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Day 4 of the IEEE Summer School on Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies

Day 4 of the IEEE Summer School on Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies

Date: 25th of July 2023

The fourth day of the IEEE Summer School on Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies, organized by the IEEE PES Student Branch Chapter in collaboration with the IEEE EDS/NTC Student Branch Chapter of the University of Jaffna, took place on 25th of July 2023, from 8 AM to 4 PM, at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna. Around 90 students participated in the event, which included a field visit to the Renewable Energy Hub at the Kilinochchi Campus of the University of Jaffna. The hub houses Sri Lanka’s first floating solar panel, providing participants with a real-world application of photovoltaic (PV) technology. Attendees learned about the design, construction, and operation of the floating solar panel and had the opportunity to meet the engineers and researchers responsible for developing the hub.

The day featured two keynote sessions. Eng. Ranjith Sepala, Chairperson of the Sustainable Energy Authority, Sri Lanka, delivered an illuminating address on the imperative shift towards sustainable energy solutions, highlighting the need to combat climate change and the depletion of fossil fuel resources. Eng. Selvarajah Prabaharan, Deputy General Manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board, Northern Province, Sri Lanka, shared insights into the dynamic world of energy, focusing on challenges and innovative solutions in the sector.

The event also included practical demonstrations on solar fitting, site visits to renewable energy projects such as a rooftop solar PV pilot project, a grid-connected wind turbine, a solar measuring centre, a solar floating pilot plant, a biogas pilot project, and the Palai Wind Farm. These activities emphasised hands-on learning and showcased the potential of renewable energy technologies in transforming the energy landscape.



Summer School Day 4 Image

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Hands-on session on “Solar Panel Skill Development”

Hands-on session on “Solar Panel Skill Development”

Date: 25th of June 2023

A hands-on session on Solar Panel Skill Development was organised on 25th of June 2023, from 8:30 AM at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna. The workshop, facilitated by Mr. Padmadewa Samaranayake, Project Coordinator Officer at the Sri Lankan Sustainable Energy Authority, saw the participation of around 50 individuals.

The comprehensive agenda covered topics such as site assessment, measurement of PV module parameters, installation techniques, testing and commissioning procedures, and practical training in handling tools and testing equipment with a focus on best practices, safety measures, and operations and maintenance checks. This event significantly enhanced the technical expertise of attendees in solar panel systems, contributing to the development of skilled professionals in renewable energy technologies.



Solar Skill Development Image 1

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Solar Skill Development Image 2

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Workshop on “PSCAD”

Workshop on “PSCAD”

Date: 26th of May 2023

The IEEE PES Student Branch Chapter of the University of Jaffna conducted a successful PSCAD Workshop, on 26th of May 2023, from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM at the Simulation Laboratory, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna. The workshop, attended by 25 participants, mainly from 3rd year and final year, was led by Prof. A. Atputharajah, a Senior Professor in the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, UoJ.

The session aimed to provide preliminary knowledge on using PSCAD, a powerful tool for power systems analysis. Participants were given hands-on experience with PSCAD-installed PCs, modelling a simple power system under Prof. Atputharajah’s guidance. The interactive session also covered features of PSCAD, with examples on synchronous machines, HVDC, and active series filters.



PSCAD Workshop Image 1

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Winner- student/academia category IEEE SA Telehealth Solutions Virtual Pitch Competition

Winner- student/academia category IEEE SA Telehealth Solutions Virtual Pitch Competition

The IEEE SA Transforming the Telehealth Paradigm Industry Connections Program in collaboration with the IEEE SA Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice held its first annual IEEE SA Telehealth Solutions Virtual Pitch Competition “Rethink the "Machine: Transforming RPM to a Patient-Centered Care System”

The theme of the competition focused on Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), a subset of telehealth, enabling physicians to better monitor and care for patients in real-time in a remote location. The competition sought solutions across the many touchpoints of the RPM experience with the goal of identifying potential opportunities to nurture ideas for global technical and/or data standards.

