Dr. Michael Wrinch power systems Engineer B.Sc.(UBC), B.A.Sc.(MUN), M.A.Sc.(MUN), P.Eng. Tel:  604.307.6620 Fax: 866.862.7037 E-mail: mike[at]hedgehogtech.com Office Location: off campus Consulting: here

Profile

Michael Wrinch is a professional engineer who specializes in protection, measurement, and modeling of distributed generation energy systems. He has worked in the mining, marine, fuel cell and automotive industries. His current academic concentration is in future energy supply delivery and protection. He is an active member of the IEEE and is a Councillor for Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.

Research Interests

Michael's research focus is in the study of protection and system integration of decentralized electrical power systems. This is accomplished by the development of simulation models for advanced relay sensing. Specifically, he is studying the security, quality, and resiliency of high-density installations of localized power sources known as "Distributed Generation" into the existing power grid. Some examples of these emerging power sources are solar power, micro turbines, natural gas generators, wind turbines and fuel cells. Some more specific problems associated with distributed generation are:

• Protection and coordination
• Transient control and synchronization
• Power quality
• Responsibility of Electrical Lines(Liability of damage)
• Real Time Simulator Limitations

Current Project

Under the supervision of Dr. José R. Martí from UBC and Dr. Mukesh Nagpal from BC Hydro, Michael focused on one aspect of distributed generation protection which involves an effect called Islanding. Islanding is when consumers on a power distribution grid are isolated from the bulk grid system. Islanding can result in unreliable and unstable power, but the effects still remain unclear.

Michael has developed a new innovative methods for power system island detection.