Area of Study / Keywords

Energy Systems

About

Dr. Xu received a Bachelor degree from Xian Jiaotong University, China, in 1982, a M.Sc. degree from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1985 and a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1989. He worked in BC Hydro, Canada, between 1989 and 1996 as an electrical engineer, and joined the University of Alberta in 1996.

Research

Research Interests

The current research interests of Dr. Xu are power disturbances defined in a very broad sense. For example, a harmful disturbance is considered as a power quality concern, so his team investigates techniques for power quality assessment, diagnosis and improvement. On the other hand, some disturbances can also be considered as information carriers. Dr. Xu’s group also researches techniques for power system communication, condition monitoring and active protection using naturally occurring or intentionally generated disturbances. All this research work is driven by the vision that power systems (especially power distribution systems) will become "smarter" through the use of the information and communication technologies. Making use of power disturbances in a positive way is a very promising direction to support the smart grid vision.

Current Research

Please visit the following websites for such information:

The website of Dr. Xu

The website of Dr. Xu’s research lab

The website of Alberta Power Industry Consortium

ECE 434 - Power System Protection and Grounding

Short-circuit and other faults in power systems. Analysis of faulted power systems in phase domain, components of power system protection, various protection schemes and relays. Power system grounding, concepts of transient overvoltage and ground potential rise. Prerequisite: ECE 430. Credit may be obtained in only one of ECE 434 or E E 434.

ECE 530 - Power Quality and Power Disturbance Analysis

Introduction to power disturbances and power quality; Generation, characterization, mitigation and analysis of key power disturbances: harmonics, voltage sags and swells, and electromagnetic transients. Disturbance signal processing; Case studies using transients and harmonics programs; Application of power quality standards and practical aspects of power quality assessment; custom power technologies; Power signaling technology, i.e. applications of power disturbances for information transmission and extraction purposes; Generation of disturbances for power line communication and active condition monitoring; Current developments.

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