Updated May 20, 2010

Third Annual IEEE/CCET Student Design Competition

Part 1:  Undergraduate Contest

NOTE TO GRADUATE STUDENTS--SCROLL THROUGH PART 1 TO FIND THE GRADUATE LEVEL CONTEST RULES IN PART 2

    Summary 

The Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) and IEEE Region 5 are sponsoring the Third Annual Student Design Competition. This year there will be two separate topics: this one for undergraduates and a separate one for graduate students involving smart meters.  The second topic, for graduate students, follows in Part II below.   

EligiblityStudents who are undergraduate members of IEEE Region 5 student sections for the school year 2010-11.   

Award levels

 First Place:      $2000

Undergraduate Second Place:    $500 

Key dates

 Winners will also receive an expense paid trip to IEEE Region 5 Annual Meeting in April to receive awards and exhibit their designs, as well as a possible invitation to demonstrate their design in CCET’s residential smart grid demonstration project near Houston, Tx.                                                       

Judging    A five-member industry and technical panel will score each paper based on following criteria:

Papers are presented to judges without student  or university identifying information to avoid any potential conflict of interest on the part of the judges.  

This year’s topic is the design of a residential energy management system (REMS)  to optimize energy flows in a home equipped with renewable generation (2kW) and energy storage in a real time pricing environmentA paper design is sought  that includes both an  engineering design and economic analysis of a residential energy system that includes a renewable energy source (solar photovoltaic, wind, or other competitor’s choice), an electrical energy storage device (battery, flywheel, supercapacitor, other?), and a home energy management system to be designed by the contestants.  The objective is to minimize the cost of energy in a real time pricing (RTP) market by developing algorithms for deciding when to charge or discharge the storage device, or sell power back to the grid.

A successful design must emphasize user safety, leverage applicable industry standards, support a viable business case (renewable energy credits may be considered or even recommended), and perform a sensitivity study to optimize the system components.  Because of the emphasis of economics in this project and the increasing importance for smart grid technology to demonstrate a solid “business case”, EE students are encouraged to team with students from the school of business or economics on their campus.  However, teams are not required to do so and, as in the past, judges will not know the composition of the teams.

By June 1, CCET will provide three sets of data for the teams to use in their design and analysis. Consult the Technical Appendices.

 The following will be placed on the website for registered participants:.

1)    A residential load for at least a 12 month period,

2)    Corresponding meteorological data for the residence over the same period,

3)    Corresponding real time prices that the customer at the residence would have experienced had RTP been effect (these will be in the form of 15-minute ERCOT wholesale prices modified by reasonable adders for distribution and transmission costs). 

Intellectual Property Rights

Student and university IP is protected as per details in full Rules Section below.

For more details

These rules and announcement will be updated with possible minor revisions and sets of data and working assumptions the students should use for purposes of evaluating the design.  These details will be forthcoming during the month of May. Updated versions of the full contest description and rules in the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com). Contestants should contact either Dr. Steve Watkins, IEEE Region 5 Student Activities Chair at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Bob Davis, CCET, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Complete Contest Rules

1.    Detailed Overview

The IEEE Region 5 and the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) (“Sponsors”) are pleased to sponsor this third annual competition for undergraduate  students, a separate one for  graduate students is forthcoming, to submit a design (paper only)  for a residential energy system for  existing homes or small businesses, with a renewable energy source, energy storage device, and an optimizing residential energy management system (REMS).

The REMS is the focus of the design contest. No design enhancements to the off-the-shelf renewable generation (e.g., solar photovoltaic) and storage (e.g., battery) are sought.. The size of the renewable generation should be limited to a nominal  2 kW peak output.  The system must safely and efficiently balance energy collection, charge, and discharge based on varying Real Time Pricing market rates.  One year of 15 minute market rates, quarter-hourly residential energy consumption, and hourly weather data from a site the ERCOT market will be provided by CCET to the contestants for purposes of evaluating the total annual renewable energy generated and annual energy cost for the residence. The analysis must include the annual cost of equipment ownership, allowable renewable energy credits, carbon credits, and other suitable components for a full engineering economic analysis.   