The Final Year Research Project “Multi-Purpose Health Monitoring Bracelet” of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Jaffna was selected among the 9 global finalists of the competition. It was the only team among the finalists representing an Asian Country.

The research project Multi-Purpose Health Monitoring Bracelet (MHMB) was carried out by the students Nilojkanth Loganathan and  Pramuka Sooriyapatabandige under the supervision and guidance of Mr R. Valluvan (Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna), Prof. R. Surenthirakumaran (Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna) and Dr S. Sivasothy (Founder, Dotshook, France).

The final virtual pitch event took place virtually on the 8th of February 2022.

The Project MHMB was placed first in the category of Student/Academia at the IEEE SA Telehealth Solutions Virtual Pitch Competition

The research project Multi-Purpose Health Bracelet has also won the Professor S. Mahalingam Memorial Innovative Project Proposal Award 2020 presented by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna and Best Innovative Product/ Project – University – Northern Province at the SLASSCOM National Ingenuity Awards 2022.

Video Link - Click here

We congratulate the team for winning the 1st place of this international competition, representing University of Jaffna and Sri Lanka.

 

Students obtained First place and the most popular invention awards at the “Undergraduate inventor of the year (UIY) 2021” competition

The IESL established the Undergraduate Inventor of the Year (UIY) 2021 competition for undergraduates to encourage and stimulate interest in engineering inventions and provide an opportunity to organize and present their inventions. This is a unique opportunity to recognize and reward the nation’s most remarkable and innovative undergraduate students.

Competition was opened for any student member of IESL or an undergraduate of engineering faculties of the University of Peradeniya, University of Moratuwa, University of Ruhuna, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, South Eastern University, University of Jaffna and Open University of Sri Lanka. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the final competition was held online on October 8th 2021. Undergraduates from the universities of Peradeniya, Sri Jayewardenepura, and Jaffna had selected to the grand finale. Each entry was judged on its originality, inventiveness, scope of use, and potential social, environmental, or economic value.

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Popular talk of NASA scientist Dr. P. Balakumar at Department of Interdisciplinary Studies

Dr. Ponnampalam Balakumar (Research scientist at NASA Langley Research Center) delivered a popular talk about “stability-transition-turbulence” on 10th of January, 2018 at Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. This talk was jointly organized by Mechanical Engineering Society (MES), Faculty of Engineering and Vadakkin Chapter of Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL). This talk was mainly focus on his work done in NASA Langley Research Center. He discussed elaborately about the stability and transition of hypersonic boundary layers and laminar-transition region in supersonic and hypersonic flows.

Dr. Ponnampalam Balakumar graduated from University of Peradeniya in 1977 from Department of Civil Engineering. He obtained his MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Missouri, Rolla, USA in 1981 and obtained his PhD in Aeronautics from MIT in 1986 specializing in Fluid Dynamics. He did his post-doctorate research in stability and transition of hypersonic boundary layers at Arizona State University, USA. Then, he worked as an Associate Professor at Old Dominion University until 2000. Since then he is working as a Research Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center. His area of research is stability, transition, and turbulence of supersonic and hypersonic boundary layers.

Abstract: Drag reduction is an important part in design of aerodynamic vehicles. Skin friction drag contributes more than 50% of the total drag on an aircraft. Skin friction drag reduction could be achieved by extending the laminar region on an airfoil and/or by reducing the turbulent skin friction. In this talk, a summary of predicting the laminar-transition region in supersonic and hypersonic flows will be discussed.

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Faculty Staff and students Members participated to the Civil Engineering Research Symposium at University of Ruhuna

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Society of the University of Ruhuna, hosted Undergraduate Research Symposium on the 3rd of January 2018. Total of 10 Civil and Environmental Engineering Society of University of Jaffna together with two staff members, Dr. N. Sathiparan and Dr. D.N. Subramaniam (who were in the evaluation panel, and one of them Chaired a technical presentation session), attended the sessions. The research symposium highlighted the undergraduate student research projects, which were part of their curriculum, with oral and poster presentations. Several members from different Universities, industrial engineers, policy makers and professionals attended the sessions.

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