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Description: The University of Manchester is the largest single-site university in the UK, offering students a greater choice of degree programmes and options, along with excellent facilities and student support services. The Electrical Energy and Power Systems (EEPS) group at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is at the forefront of research and teaching in the field of electric power engineering in the United Kingdom and internationally with its 10 permanent academic members of staff and its 30+ researchers.

EEPS People are in constant contact with industry and at the vanguard of the research trends in electric power engineering. As the home to the National Grid High Voltage Research Centre, the EEPS group is very strong in many aspects of high voltage engineering. Particular areas of competency include transformer insulation and monitoring, polymeric insulation and power system transients.

Research of the Electrical Energy and Power Systems (EEPS) group goes along three main axes:

  • Power Systems Analysis, Operation and Economics
  • High Voltage and Power System Plant
  • Power System Protection, Control and Communications

PC consists of 9 academic staff, and over forty PhD candidates, Post-Doctoral Researchers and Experimental Officers. The Group covers a range of power conversion technologies, and hosts the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre (UTC) in Power Conversion Systems, which contains the Intelligent Electric Power Network Evaluation Facility (IEPNEF). The group also has a 240kW 180kWh AC-grid connected energy storage system with a real-time control platform interface to enable rapid controller prototyping.

Research of the Power Conversion (PC) group includes:

  • Energy Storage and Electrical System Integration
  • Superconducting Fault Current Limiters
  • Power Electronics and Electrical Machine Design
  • Condition Monitoring

More information about our research facilities and staff can be accessed with the following links:

 

Facilities

National Grid High Voltage Research Centre
Description: The Electrical Energy and Power Systems Group is home to the National Grid Power Systems Research Centre (NGPSRC), the largest high voltage laboratory of any UK university. National Grid is the owner and operator of the transmission network for Great Britain, and the Centre was established in 2002 at The University of Manchester to strengthen their combined research abilities. The Electrical Energy and Power Systems group have a portfolio of research projects which utilise the NGPSRC to undertake pure and applied research of international significance, delivering solutions to the problems experienced by industry. The largest HV lab has a floor area of 500m².

Equipment

High Current Source
Description: 20 kVA, configurable to maximum current of 10 kA

Pulse generator
Description: 2 MV

AC cascade resonance test set
Description: 8000kV

DC test sets
Description: 600kV (in largest lab) and 300kV.

AC test set
Description: 300kV (in largest lab) and 150kV.

High Voltage environment chambers
Description: For testing equipment in harsh environments

Anechoic chamber
Description: 200 kV input for noise and corona measurements on novel conductors

Environmental chamber

Salt fog chamber

UV inspection facilities
Description: For corona monitoring

Partial discharge (PD) detectors

Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) monitors

Electromagnetic screen room

Acoustic screen room

Material processing and characterisation equipment

RIV measurement systems

Numerical control, instrumentation and monitoring system

 

Dielectric materials laboratory
Description: The NGPSRC contains a dedicated dielectric materials laboratory in which insulation materials can be pre-processed under various conditions, including in a vacuum or a humidity controlled environment. The dielectric laboratory contains a variety of diagnostic equipment to test the physical, chemical and dielectric properties of insulation materials.

Static Equipment

HIAC 8000A
Description: Particle Counter

Metrohm Karl Fisher
Description:Titrator

Acidity Titrator
Description: Titrator

Brookfield Viscometer
Description: Viscometer

Dielectric Constant Tan Delta

Resistivity Tester

Air-circulating and vacuum ovens
Description: For thermal ageing tests on insulation materials.

Vacuum evaporator

Light microscope

 

Real-time Digital Simulator (RTDS)
Description: The Manchester RTDS is a key enabler in the development of novel Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control concepts for the next generation of Smart Transmission and Distribution Networks.
The protection and control laboratories are currently expanded in constructing two large scale test beds:

  • Wide Area Protection and Control test bed for the assessment of power system stability, dynamic, protection and control performances within the UK and Ireland
  • IEC61850 Process Bus Architecture Test Bed for experiments relating to substation automation, protection and control testing using new CT and VT merging units and digital sample value concepts
Static Equipment

Real-time digital simulator
Description: 6 x RTDS simulator racks with integrated capacity of 30 PB5 core processors and 5 x Modular Multi-level Converters MMC support units

Transmission line simulator
Description: Analogue simulator

Several relay test sets
Description: OMICRON equipment

Energy storage system
Description: 240kW and 180kWh AC-grid connected storage, interface to real-time control platform

Energy storage system
Description: 1MJ, supercapacitor-based system

Battery tester
Description: NH Research 9200

Environmental chamber
Description: ESPEC AR680

High Voltage

  • 800 kV AC test set
  • Modern digital measurement equipment
Standards Compliance
  • IEC61850-8-1/-9-2
  • DNP3/IEC60870-5-104 SCADA communication
Testing Services
High Voltage Laboratory Testing:

  • Noise and corona analysis
  • Insulation system development and testing
  • Condition monitoring of HV plant (switch gear and transformers)
  • Assessment of new materials
  • Forensic analysis

High Voltage Site Testing:

  • Asset management techniques
  • Long-term tests and data acquisition

RTDS Testing:

  • Wide area monitoring, protection and control assessment for stability, dynamics and performance analysis for distributed power systems
  • Power and energy network topologies of smart grid
  • IEC61850-8-1/-9-2 process bus architectures
  • DNP3/IEC60870-5-104 SCADA communication
  • IEEEC37.118.1/ RTDS/GTNET PMU Synchrophasor data streaming and PMU-WAM control and protection with Phasor Data Concentrators PDC, GPS synchronisation 1PPS, IRIG-B, IEEE1588
  • HVDC for industry-standard multi-terminal HVDC/MMC controls system
Publications
Up-to-date lists of all EEPS publications (Electrical Energy and Power Systems) and PC publications (Power Conversion) can be found at the website of the University of Manchester.

last updated: 30.10.2019

The University of Manchester – School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering