Dr. David W. Gao

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Bio

Dr. David W. Gao received the B.S. degree in Aeronautical Propulsion Control Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an, China. He pursued graduate study at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), Atlanta, USA and earned his M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering specializing in electric power engineering in 1999 and 2002 from GIT, respectively. From 2002 to 2006, he has worked as an Assistant Research Professor in the University of South Carolina and Mississippi State University (MSU). Since 2006, he has worked as an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Tennessee Tech University (TTU). Dr. Gao’s current teaching and research interests include distributed generation, renewable energy, power system protection, power system modeling and simulation, hybrid electric propulsion systems,energy storage systems, alternative power systems, power electronics application in power system and electric machinery drive. He is the winner of the Best Paper Award in the Complex Systems Track at the 2002 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, January 2002. Dr. Gao has been a Senior Member of the IEEE since year 2003, a member of Sigma Xi since September 2007, and also a member of American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

At TTU, he serves as the Faculty Advisor of the Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) Chapter. He also serves as member of the ECE Graduate Committee and Laboratory Committee.

 

Students:

Graduate Students: 

     Jiaxin Ning, Ph.D. student
     Seyed Nasser Keshmiri, Ph.D. student
     Ge Wang, M.S. student
     Sharanya Jaganathan, M.S. student
     Vadim Zheglov, M.S. student
     Aboli Kulkarni, M.S. student
     Andrew Watkins, M.S. student

Undergraduate Students: 

     Parisa Radman
     Nathan Payne
Alumni: 
     Xi Chen, MSEE,December 2008
     Rohit Satish Kunte, M.S. student
     Agustin Melero Perez, M.S. student (visiting)
     Ranjan Behera, Ph.D. student (visiting)

Teaching

Courses taught or being taught by Dr. Gao at TTU:(For more information about TTU's Power engineering program, please see our poster presentation made at ONR/EPRI/AEP-Sponsored Power Faculty Workshop February 12-15, 2009, Napa Valley Marriott, Napa, California.) 

     1. ECE 3610 "Introduction to Power System," Spring 2008, Spring 2009
     2. ECE 7970 "Hybrid Electric Vehicles," Fall 2008
     3. ECE 6640 "Renewable Energy Distributed Generation," Fall 2007, Fall 2009     
     4. ECE 6630 "Power System Protection," Spring 2007, Fall 2008
     5. ECE 7980 "Fuel Cell based Distributed Generation System," Fall 2006

Courses taught by Dr. Gao at MSU: 
     1. ECE 8990 "Small-scale Power System Modeling and Simulation," Spring 2005
     2. ECE 7000 "Automotive Powertrain System," Fall 2004

Research

 

1. Wide Area Frequency Monitoring for Power System Protection: funded by US Department of Energy (DOE), is to deploy and operate a frequency monitoring network (FNET) in Eastern Interconnection region. Dr. Gao's team develops an educational outreach program to work with high schools, in collaboration with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Virginia Tech. With the FNET, Dr. Gao's research team develops power system applications to detect anomalous events and improve wide area power system operations.

2. Hybrid Fuel Cell Distributed Generation Systems for Electric Ship Applications: funded by Office of Naval Research (ONR), is to model and analyze small-scale fuel cell systems used for distributed electricity generation. Such distributed generation systems can help the critical or vital shipboard loads function without power interruption if the central power unit is struck, among other benefits to the power network.

3. Design Optimization of Hybrid Powertrains: funded by DOE, Dr. Gao works with team from Argonne National Laboratory to develop efficient methodology for automated design optimization of hybrid powertrains — test all the possible ways a vehicle’s powertrain can be configured and sized to get the best fuel economy and performance by computers in distributed computing platform. The research results can accelerate the optimal design of hybrid vehicles, which have increased fuel economy, reduced harmful emissions and better vehicle performance comparing to the conventional vehicles.

More about Dr. Gao's research can be found here and here.

Publications

 

Dr. Gao has published more than 50 papers in referred international journals and conferences on the subjects of distributed generation, renewable energy, hybrid electric vehicles, power system modeling and simulation, electric machines, power quality, and controls. Following is a list of related papers: 

 
  1. Wenzhong Gao and Jiaxin Ning, “Modeling and analysis for current ripples in fuel cell power system,” International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2008.
  2. Wenzhong Gao, Chris Mi and Ali Emadi, “Modeling and Simulation of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles,” Proceedings of the IEEE Special Issue on Electric, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Vehicles, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp.729–745, 2007 (invited paper).
  3. Wenzhong Gao and Chris Mi, “Hybrid vehicle design using global optimisation algorithms,” International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 57-70, 2007.
  4. Wenzhong Gao and Xi Chen, “Distributed Generation Placement Design and Contingency Analysis with Parallel Computing Technology,” Journal of Computers, accepted, to appear.
  5. Ruifang Liu, Chris Mi, and Wenzhong Gao, “Modeling of Eddy Current Losses of Electrical Machines and Transformers Operated by Pulsewidth-Modulated Inverters,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 44, no. 8, Aug. 2008.
  6. A. Kumar and W. Gao, “Power flow model of “Sen” transformer for loadability enhancement and comparison with UPFC in hybrid Electricity Markets,” “Electric Power Components & Systems (Francis Taylor), 2008. To Appear.
  7. A. Kumar, W. Gao, “New price area zonal based approach for optimal location of distributed generation in hybrid electricity markets,” “Electric Power Components & Systems (Francis Taylor), 2008, accepted.
  8. A. Kumar, Wenzhong Gao, “Pattern of Secure Bilateral Transactions Ensuring Power Economic Dispatch in Hybrid Electricity Markets”, Applied Energy (Elsevier), accepted, November 2008.
  9. Aymeric Rousseau, Sylvain Pagerit, David W. Gao, “Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Control Strategy Parameter Optimization,” Journal of Asian Electric Vehicles, accepted, November 2008.
  10. Ashwani Kumar, Wenzhong Gao, “Distributed generation location optimization using mixed integer non-linear programming in hybrid electricity markets,” IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, under review.
  11. Jian Wu, Noel N. Schulz, and Wenzhong Gao, “Distributed simulation for power system analysis including shipboard systems,” Journal Elec. Power Sys. Research, May, 2007, vol. 27, pp.1124-1131.
  12. Wenzhong Gao, “Performance comparison of a hybrid fuel cell – battery powertrain and a hybrid fuel cell – ultracapacitor powertrain,” IEEE Trans. on Vehicular Technology, vol. 54, no. 3, May, 2005, pp. 846-855.
  13. Wenzhong Gao, “A simple model-based on-line rotor time constant estimator for an induction machine,” IEEE Trans. Energy Conversion, vol. 19, no. 4, Dec., 2004, pp. 793-794.
  14. Wenzhong Gao, Eugene Solodovnik, and Roger Dougal, “Symbolically-aided model development for an induction machine in Virtual Test Bed,” IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 19, no. 1, March, 2004, pp. 125-135.
  15. A. P. Sakis Meliopoulos, Wenzhong Gao, and George J. Cokkinides, “Visualization and animation of inverter-driven induction motor operation,” Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Hawaii, 2002 (Best Paper Award).
  16. Agustin Melero Perez and Wenzhong Gao, “Fuzzy Logic Energy Management Strategy for Fuel Cell/Ultracapacitor/Battery Hybrid Vehicle with Multiple-Input DC/DC Converter,” the 5th IEEE Vehicular Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC), September 7-11, 2009, Dearborn, MI 48128.
  17. Jiaxin Ning and Wenzhong Gao, “Continuous Wavelet-Based Active Filter Design for Harmonic Mitigation in Hybrid Electric Vehicles,” IEEE VPPC 2009.
  18. Sharanya Jaganathan and Wenzhong Gao, “Battery Charging Power Electronics Converter and Control for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle,” IEEE VPPC 2009.
  19. Vadim Zheglov and Wenzhong Gao, “Double Input DC/DC Converter topology for Hybrid Electrical Vehicles,” IEEE VPPC 2009.
  20. Jianfu Fu, David Gao and Liwei Song, “Principal Component Analysis Based on Drive Cycles For Hybrid Electric Vehicle,” IEEE VPPC 2009.
  21. Jiaxin Ning and Wenzhong Gao, “A Wavelet-based Method to Extract Frequency Feature for Power System Fault/Event Analysis,” IEEE PES General Meeting, Calgary, Canada, 2009.
  22. Vadim Zheglov, Wenzhong Gao, Eduard Muljadi, and Ge Wang, “New Control Strategy for Stand-alone Fuel Cell-battery Hybrid Power Supply System,” IEEE PES General Meeting, Calgary, Canada, 2009.
  23. S. Nasser Keshmiri and Wenzhong Gao, “Transmission Loss Allocation Using Normalized Loss Weight Factors in Bilateral Contracts Environment,” submitted to 41th North American Power Symposium (NAPS), Mississippi State University, 2009.
  24. Edris Pouresmaeil, Siamak Naderi, David W. Gao, “A Flexible SPWM Control Technique for Multipurpose Distributed Generation Systems,” Submitted to EPE 2009, the 13th International European Power Electronics Conference and Exhibition, September 8-10, 2009, Barcelona, Spain. (Accepted)
  25. Wenxia Pan, Wenzhong Gao, and Eduard Muljadi, “The Dynamic Performance and Effect of Hybrid Renewable Power System with Diesel/Wind/PV/Battery,” The First International Conference on Sustainable Power Generation and Supply (SUPERGEN), Nanjing, China, April 6-7, 2009.
  26. Ranjan Behera and Wenzhong Gao, “A Novel Controller Design for Grid Side Converter of DFIG for Wind Power Interface,” International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems & Power Electronics in Emerging Economies (ICEESPEE)-2009, April 16-17, 2009, Chennai, India. (Best Paper)
