees at UPRM that relate to undergraduate and graduate education.
IEEE Power and Energy Technology Systems Journal, 2019
This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico's electric grid. Arguably, the... more This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico's electric grid. Arguably, the most significant effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico was the electric power outage that initially affected the entire island and lasted more than 10 months. Although damage to the conventional electric power generation infrastructure was relatively minor, both the transmission and distribution portions of the grid suffered much worse damage than that observed during other hurricanes that affected the U.S. in the past decade. This extensive damage added to logistical limitations and the island orography were important factors that contributed to an extremely slow restoration process leading to a very low resilience for the island's power grid. This paper describes all these aspects in detail and supports the explanation of the hurricane effects with photographic evidence collected during a damage assessment conducted in early December 2017 when about half of the electricity customers were still without service. This paper concludes by exploring some lessons from these observations including potential options to increase resilience, such as the use of microgrids.
Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE Industry Applications Conference Forty-First IAS Annual Meeting, 2006
This paper presents a complete and integrated environment for rapid prototyping of robust proport... more This paper presents a complete and integrated environment for rapid prototyping of robust proportional-integral-derivative (PID) fuzzy controller that allows rapid realization of novel designs. The architecture of the proposed controller is basically composed of three independent fuzzy sub-controllers. Then, the three sub-controllers are combined together to form the overall fuzzy PID controller. The design strategy incorporates a fuzzy tuner for
In an effort to foster improved public involvement in the planning of transportation projects, an... more In an effort to foster improved public involvement in the planning of transportation projects, and within the framework of Context Sensitive Design, a method is developed that collects community preference at the inception of a project via questionnaire. Preferences are expressed with respect to a pre-selected set of criteria that represent sustainable transportation design features. After quantitative analysis to rank preferences, several “fly-through” visuals are created to capture various levels of community preference. These visuals can then be presented to the community for further comment. This methodology is implemented in Dulces Labios, which is a coastal community in the municipality of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The study demonstrates that it is feasible to collect community preference data as a means to inform the formulation of design options, and to interpret these preferences visually, in a manner that is accessible to people in a community with varying levels of education and literacy
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2013
Access to electric energy is one of the drivers of wellbeing and universal access to energy has r... more Access to electric energy is one of the drivers of wellbeing and universal access to energy has recently been identified as an important goal in the international community. A data-driven analysis of electric energy consumption and subjective wellbeing indicators is introduced to promote a broad conversation about relationships between energy poverty, global equity, subjective wellbeing measurements and good quality of life. The proposed approach directly focuses on the overall goal of attaining good and long lasting lives, the implications for future generations, the importance of ecosystems in enabling sustainable wellbeing and the needed capabilities in communities to flourish. Eventually, the proposed pathway should lead to a capabilities approach assessment for appropriate technologies. The results point out that although there is an important relationship between electric energy consumption and human wellbeing, a deeper look at electric energy access, subjective wellbeing indicators, local capabilities, and participatory decision making processes is needed to better prepare and implement long-term energy plans at local and global levels.
2007 IEEE Industry Applications Annual Meeting, 2007
Page 1. DSP-Based Implementation of Fuzzy-PID Controller Using Genetic Optimization for High Perf... more Page 1. DSP-Based Implementation of Fuzzy-PID Controller Using Genetic Optimization for High Performance Motor Drives Ahmed Rubaai, Marcel J. Castro-Sitiriche Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Howard University Washington, DC 20059 ...
Power Electronics Handbook, 2011
Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on fuzzy logic applications in electrical drives and power... more Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on fuzzy logic applications in electrical drives and power electronics. The application of fuzzy reasoning to improve the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is evident in the research community today to build state-of-the-art control systems. A genetic-based hybrid fuzzy-PID controller, which employs a fuzzy-PID controller integrating a classical PID controller, is presented in this section. The fuzzy-PID controller consists of three parallel fuzzy sub-controllers, namely, fuzzy-based proportional controller, fuzzy-based integral controller, and fuzzy-based derivative controller. The same technique applied to the fuzzy-based proportional controller is applied to the fuzzy-based integral controller. The controller has two inputs and one output. Genetic optimization-based approach is used to ensure the best performance of the proposed fuzzy-PID controller. The genetic optimization imitates the natural evolution process in which the fittest survive and the best genes are propagated to the next generation. The next step in the design of the fuzzy-logic-based controller is the determination of the fuzzy IF-THEN inference rules. The number of fuzzy rules that are required is equal to the product of the number of fuzzy sets that make up each of the two fuzzy input variables.