The schedule for this contest is set to encourage submissions to be part of senior design projects for Fall  2010, but is also open to all undergraduate student members of IEEE Region 5.  Contestants may enter as individuals or as team. We are also encouraging the team to include a fellow student from the business or economic department because of the heavy emphasis on the economic feasibility of this device. Regardless, all submissions will be judged equally regardless of the team makeup. Students may seek advice from faculty members and people in industry, but the work should be that of the undergraduates alone.   

Cash awards totaling $2500 will be granted with $2000 going to the winning design, and $500 to the second place.  In addition, the winning teams of students will be invited to receive trophies and cash prizes at the annual Region 5 IEEE meeting (travel expenses paid by CCET), and may participate as a paid consultant in an industry project to develop a working prototype and possibly to develop the device into a commercial product.  

For this design, we are interested in actually demonstrating a prototype at CCET’s smart grid demonstration project near Houston where homes will be equipped with solar and home battery storage.     Registration information will be contained in the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) beginning May 3, 2010.  Contest designs should be submitted electronically as pdf format by January 31, 2011 with copies to both the CCET and IEEE representatives. 

2.    Background

The Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technology (CCET) is a consortium of  electric utilities, high technology firms, and university researchers who are committed to advancing the power market by increasing the reliability, security, power quality, and efficiency of electric power.  Our product focus has been on “smart grid” technologies particularly at the distribution and end user segments. 

 The 2008 student competition featured the design of a distribution level transformer monitoring device that would predict transformer failure and communicate to the utility back office. The 2009 competition challenged contestants to design a residential DC distribution method.  This year’s contest also builds off the smart grid/green technology theme.  In addition to the cash prizes, the trophies, and the opportunity to display their work at the annual IEEE Region 5 conference, successful contestants are given the opportunity to further showcase their work in a demonstration and/or may be selected by one or more CCET industry members to commercialize their work. 

 The problems posed are real ones faced by the electric utility industry that may be applied in the field as practical solutions.  The winning design for the first annual contest, a device to predict failures on distribution transformers, is being evaluated by a high tech vendor company for its commercialization potential.  The winning team for the recently completed 2009-10 contest has been invited to demonstrate their prototype design in the CCET’s smart grid community demonstration near Houston.

 For 2010, contestants will explore both the engineering design and the economic analysis and optimization of a combined renewable energy source and electrical energy storage system applied in a real time pricing power market. The objective is to demonstrate both engineering competence and a thorough understanding of the economics around such systems. 

 Real time pricing is one of the new service offerings made possible for customers with Smart Grid technologies. Instead of being billed for a set price per kWh over a monthly period, the customer agrees to pay a rate that varies during the day based on the actual cost of the energy being produced.  For example, at times the customer may be paying 2 cents per kWh; at other times-- when demand is high and expensive generation is being called up to meet the high load and increased congestion that may be occurring on the distribution grid—a customer may be paying 50 cents per kWh. 

 If the customer has the ability to generate power and store energy (e.g., a solar photovoltaic array and a battery), the customer can sell excess power back to the grid when prices are high, and charge his battery with grid power when prices are low.  A device that would automatically determine how to use energy based on customer preferences (e.g., washing clothes and dishes during the middle of the night), or when to charge or discharge an energy storage system, could be beneficial in the future when this scenario becomes more common.

 For customers with “smart appliances” and solar and battery storage, it would be advantageous to  coordinate their  higher energy consumption with times of abundant solar energy.  Or alternatively, it may be worthwhile to delay their appliance use until early morning hours when prices may be low.  While few homes are equipped with both solar and storage, and very few retail electric utilities offer real time pricing, the infrastructure to make this happen in the future is being deployed now.  In Texas alone, more than six million smart meters are being deployed.  The design sought for in this contest could be the key to making renewable generation, storage, and RTP a cost-effective reality with significant benefits to the environment, rate payers, and the economy.   

