Prof. Dr.Surin Khomfoi
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang

Thailand EV infrastructure: Opportunities and Challenges 

Abstract:

Opportunities and challenges on Thailand electrical vehicle (EV) infrastructure are presented in this research. Several researches in EV infrastructure such as demand response (DR), energy management (EMS) of charging stations, and charging techniques are required. DR and EMS techniques in EV charging station can prevent catastrophic damages to a utility transformer to operate under rated power by controlling required power of EV chargers. Also, a power management method for limiting the charging current and charging time by using state of charge (SOC) as a priority point index can also be developed.  The power management method is also developed as a calculation algorithm for determining the charging current limit rating for electric vehicle chargers. The simulation model is also developed for validating a DR management function of the electric vehicle charger according to Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand (PEA) load characteristic data. The results show that the proposed DR function can manage the charging current of each electric vehicle charger appropriately. Also. the proposed technique can prevent the rated power demand of the transformer distribution.  The study illustrates that this coding method is an effective protection for the distribution transformer and can be able to apply as a DR function to manage electrical energy more efficiently. In addition, needs of other algorithms for EV application in Thailand are addressed for promising future research.

Biography

Surin Khomfoi was born in Thailand. He received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Bangkok, Thailand, in 1996 and 2000, respectively; and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA, in 2007. Since December 1997, he has been a lecturer with the Department of Electrical Engineering, KMITL, where he is currently a professor. His current research interests include multilevel power converters, renewable energy applications, fault diagnosis, electric vehicle infrastructure and smartgrids. Dr. Khomfoi is a Member of the Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He was a recipient of academic scholarship awards, including full academic scholarship for his B.Eng., M.Eng., and Ph.D. studies from the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO), Ministry of Energy Thailand

Yau Wei Yun
Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR, Singapore

Towards Intelligent Robots That Could Assist Us In Our Living Environment

Abstract:

Most people will be able to associate caring robots to those seen in the movies, such as R2-D2 of Star Wars or the robot in Robot & Frank. To realize such robots, we need to endow them with ability to move in our living space, manipulate items we use daily, and the intelligence to interact with us and know our needs. Rapid advancement in artificial intelligence, sensing, edge computing and 5G technology has helped to reduce the technological gap needed to build such intelligent robots. Specifically, I will describe some of the recent advancement in autonomous navigation, manipulation and perception technology for robots that has allowed the robots to operate in close proximity with human, able to understand emergency situations, giving way to people, and to operate in less structured environment that we live in. Such capabilities have led to the realization of robots for use in healthcare, indoor farming for food sustainability, public safety, and infrastructure inspection, where they perform the dull and dirty tasks so that we can focus on the more higher value tasks instead. Nevertheless, there are many remaining challenges to be solved, making robotics a good research area for the future.

Biography:

Yau Wei Yun received his BEng (Electrical) from the National University of Singapore (1992), MEng degree (1995) and PhD degree (1999) from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Currently he is with the Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR as the Head for Robotics and Autonomous Systems department, focusing on service robotics. Under his leadership, his team has developed several award-winning robotic solutions, including the robotic handling system for Automated Passenger In-vehicle Clearance System and the patrolling robot MATAR. The former won the Distinguished ExCEL Innovation Project in April 2018 while the latter won the “Best Drones and Robotics Project” in the International GovInsider Innovation Awards, Sept 2018 and MTI Firefly Silver Award (Most Innovative Project/Policy), Feb 2021. In 2017, his department also spun of Sensorbot Pte Ltd to commercialize the autonomous shelf reading prototype robot developed. He also serves as the Chief Engineer of the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore since 2019. He is the recipient of TEC Innovator Award 2002, Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award 2003 (Merit), IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards 2006 and Standards Council Distinguished Award 2007 and MTI Firefly Silver Award 2020. His research interest includes intelligent robots, biometrics, and active perception as well as novel robotic applications in healthcare, security, agritech, logistics and facility management and has published widely, with 15 patents granted and over 180 publications. One of his papers received the Pattern Recognition Journal Honorable Mention 2010 and listed as top 25 most cited papers in Scopus for April/May 2012.