Science and Engineering Ethics, 2011
Given the possibilities of synthetic biology, weapons of mass destruction and global climate chan... more Given the possibilities of synthetic biology, weapons of mass destruction and global climate change, humans may achieve the capacity globally to alter life. This crisis calls for an ethics that furnishes effective motives to take global action necessary for survival. We propose a research program for understanding why ethical principles change across time and culture. We also propose provisional motives and methods for reaching global consensus on engineering field ethics. Current interdisciplinary research in ethics, psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary theory grounds these proposals. Experimental ethics, the application of scientific principles to ethical studies, provides a model for developing policies to advance solutions. A growing literature proposes evolutionary explanations for moral development. Connecting these approaches necessitates an experimental or scientific ethics that deliberately examines theories of morality for reliability. To illustrate how such an approach works, we cover three areas. The first section analyzes cross-cultural ethical systems in light of evolutionary theory. While such research is in its early stages, its assumptions entail consequences for engineering education. The second section discusses Howard University and University of Puerto Rico/Mayagüez (UPRM) courses that bring ethicists together with scientists and engineers to unite ethical theory and practice. We include a syllabus for engineering and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) ethics courses and a checklist model for translating educational theory and practice into community action. The model is based on aviation, medicine and engineering practice. The third and concluding section illustrates Howard University and UPRM efforts to translate engineering educational theory into community action. Multidisciplinary teams of engineering students and instructors take their expertise from the classroom to global communities to examine further the ethicality of prospective technologies and the decision-making processes that lead to them.
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2008
Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 1977 D... more Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 1977 DSP-Based Laboratory Implementation of Hybrid Fuzzy-PID Controller Using Genetic Optimization for High-Performance Motor Drives ...
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2008
Page 1. 1090 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008 Design ... more Page 1. 1090 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008 Design and Implementation of Parallel Fuzzy PID Controller for High-Performance Brushless Motor Drives: An Integrated Environment for Rapid Control ...
Energies, 2021
There has been an effort for a few decades to keep energy consumption at a minimum or at least wi... more There has been an effort for a few decades to keep energy consumption at a minimum or at least within a low-level range. This effort is more meaningful and complex by including a customer’s satisfaction variable to ensure that customers can achieve the best quality of life that could be derived from how energy is used by different devices. We use the concept of Shapley Value from cooperative game theory to solve the multi-objective optimization problem (MOO) to responsibly fulfill user’s satisfaction by maximizing satisfaction while minimizing the power consumption, with energy constrains since highly limited resources scenarios are studied. The novel method uses the concept of a quantifiable user satisfaction, along the concepts of power satisfaction (PS) and energy satisfaction (ES). The model is being validated by representing a single house (with a small PV system) that is connected to the utility grid. The main objectives are to (i) present the innovative energy satisfaction mo...
IEEE Power and Energy Technology Systems Journal, 2019
This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Arguably, the... more This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Arguably, the most significant effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico was the electric power outage that initially affected the entire island and lasted more than 10 months. Although damage to the conventional electric power generation infrastructure was relatively minor, both the transmission and distribution portions of the grid suffered much worse damage than that observed during other hurricanes that affected the U.S. in the past decade. This extensive damage added to logistical limitations and the island orography were important factors that contributed to an extremely slow restoration process leading to a very low resilience for the island’s power grid. This paper describes all these aspects in detail and supports the explanation of the hurricane effects with photographic evidence collected during a damage assessment conducted in early December 2017 when about half of the electricity customers were still without service. This paper concludes by exploring some lessons from these observations including potential options to increase resilience, such as the use of microgrids.