3.    Technical Specifications

CCET will provide three sets of  data for use by the contestants: Hourly weather data (insolation level, temperature, wind speed), typical residential load in kWh per 15-minute interval, and 15-minute Real Time Pricing quotes. Contestants  shall make the following assumptions in their system design:

• User is assumed to be a homeowner in a conventional single family dwelling.
• A renewable energy source (e.g., solar photovoltaic system specified below is an option) is assumed to be already installed with a peak output of  approximately 2 kW. Actual output will vary throughout the day and year based on weather data and device orientation.
• The  power market distributes via internet the real time pricing signals ($/MWh) updated every 15 minutes.  The assumed market will be the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
• The sought for design is a new Residential Energy Management System (REMS) that would be available to execute algorithms as specified by the system integrator (your team). The REMS has access to the Internet for any useful information, such as the ERCOT 15-minute RTP signals, using the customer’s existing broadband Internet connection.
• The system would include a residential electrical energy storage system. Several are on the market. Some specifications follow. It would be controlled by the REMS with algorithms specified by the contestant. For example, the REMS might order the storage system to charge when market prices are low, and to discharge when market prices are high, resulting in the resident buying more low-cost energy and less high-cost energy through the year.  

By standardizing to this unit, neither IEEE nor CCET are expressing a product preference.  The GE model is selected only because one or more winning student  designs may be selected for demonstration in a CCET Houston, Tx area project where the GE panels will be predominate.The assumed  

Energy Storage System has the following characteristics:

·         Power electronics accept/produce grid-compatible 60 Hz, 120 VAC energy at 95% efficiency in each direction (i.e. 95% efficient charging, 95% efficient discharging).

·         Power capacity cost is $200/kW. For example, a 3 kW storage system power capacity adds 3kW * 200 $/kW = $600 to the cost of the installation.

·         Energy capacity cost is $250/kWh. For example, a 10 kWh energy capacity will add 10kWh * 250 $/kWh = $2,500 to the cost of the installation. The energy storage device has a lifetime of 4,000 charge/discharge cycles.

 In addition to the specifications, the contestants shall evaluate and recommend features such as the following:

• Safety and protection issues
• List of NEC, NESC, IEEE, ANSI, IEC, and IEEE standards that might apply  (or possibly new standards to be developed to help such a system become commercially viable).
• Energy analysis of such a system, including
  • Energy production of the renewable source over the sample year using the provided weather data. (The assumed weather data will be provided on the CCET website during the month of May 2010.)
  • Consideration of the charge/discharge cycle efficiency of the storage system.
• Economic analysis of such a system, including
  • Modeling the annual cost of energy using the 15-minute RTP data and the residential 15-minute load data.
  • Sensitivity analyses to determine the best Power Capacity (kW) and Energy Capacity (kWh) for the storage system considering the cost of each capacity and the benefit provided by that capacity.
  • Consideration for the time value of money using Return On Investment, Present Value Analysis, Hurdle Rate, or equivalent economic choice tool. A simple payback period is not sufficient for this analysis. 

The judging will be made by a CCET Technical Panel.  Last year’s contest was judged by a panel consisting of representatives from Oncor Electric Delivery, CenterPoint Energy, American Electric Power, and Cellnet+Hunt,  as well as a director of an applied energy laboratory.  Some or all of this year’s panel will include these companies, National Instruments, and perhaps others. 

 When panelists have been selected, the companies they represent will be published on the CCET website. All submissions must be in electronic pdf format (Internet attachments or CD’s) and should be delivered to the IEEE Contest Coordinator, Dr. Steve Watkins via the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) by the January 31, 2011 deadline as indicated below in this Notice. The submission should also be sent by email as an attachment to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

The two winning teams will be expected to prepare either a wall mounted or table top exhibit describing their design at the annual IEEE conference that will be held in Baton Rouge, LA..  A working prototype is NOT required. A simple poster would suffice.  The exhibit will not be judged; rather, it is for presentation to other IEEE Region 5 meeting attendees.In the event that similar entries are submitted by multiple participants, Sponsors reserve the right to select the prize winners based on the criteria listed above.  The odds of winning are not capable of being calculated due to the uncertainty over the number and quality of the entries received. 