  27. Ranjan Behera and Wenzhong Gao, “Design and Simulation of Nonlinear Controller for Grid Connected Doubly-Fed Induction Generator,” International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems & Power Electronics in Emerging Economies (ICEESPEE)-2009, April 16-17, 2009, Chennai, India.
  28. Edris Pouresmaeil, Siamak Naderi, David W. Gao, “A fast detection method for voltage disturbances,” International Conference on Renewable Energy and Power Quality (ICREPQ’09), Spain, 2009.
  29. Ranjan Behera and Wenzhong Gao, “Simulation Study of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Direct Drive Wind Power Generator using Three Level NPC Converter System,” IEEE Symposium on Power Electronics and Machines in Wind Applications (PEMWA), June 24-26, 2009, Lincoln, Nebraska.
  30. Wenzhong Gao, Vadim Zheglov, Ge Wang, Satish Mahajan, “PV - Fuel Cell - Electrolyzer Micro-grid Control and Operation in Real Time Digital Simulator,” submitted to International Conference on CLEAN ELECTRICAL POWER, Capri – Italy, June 9-11, 2009.t
  31. Wenzhong Gao, Ge Wang, and Jiaxin Ning, “Development of Low Voltage Ride Through control strategy for wind power generation using Real Time Digital Simulator,” accepted for IEEE Power Systems Conference and Exposition (PSCE), Seattle, Washington, March 15-18, 2009.
  32. Eduard Muljadi, Wenzhong Gao, Rick Carson and Vadim Zheglov, “Dynamic simulation of a hybrid wind power system using RPMSim,” accepted for IEEE Power Systems Conference and Exposition (PSCE), Seattle, Washington, March 15-18, 2009.
  33. Ashwani Kumar and Wenzhong Gao, “Voltage Profile Improvement and Line Loss Reduction with Distributed Generation in Deregulated Electricity Markets,” IEEE TENCON 2008, Hyderabad, India, Nov. 2008.
  34. Xi Chen, Wenzhong Gao, “Effects of Distributed Generation on Power Loss, Loadability and Stability,” IEEE Southeast Conference (SECON) 2008, Huntsville, Alabama, April 3-6, 2008.
  35. Ge Wang and Wenzhong Gao, “Real time simulation for wind power generation system using RTDS,” 40th North American Power Symposium (NAPS), Calgary, Canada, Sept. 28-30, 2008.
  36. Jiaxin Ning and Wenzhong Gao, “Decoupled control of doubly fed induction generator for wind power system,” NAPS 2008, Calgary, Canada, Sept 28-30, 2008.
  37. Rohit Kunte and Wenzhong Gao, “Comparison and Review of Islanding Detection Techniques for Distributed Energy Resources,” NAPS 2008, Calgary, Canada, Sept 28-30, 2008.
  38. Sharanya Jaganathan, Arun Sekar, and Wenzhong Gao, “Formulation of Loss minimization Problem Using Genetic Algorithm and Line-Flow-based Equations,” NAPS 2008, Calgary, Canada, Sept 28-30, 2008.
  39. Aymeric Rousseau, Sylvain Pagerit, David W. Gao, “Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Control Strategy Parameter Optimization,” EVS 23 The International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition, Anaheim, California, Dec 2-5, 2007.
  40. Ruifang Liu, Chris Mi, and Wenzhong Gao, “Modeling of Iron Losses of Electrical Machines and Transformers Fed by PWM Inverters,” Proc. of the IEEE 2007 Power Engineering Society General Meeting, Tampa, FL, June, 2007.
  41. G. Radman and, A. Pama, J. Powell, and W. Gao, “Dynamic Voltage Stability Improvement Using Coordinated Control of Dynamic VAR-Sources,” Proceedings of the Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control – VII; IREP Symposium, August 19-24, 2007 Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
  42. Wenzhong Gao and S. Porandla, “Design optimization of a parallel hybrid electric powertrain,” Proceedings of the IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, pp. 530-535, Chicago in September, 2005.
  43. Wenzhong Gao and S. Musunuri, “Hybrid Electric Vehicle modeling and analysis in Generic Modeling Environment,” Proceedings the IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, Windsor England, UK, September, 2006.
  44. Wenzhong Gao, Sandeep Neema, Jeff Gray, J. Picone, S. Porandla, S. Musunuri, J. Mathews, “Hybrid powertrain design using a Domain-Specific Modeling Environment,” Proceedings of the IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference, pp. 6-12, Chicago in September, 2005.
  45. Hyoung Yeon Cho, Wenzhong Gao, and Herb Ginn, “A new power control strategy for hybrid fuel cell vehicles,” Proc. of the 8th IEEE Workshop on Power Electronics in Transportation, Oct., 2004.
  46. Wenzhong Gao, A. P. Sakis Meliopoulos, Eugene Solodovnik, and Roger Dougal, “A nonlinear model for studying synchronous machine dynamic behavior in phase coordinates,” Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. on Industrial Technology, Hong Kong, December, 2005.
  47. Wenzhong Gao, Eugene Solodovnik, Roger Dougal, George J. Cokkinides, and A. P. Sakis Meliopoulos, “Elimination of numerical oscillations in power system dynamic simulation,” Proc. the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference, February, 2003.
  48. W. Gao, E. Solodovnik, and R. Dougal, “Simulation and visualization of a shipboard DC zonal distribution system,” Proc. of the 34th annual North American Power Symposium, 2002.
  49. A. P. Sakis Meliopoulos, W. Gao, S. Li, G.J. Cokkinides, and R. Dougal, “Quadratized induction machine model for power flow analysis,” Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference EuroPES (Power and Energy Systems), Crete, Greece, June 25 – 28, 2002.
  50. A. P. Sakis Meliopoulos, Wenzhong Gao, Jalali Sasan, Scott Henneberry, and George J. Cokkinides, “Power quality assessment via physically based statistical simulation method,” Proceedings of the IEEE 2000 Power Engineering Society Winter Meeting, Singapore, 2000.



