Good results: UNC Charlotte Research.

• Position: RESEARCH NORTH CAROLINA: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE

Efficiency affects every aspect of an energy system including production, transmission, distribution, diagnostics, controls, costs, environment, resilience, reliability, and consumer satisfaction. Efficiency efforts often address increasing the flow of energy from the power generation facility or decreasing the use of energy by the customer. Areas receiving increasing attention are the infrastructures that support energy systems. Because they can have significant positive impacts on efficiency.

The Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) was created on the UNC Charlotte campus by the State of NC with strong encouragement and support from the energy industry. This backing has remained strong throughout EPIC's six year history. Energy industry partners are heavily engaged in EPIC's activities, which focus on workforce development, research, technology development, and technical problem solving. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is a world-wide, 40+ year old, independent, nonprofit, member-supported organization conducting research on behalf of its members and the public on energy and the environment. Benefitting from facilities practically across the street from one another, EPRI and EPIC have formed a strong collaboration to tackle complex energy issues.

Engineering faculty and research staff at EPIC are working closely with engineers and scientists at EPRI to improve the efficiency of components in electricity transmission and distribution systems. One example includes their work on improving design procedures for the insulators suspended from transmission towers and distribution poles. Insulators carry the heavy power lines (conductors) that span from tower to tower. Over the last three years, EPIC's High Bay Lab Manager, Dr. Youngjin Park, has worked closely with EPRI scientists and engineers on several projects to improve the design and evaluation process for insulators. Early projects evaluated numerical models for analysis and design and more recent projects involved mechanical tests to evaluate insulator behavior under required loading conditions. This work is funded by EPRI with the support of its members.

Before transmission towers and distribution poles can be installed, details of the insulators must be specified by a designer or vendor. In recent years, the design process for insulators has become more complex as new insulator materials have become popular (composite materials instead of porcelain, for...