5.    Sponsors

The contest is sponsored by IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, and CCET, 816 Congress Avenue, Suite 1260, Austin, Texas 78701.   

6.    Eligibility and Submission of Papers

 The Contest is open to any  student who is at least 18 years old and is enrolled as an electrical and/or computer engineering student and is a member of an IEEE student branch in IEEE Region 5.   Void where prohibited by law.  Contestants and their faculty advisors are encouraged to combine this with a senior design project for the fall semester of 2010, but are not required to do so.  If a team entry is made, an undergraduate team leader should be designated on the registration form for communication purposes. To be eligible, contestants must register using the form provided on the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) providing the following information:

 1.     Name of individual or team leader (i.e., Contestant or team leader name and  address),

2.     Email, physical address and telephone number of the Contestant (team leader),

3.     Last four digits of the Social Security number of the Contestant,

4.     Designation of which Contest  (Undergraduate or graduate) the contestant is entering.  A separate contest will be sponsored by CCET and IEEE for graduate students.

5.     Name of school, faculty advisor (and his or her phone number and email), IEEE branch name, and

6.     Academic level of the Contestant (or Contestants in a team). Incomplete entries are void and will not be eligible to win.  

Once registered, the Contestant(s) will be provided a username and password that will allow him or her to access the portion of the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) that contains  other important information on this contest including Contestant questions and answers (see below for FAQ). The CCET website will contain this Notice and rules without the need for a password. All Contestant submissions must be sent in electronic format (pdf) by the Contest deadline January 31, 2011 to the IEEE Student Coordinator, Dr. Steve E. Watkins This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . , using the submission form in the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com).

A second copy of the pdf submission should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The cover email should list the Contestant’s name and last four digits of his or her Social Security number. The attachment (technical design paper to be evaluated) should NOT contain any other identifying information of the contestants or their school. Each page of the paper shall include the last four digits of the team leader Social Security number.  Each page shall be numbered. Incomplete entries are void and will not be eligible to win. 

7.    Contestants questions and answers 

The CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) will contain within the IEEE Contest section a password-accessible area where registered contestants may pose either technical questions and/or seek clarifications to rules of the Contest.  Once an answer has been formulated and agreed to by the CCET and IEEE, a response will be posted. All contestants will be able to see both the question and the response under the FAQ section.  CCET may also send each of the contestants an email with the question and  answer.  We recognize that we may have overlooked items or have been ambiguous about our rules and instructions.  Any responses that conflict with the rules in this notice will take precedence (i.e., we want the flexibility to modify the rules in response to valid concerns and questions posed by the students.)

 8.    Contest Schedule  

·         Deadline for registration with IEEE to be eligible for this contest is October 15, 2010,  

·         Availability of the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) for updated information on the contest  is May 3, 2010.. 

·         Deadline for electronic submission of designs must be received by IEEE no later than  January  31, 2011. 

The submission should be emailed to Dr. Steve E. Watkins, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A copy of the pdf should be sent to Bob Davis at CCET, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Finally, anoriginal hard copy submittal should postmarked by this date and mailed to:Dr. Steve E. Watkins, Missouri Univ of Science and TechnologyECE Dept141 Emerson Electric Co. Hall391 W. 16th St.Rolla, MO 65409-0040 Notification of contest winners will be on the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) and by personal contact (telephone and email) by IEEE and CCET by March 10, 2011. 

Granting of award certificates and cash prizes at the IEEE Region 5 Annual Award Banquet in _Baton Rouge, LA_ on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Consult the IEEE Region 5 website for final selection of meeting place (e.g., which hotel). 

 9.    Cash Prizes and Awards

1.    : $2000 first prize and trophy2.    

 $500 second prize and trophy. 

Roundtrip coach airline tickets for each winner from winner’s preferred major metropolitan airport to the IEEE Region 5 Annual Banquet  in Baton Rouge, LA will be provided by CCET for contest winners, if individuals, or for up to two representatives of each winning team. Costs of meals, transportation to and from each contest winner’s airport of origin and between the airport in and the hotel, ground transportation between the hotel and the event, gratuities, and all other expenses not specified as part of the prize package are the sole responsibility of each winner.   Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of each prize winner. 