The Electricity Journal, 2024
Valuing electric power, particularly its loss within the residential sector, has historically bee... more Valuing electric power, particularly its loss within the residential sector, has historically been a great challenge that many researchers have undertaken without reaching a consensus. Electric power can be troublesome to appraise because consumption is not the customer’s main goal, but rather a means to achieve a desired good or service that often has unquantifiable personal value. This paper proposes a market-based household production method that quantifies the customer electric service interruption costs in the residential sector. Because an individual’s personal time is necessary to replace services owing to the lack of electric power, we propose a method that estimates the weighted market cost of a person’s time in accordance with their occupation to better calculate customer outage costs. We also present a macroeconomic production method to estimate losses in the residential sector. Finally, we propose a method for calculating the true costs of electric services by factoring the outage costs with the electrical utility rate to be analyzed using reliability metrics. The proposed approach facilitates a closer estimation of the low-bound true costs of utility-supplied electrical services for consumers who have not taken mitigation measures, serving as a warning for energy regulators to impose corrective actions or appropriate penalties on unreliable utilities and/or as an indicator for customers to invest in alternative energy sources.
IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society
A central challenge for energy policy is to simultaneously accelerate the transition to carbon ne... more A central challenge for energy policy is to simultaneously accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality to tackle climate change while also addressing diverse forms of energy inequality and injustice. In this article, we argue that the public imagination is central to efforts to successfully confront this dual challenge. Specifically, we argue that theories of sociotechnical imaginaries have the potential to be leveraged both to strengthen public support for and engagement in carbon-neutral energy transitions and to identify and catalyze integrated sociotechnical designs and solutions that deliver on both accelerated technological change and just, equitable, and inclusive transitions. To explore these ideas, we present an in-depth case study of an emergent sociotechnical imaginary surrounding solar energy technologies in Puerto Rico. The results of our case study suggest that new imaginaries have the potential both to create powerful public support for renewable energy technologies that can accelerate energy systems change and, at the same time, help illuminate strategies for deploying energy technologies in ways that create meaningful impact and value in people's lives in diverse communities and thus contribute to making energy transitions more just and inclusive.
Recent efforts report the potential of microgirds to provide access to electric energy for remote... more Recent efforts report the potential of microgirds to provide access to electric energy for remote rural areas in a similar way that wireless phones technology has provided voice and data global connection to remote and underserved communities. While technical challenges are significant, an overall assessment framework is important to be able to meaningfully measure the success of current and future efforts in Electric Energy Access. Some of these technical challenges are related to the capital cost of reliable systems, consistency of renewable energy based systems, long term operation and maintenance, and the complexity of multiple sources of energy integration. This work focuses mainly in an overview of the capital cost to provide different levels of electric energy access and the overall assessment guidelines for microgrid projects. To assess projects and efforts focused on the so called “community development”, three main areas emerge to define a new overall impact evaluation strategy: human wellbeing, inequality, and natural ecosystems. Different approaches need to be considered to assess human wellbeing including subjective wellbeing, participatory methods, social return on investment, objective indicators such as life expectancy, and capabilities approach. Inequality adjusted indices have already been incorporated into the Human Development Index. One of the leading methods to evaluate the ecosystems is the ecological footprint, while other in-depth efforts have taken place such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. While a basic universal access to electric energy is undeniably important to reduce global and local inequalities, the process to enable that access and the ways of life that new technologies promote are crucial for communities to choose a path that lead them to meaningful healthy lives using a minimum of resources.
is a mechanical engineer with experience in appropriate technology, participatory design and huma... more is a mechanical engineer with experience in appropriate technology, participatory design and humanitarian innovation. She completed her bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012 and obtained her Master of Science in the same field at the University of Michigan in 2014. Through her business, PamLab Design and Engineering, she blends strategic design facilitation with mechanical engineering services to co-create innovative solutions for community challenges. Ms. Maggie Favretti, Design Ed 4 Resilience Maggie Favretti is a lifelong learner, and authentic engagement educator. Throughout her career teaching high schoolers and teachers, college students and professors, and community adult leaders, Maggie converges disciplines and aligns sectors toward shared efficacy and problem solving. Maggie's current work recenters the role of designer (design thinking) in youth, educators and community, and focuses on disaster recovery, youth empowerment, and climate justice.