Contact

If you are interested in Dr. Gao's research, please contact him at: 

Dr. David Wenzhong Gao
     Center for Energy Systems Research 
     Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
     Box 5032, TTU
     1020 Stadium Drive PH 414
     Cookeville, TN 38505-0001
     Tel: (931) 372-3682
     Fax: (931) 372-6369
     email:
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News and Events

Dr. Gao won 2009 National Science Foundation prestigious CAREER award on wind power.

July 16, 2009, Dr. Gao won an award from DOE for "Multi-Level Energy Storage and Controls for Large-Scale Wind Energy Integration"

November 21, 2008, a TTU invention disclosure on wind energy harnessing, with Dr. Gao being a co-inventor, has been selected for presentation at the Tennessee Innovation Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee.

September, 2008, Tennessee Valley Authority awarded "12kW Photovoltaic Solar Power Distributed Generation at TTU" project.

April, 2008, Dr. Gao invited to serve as Program Co-chair in the Organizing Committee of

the 5th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC'09), September 7-11, 2009, Dearborn, Michigan.

He chairs the Conference Track on "Modeling, Simulation, Dynamics, and Control".

January 8, 2008,

TTU opens TVA Power Relay Lab; ECE students to benefit from $500,000 facility.

Winner of THE FY 2007 COMPETITION UNDER THE DEFENSE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM (DURIP):

"Hybrid Fuel Cell Energy System Experimentation and Testing".

July 17, 2007, National Science Foundation (NSF) project awarded:

"MRI: Acquisition of a Real Time Digital Simulator for Power and Energy Systems Research and Education".

February 21, 2007, TTU Faculty Research Award:

project "Battery Charging Control Techniques for Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles" awarded.


Renewable Energy Projects

Renewable Energy Site Project/Morgan County
TTU 12kW Photovoltaic Solar Power Distributed Generation Project
Scott County High School Wind and Solar Project
York Institute High School Solar and Wind Project

Useful Links

Following are some conferences we are interested in: 

THE 40TH NORTH AMERICAN POWER SYMPOSIUM (NAPS 2008), Sept 28-30, 2008, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.


2008 Power Engineering Society (PES) General meeting, July 20-24, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.


The 5th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC'09), September 7-11, 2009, Dearborn, Michigan, USA.


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