10 . LEGAL MATTERS: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, LIABILITY, CONTESTANT REPRESENTATION AND CONTEST TERMINATION 

10.1  Material Integrity.  By entering the Contest, each individual submitting Contest Materials represents and warrants to the Sponsors (CCET and IEEE) that:

• Such individual is the person identified on the Contest registration form;
• The individual and the Contest Materials fully comply with all eligibility requirements and all other provisions of these Official Rules and any Policies;
• In preparing Contest Materials and entering and participating in the Contest, the individual has complied and will comply in all respects with all applicable statutes, regulations, rules, orders, or other laws and has not violated, and will not violate, any agreement or understanding by which it is bound, including any confidentiality, employment, consulting, intellectual property assignment or license agreement;
• That the individual is not bound by any intellectual property agreement or any other agreement or obligation, with an employer, co- owner or otherwise, that prohibits, limits or affects: (a) the individual’s ownership of the Contest Materials; (b) the individual’s right to submit the Contest Materials to the Sponsors; or (c) Sponsors’ license rights in the Contest Materials and in such individual’s Contestant’s name, photograph, voice, likeness, logo, and biographical information as set forth herein;
• The Contest Materials are unpublished and consist entirely of the individual’s own original work or of work to which such individual has all necessary rights; and
• Neither the Contest Materials nor the exploitation of the Contest Materials as provided herein will infringe or misappropriate any intellectual property, rights of publicity, or other proprietary rights of any person or entity.

The Sponsors (IEEE and CCET) reserve the right to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Contest in their sole and absolute discretion if the Contest becomes technically corrupted or is not capable of being run as planned, including, but not limited to, as a result of infections by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of the Sponsors that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest. In such event, the Sponsors will post notice on the CCET Website and will implement an alternate means for awarding all prizes.       

10.2 Copyright and License

All entries submitted in connection with the Contest shall remain the property of Contestants, although Sponsors may retain print and electronic copies of the Contest Materials in perpetuity if they choose to do so.  As a condition of entering the Contest, Contestants agree that CCET shall have the exclusive right, but not the obligation, for a period of 2 years after the conclusion of the Contest, to negotiate with any Contestant or Contestants to license the Contest Materials, including but not limited to all inventions described therein, all works of authorship contained therein, and all intellectual property rights attendant thereto, on a worldwide basis.  Neither CCET nor any Contestant shall be obliged to enter into any such license concerning any Contest Materials or the rights associated therewith, but CCET and Contestants shall be required to negotiate in good faith concerning such a license should CCET choose to initiate negotiations with a particular Contestant.  During the 2-year period in which CCET shall have the exclusive right to negotiate a license concerning Contest Materials with any Contestant, no Contestant shall be permitted to assign, license or otherwise transfer the Contest Materials or the right to exploit any or all intellectual property rights associated with the Contest Materials to any third parties other than CCET, and/or shall not exploit themselves the Contest Materials or any or all of the intellectual property rights associated with the Contest Materials.  The parties to any license negotiated in accordance with the terms of this paragraph agree in advance that the license shall provide for royalties of 50 % of net revenues that may be obtained through the exploitation of the Contest Materials or any intellectual property rights associated with any Contest Materials to the Contestant(s) who submitted those Contest Materials, as well as such other terms as may be negotiated by the parties to the license. If a contestant receives an offer or inquiry concerning licensing the contest materials, the contest shall give CCET a written notice of such inquiry, including a copy of the offer or inquiry, if it is in writing.   