2018 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica, 2018
In order to achieve the objective of universal electricity access by 2030, new microgrids need to... more In order to achieve the objective of universal electricity access by 2030, new microgrids need to serve 630 million people globally. To achieve this goal, new finance models need to be developed and implemented. Load profiles of rural consumers are crucial for off-grid systems capacity planning and control. The combination of detailed load profiles with benefit assessment of rural electricity can provide important insights into the social dynamics of communities ready to adopt microgrid technologies and an important incentive to guide demand side management. We propose a Load Profile - Benefit Assessment (LPBA) methodology that integrates microgrid data, analyzed through mean shift clustering clustering technique, with mixed method instrumentation to adequately assess the impact electricity use has on consumers. Enabled by wellbeing assessment methodology, LPBA could change the perceived investment risk by taking a deeper look at the reasons why a rural electrification business succeeds or fails. Preliminary data from a case study of a rural secondary school in Tanzania is used here to illustrate the methodology. While microgrids connected to a reliable grid seek to reduce cost or maximize the hours of power output when the price per kWh is higher, the LPBA provides a general guideline for microgrid users to manage power consumption with the goal of maximizing wellbeing benefits. Initial results indicate that in order to scale up methodologies such as LPBA, innovation is needed in affordable smart meters, near-real time signal processing tools, and transactive energy appropriate technology.
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2017
The present study uses power data from panel meter connected to the micro-grid to identify electr... more The present study uses power data from panel meter connected to the micro-grid to identify electrical energy consumption of the school appliances and their behavior in both warm-up, standby and active operation states. Before the conduction of experiments a load auditing of the school appliances was carried out by reading the rated power of each device (e.g. photocopy machine, printer, and fridge). The captures of this kind of information were essential as it provides a starting point to determine energy use of each appliance and hence simplify the process of identification. The electric parameters such as active power, reactive power and current were used to analyze the behavior of electrical appliances in all states. Experimental results show that, both active and reactive power were found to be high for old Canon photocopy machine as compared to new Canon photocopy machine. Another experiment reveals that printing one copy by using HP laser printer consumes about 700 W, while photocopying one copy with new Canon machine utilizes approximately 1100 W. This study concludes that new photocopy machine consumes more electric energy in warm-up state as compared to other states (standby and active operation states). Future work is to develop an algorithm for demand side management strategies which will enable efficient utilization of the electric energy from the micro-grid and hence bring the intended energy impact to the school.
2018 Clemson University Power Systems Conference (PSC), 2018
In this study, we monitored power consumption to analyze the impact of energy usage on people’s w... more In this study, we monitored power consumption to analyze the impact of energy usage on people’s well-being. Data analytics is playing a key role in grid operation and the benefits derived from it. We use change point detection techniques to identify instances where power consumption time-series significantly change. Wavelets and adaptive chisquare and Ljung–Box tests are computed to detect these changes using real-world data. It has been shown that there is a strong positive correlation between quality of life and electricity consumption in impoverished countries. Once different levels of consumption are identified due to the use of different appliances, citizens well-being derived from these levels are linked to the relevant elements described in the Gallup-Healthways Report. Furthermore, it is important to come up with methodologies that rely on affordable meters, and thus allow users to manage their power consumption in a distributed manner and maximize their well-being.
2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Papadopoulos has diverse research and teaching interests in structural mechanics, biomechanics, e... more Papadopoulos has diverse research and teaching interests in structural mechanics, biomechanics, engineering ethics, and engineering education. He is PI of the project Graduate Research and Education for Appropriate Technology: Inspiring Direct Engagement and Agency (GREAT IDEA) that supports and prepares graduate researchers to pursue research and development activities that address issues of developing communities. Papadopoulos is also the Secretary of the ASEE Mechanics Division and serves on numerous committees at UPRM that relate to undergraduate and graduate education.
IEEE Power and Energy Technology Systems Journal, 2019
This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico's electric grid. Arguably, the... more This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico's electric grid. Arguably, the most significant effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico was the electric power outage that initially affected the entire island and lasted more than 10 months. Although damage to the conventional electric power generation infrastructure was relatively minor, both the transmission and distribution portions of the grid suffered much worse damage than that observed during other hurricanes that affected the U.S. in the past decade. This extensive damage added to logistical limitations and the island orography were important factors that contributed to an extremely slow restoration process leading to a very low resilience for the island's power grid. This paper describes all these aspects in detail and supports the explanation of the hurricane effects with photographic evidence collected during a damage assessment conducted in early December 2017 when about half of the electricity customers were still without service. This paper concludes by exploring some lessons from these observations including potential options to increase resilience, such as the use of microgrids.
Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE Industry Applications Conference Forty-First IAS Annual Meeting, 2006
This paper presents a complete and integrated environment for rapid prototyping of robust proport... more This paper presents a complete and integrated environment for rapid prototyping of robust proportional-integral-derivative (PID) fuzzy controller that allows rapid realization of novel designs. The architecture of the proposed controller is basically composed of three independent fuzzy sub-controllers. Then, the three sub-controllers are combined together to form the overall fuzzy PID controller. The design strategy incorporates a fuzzy tuner for
In an effort to foster improved public involvement in the planning of transportation projects, an... more In an effort to foster improved public involvement in the planning of transportation projects, and within the framework of Context Sensitive Design, a method is developed that collects community preference at the inception of a project via questionnaire. Preferences are expressed with respect to a pre-selected set of criteria that represent sustainable transportation design features. After quantitative analysis to rank preferences, several “fly-through” visuals are created to capture various levels of community preference. These visuals can then be presented to the community for further comment. This methodology is implemented in Dulces Labios, which is a coastal community in the municipality of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The study demonstrates that it is feasible to collect community preference data as a means to inform the formulation of design options, and to interpret these preferences visually, in a manner that is accessible to people in a community with varying levels of education and literacy
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2013
Access to electric energy is one of the drivers of wellbeing and universal access to energy has r... more Access to electric energy is one of the drivers of wellbeing and universal access to energy has recently been identified as an important goal in the international community. A data-driven analysis of electric energy consumption and subjective wellbeing indicators is introduced to promote a broad conversation about relationships between energy poverty, global equity, subjective wellbeing measurements and good quality of life. The proposed approach directly focuses on the overall goal of attaining good and long lasting lives, the implications for future generations, the importance of ecosystems in enabling sustainable wellbeing and the needed capabilities in communities to flourish. Eventually, the proposed pathway should lead to a capabilities approach assessment for appropriate technologies. The results point out that although there is an important relationship between electric energy consumption and human wellbeing, a deeper look at electric energy access, subjective wellbeing indicators, local capabilities, and participatory decision making processes is needed to better prepare and implement long-term energy plans at local and global levels.
2007 IEEE Industry Applications Annual Meeting, 2007
Page 1. DSP-Based Implementation of Fuzzy-PID Controller Using Genetic Optimization for High Perf... more Page 1. DSP-Based Implementation of Fuzzy-PID Controller Using Genetic Optimization for High Performance Motor Drives Ahmed Rubaai, Marcel J. Castro-Sitiriche Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Howard University Washington, DC 20059 ...
Power Electronics Handbook, 2011
Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on fuzzy logic applications in electrical drives and power... more Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on fuzzy logic applications in electrical drives and power electronics. The application of fuzzy reasoning to improve the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is evident in the research community today to build state-of-the-art control systems. A genetic-based hybrid fuzzy-PID controller, which employs a fuzzy-PID controller integrating a classical PID controller, is presented in this section. The fuzzy-PID controller consists of three parallel fuzzy sub-controllers, namely, fuzzy-based proportional controller, fuzzy-based integral controller, and fuzzy-based derivative controller. The same technique applied to the fuzzy-based proportional controller is applied to the fuzzy-based integral controller. The controller has two inputs and one output. Genetic optimization-based approach is used to ensure the best performance of the proposed fuzzy-PID controller. The genetic optimization imitates the natural evolution process in which the fittest survive and the best genes are propagated to the next generation. The next step in the design of the fuzzy-logic-based controller is the determination of the fuzzy IF-THEN inference rules. The number of fuzzy rules that are required is equal to the product of the number of fuzzy sets that make up each of the two fuzzy input variables.
Science and Engineering Ethics, 2011
Given the possibilities of synthetic biology, weapons of mass destruction and global climate chan... more Given the possibilities of synthetic biology, weapons of mass destruction and global climate change, humans may achieve the capacity globally to alter life. This crisis calls for an ethics that furnishes effective motives to take global action necessary for survival. We propose a research program for understanding why ethical principles change across time and culture. We also propose provisional motives and methods for reaching global consensus on engineering field ethics. Current interdisciplinary research in ethics, psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary theory grounds these proposals. Experimental ethics, the application of scientific principles to ethical studies, provides a model for developing policies to advance solutions. A growing literature proposes evolutionary explanations for moral development. Connecting these approaches necessitates an experimental or scientific ethics that deliberately examines theories of morality for reliability. To illustrate how such an approach works, we cover three areas. The first section analyzes cross-cultural ethical systems in light of evolutionary theory. While such research is in its early stages, its assumptions entail consequences for engineering education. The second section discusses Howard University and University of Puerto Rico/Mayagüez (UPRM) courses that bring ethicists together with scientists and engineers to unite ethical theory and practice. We include a syllabus for engineering and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) ethics courses and a checklist model for translating educational theory and practice into community action. The model is based on aviation, medicine and engineering practice. The third and concluding section illustrates Howard University and UPRM efforts to translate engineering educational theory into community action. Multidisciplinary teams of engineering students and instructors take their expertise from the classroom to global communities to examine further the ethicality of prospective technologies and the decision-making processes that lead to them.