 10.3  Accountability

By entering, each Contestant releases and holds harmless the CCET,IEEE or, any other entities involved in the administration of the Contest, each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents (collectively, the “Sponsor Parties”), from any and all responsibility, damages (including without limitation direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, and statutory damages), penalties, costs, liabilities, and losses of any kind arising out of or relating to: (i) participation in the Contest; (ii) any violation by the Contestant of these Official Rules, any Policies, or any laws; (iii) any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, right of publicity, or other intellectual property misappropriation or infringement attributable to Contestant, his or her design, or any other Contest Materials submitted by Contestant . Without limiting the foregoing, the Sponsor Parties are not responsible for any injury or damage to Contestants or any other person’s computer related to, or resulting from participation in, or downloading any material in connection with, the Contest. If anyone makes any claim against any of the Sponsor Parties arising out of or relating to any of the Causes attributable to a Contestant, such Contestant will pay for any damages, penalties, costs, liabilities, and losses, including without limitation attorneys’ and experts’ fees and costs, incurred by any of the Sponsor Parties in connection with such claim. IEEE and CCET may, within their sole discretion, require each prize winner to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and liability and publicity release, in which each winner consents to the use of his or her name, age, hometown and photo by IEEE and CCET for advertising and promotional purposes, without any additional compensation, wherever lawful, as a precondition to award of a prize.  If any prize winner fails to sign and return the requested affidavit of eligibility and liability/public release as requested by IEEE and CCET, that winner may be disqualified, and his or her prize will thereafter be awarded to an alternate winner from the remaining valid entries using the criteria specified above. IEEE and CCET may, within their sole discretion, require each prize winner to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and liability and publicity release, in which each winner consents to the use of his or her name, age, hometown and photo by IEEE and CCET for advertising and promotional purposes, without any additional compensation, wherever lawful, as a precondition to award of a prize.  If any prize winner fails to sign and return the requested affidavit of eligibility and liability/public release as requested by IEEE and CCET, that winner may be disqualified, and his or her prize will thereafter be awarded to an alternate winner from the remaining valid entries using the criteria specified above.      

11. Agreement with Official Rules

By participating in this contest, participants agree to abide by the terms and conditions as established by IEEE and CCET.  IEEE and CCET reserve the right to qualify all submissions and to reject any submissions that do not meet the requirements for participation as established by IEEE and CCET.    

12. Contest Results and Official Rules
To obtain the names of any winners and/or a copy of these Official Rules, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Bob Davis, CCET, 816 Congress Ave., Suite 1260, Austin, Tx, 78701.

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Third Annual IEEE/CCET Student Design Competition

Part 2:  Graduate Level Contest 

Automatic Phase Detection in Smart Meters

Summary 

The Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) and IEEE Region 5 are sponsoring the Third Annual Student Design Competition. This year there will be two separate topics: this one for Graduate level students (automatic phase detection and a separate one for undergraduate students involving the design of a home energy management system for homes equipped with solar and battery storage.  

Eligiblity

Students who are members of IEEE Region 5 student sections for the school year 2010-11.   

Award levels 

First Place:         $2000  

Second Place:   $500

 Key dates

Winners will also receive an expense paid trip to IEEE Region 5 Annual Meeting in April to receive awards and exhibit their designs, as well as a possible invitation to demonstrate their design with one of CCET’s utility members.                                                      

 Judging  A five-member industry and technical panel will score each paper based on following criteria:

Papers are presented to judges without student  or university identifying information to avoid any potential conflict of interest on the part of the judges.  

This year’s topic is the paper design of a new, or preferably retrofit, device for smart meters. Millions of smart meters—or advanced meter systems (AMS) are being deployed around the U.S.  The smart meter is a major element in what is popularly called the smart grid.  Although not a part of the original design, the automatic detection of phase by the meters is not seen as a valuable feature..  CCET and IEEE Region 5 are seeking a paper design for such a device that can be part of a new design for the meters or, preferably,  installed as a retrofit to the smart meters now being rolled out.   As with previous contests, the economics of the retrofit are important.  A successful contestant team will need to determine the mass produced costs of such a device (including installation) and compare this to the monetized benefits of automatic phase detection to the industry.   

Intellectual Property Rights

Student and university IP is protected as per details in full Rules Section below.

For more details

These rules and announcement will be updated with possible minor revisions and sets of data and working assumptions the students should use for purposes of evaluating the design.  Watch for updated  and expanded versions of the full contest description and rules in the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com). Contestants should contact either Dr. Steve Watkins, IEEE Region 5 Student Activities Chair at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Bob Davis, CCET, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .   

Complete Contest Rules

1.    Detailed OverviewThe IEEE Region 5 and the Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies (CCET) (“Sponsors”) are pleased to sponsor this third annual competition for graduate  students, a separate one for  undergraduate students has been released.  Contestants may enter as individuals or as team. Students may seek advice from faculty members and people in industry, but the work should be that of the team members alone.   Cash awards totaling $2500 will be granted with $2000 going to the winning design, and $500 to the second place.  In addition, the winning teams of students will be invited to receive trophies and cash prizes at the annual Region 5 IEEE meeting (travel expenses paid by CCET), and may participate as a paid consultant in an industry project to develop a working prototype and possibly to develop the device into a commercial product.      Registration information will be contained in the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) .  Contest designs should be submitted electronically as pdf format by January 31, 2011 with copies to both the CCET and IEEE representatives. 

2.    Background

The Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technology (CCET) is a consortium of  electric utilities, high technology firms, and university researchers who are committed to advancing the power market by increasing the reliability, security, power quality, and efficiency of electric power.  Our product focus has been on “smart grid” technologies particularly at the distribution and end user segments.  The 2008 competition featured the design of a distribution level transformer monitoring device that would predict transformer failure and communicate to the utility back office.

The 2009 competition challenged contestants to design a residential DC distribution method.  This year’s contest also builds off the smart grid/green technology theme. 

 In addition to the cash prizes, the trophies, and the opportunity to display their work at the annual IEEE Region 5 conference, successful contestants are given the opportunity to further showcase their work in a demonstration and/or may be selected by one or more CCET industry members to commercialize their work. 

The problems posed are real ones faced by the electric utility industry that may be applied in the field as practical solutions.  The winning design for the first annual contest, a device to predict failures on distribution transformers, is being evaluated by a high tech vendor company for its commercialization potential.  The winning team for the recently completed 2009-10 contest has been invited to demonstrate their prototype design in the CCET’s smart grid community demonstration near Houston.

 This year’s topic for graduate students arose when one of CCET’s member utilities had to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses that had been affected by a hurricane.  Many of the customers had the new smart meters.  Had the smart meters been able to automatically detect phase, the restoration process could have proceeded more rapidly.  Moreover, there are other benefits that would accrue to the industry if the smart meters had automatic phase detection.  These include knowing the load on the distribution lines and the transformers to avoid overloads and possible outages. 

 3.    Technical Specifications

Smart meters are solid state devices that sense current and voltage.  Most, if not all, manufacturers do not include automatic phase detection.  A winning design for automatic phase detection should be specific to the manufacturer and ideally would be capabile of being retrofitted into the meter. Note:  we hope to provide more information and details in this section in the future.  

4.    Judging and Evaluation Criteria 

  Last year’s contest was judged by a panel consisting of representatives from Oncor Electric Delivery, CenterPoint Energy, American Electric Power, and Landis&Gyr,  as well as a director of an applied energy laboratory.  This year a representative of National Instruments will participate as well. 

All submissions must be in electronic pdf format (Internet attachments or CD’s) and should be delivered to the IEEE Contest Coordinator, Dr. Steve Watkins via the CCET website (www.electrictechnologycenter.com) by the January 31, 2011 deadline as indicated below in this Notice.

The submission should also be sent by email as an attachment to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The two winning teams will be expected to prepare either a wall mounted or table top exhibit describing their design at the annual IEEE conference that will be held in Baton Rouge, LA..  A working prototype is NOT required. A simple poster would suffice.  The exhibit will not be judged; rather, it is for presentation to other IEEE Region 5 meeting attendees.In the event that similar entries are submitted by multiple participants,

Sponsors reserve the right to select the prize winners based on the criteria listed above.  The odds of winning are not capable of being calculated due to the uncertainty over the number and quality of the entries received. 

Note:  Sections 5 though 11 of the Undergraduate Contest Rules Apply to the Graduate Level Contest and are Incorporated by Reference rather than repeated here.  Please see the Undergraduate Rules above.