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2008
Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 1977 D... more Page 1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 1977 DSP-Based Laboratory Implementation of Hybrid Fuzzy-PID Controller Using Genetic Optimization for High-Performance Motor Drives ...
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2008
Page 1. 1090 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008 Design ... more Page 1. 1090 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 44, NO. 4, JULY/AUGUST 2008 Design and Implementation of Parallel Fuzzy PID Controller for High-Performance Brushless Motor Drives: An Integrated Environment for Rapid Control ...
Energies, 2021
There has been an effort for a few decades to keep energy consumption at a minimum or at least wi... more There has been an effort for a few decades to keep energy consumption at a minimum or at least within a low-level range. This effort is more meaningful and complex by including a customer’s satisfaction variable to ensure that customers can achieve the best quality of life that could be derived from how energy is used by different devices. We use the concept of Shapley Value from cooperative game theory to solve the multi-objective optimization problem (MOO) to responsibly fulfill user’s satisfaction by maximizing satisfaction while minimizing the power consumption, with energy constrains since highly limited resources scenarios are studied. The novel method uses the concept of a quantifiable user satisfaction, along the concepts of power satisfaction (PS) and energy satisfaction (ES). The model is being validated by representing a single house (with a small PV system) that is connected to the utility grid. The main objectives are to (i) present the innovative energy satisfaction mo...
IEEE Power and Energy Technology Systems Journal, 2019
This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Arguably, the... more This paper discusses the effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Arguably, the most significant effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico was the electric power outage that initially affected the entire island and lasted more than 10 months. Although damage to the conventional electric power generation infrastructure was relatively minor, both the transmission and distribution portions of the grid suffered much worse damage than that observed during other hurricanes that affected the U.S. in the past decade. This extensive damage added to logistical limitations and the island orography were important factors that contributed to an extremely slow restoration process leading to a very low resilience for the island’s power grid. This paper describes all these aspects in detail and supports the explanation of the hurricane effects with photographic evidence collected during a damage assessment conducted in early December 2017 when about half of the electricity customers were still without service. This paper concludes by exploring some lessons from these observations including potential options to increase resilience, such as the use of microgrids.
ABSTRACT DUE DATE: MAY 15, 2016 Sustainable Technologies to Empower Communities – Bridging Theor... more ABSTRACT DUE DATE: MAY 15, 2016
Sustainable Technologies to Empower Communities – Bridging Theory and Practice
The 7th International Conference on Appropriate Technology will:
1. Promote Appropriate Technology (AT) knowledge creation, documentation, sharing and transfer to support practice grounded in sound theory
2. Focus on AT contributions that will empower communities while remaining environmentally sustainable, particularly amongst historically oppressed communities.
3. Provide a forum for networking on AT solutions for the 21st century through mechanisms and models to achieve sustainable well-being for all.
Background
Climate change will impact the poorest countries and their people the hardest. Curtailing harmful climate change while eradicating poverty requires sustainable and ecologically sound solutions. Presently, 1.1 billion people in developing and underdeveloped countries have inadequate access to safe water; over 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation; a third of the planet has no access to a stable, reliable energy grid; and as many or more humans lack access to the internet and the world wide web. Eliminating poverty and improving the quality of life requires increased agriculture, industry and transport productivity, which is possible via improved water, energy and information utilization. Most importantly, public health and human productivity require technology practices that address basic community needs. AT’s vision focuses on enhancing equity and social justice. The implementation of AT should focus on the most marginalized communities and underdeveloped nations. The sustainable promotion of AT requires implementing policies to safeguard the Earth while empowering the broadest possible population. Adoption and promotion of these local, national and international policies should significantly enhance appropriate technology education, research, dissemination and practice.