The diffusion of electric vehicles in Italy has started but some complications weight its spread. At present, hybrid technology is the most followed by users, due particularly to socioeconomic factors such as cost of investment and range anxiety. After a deep discussion of the Italian scenario, the aim of the paper is to recognize whether fuel cell technology may be an enabling solution to overcome pollution problems and respect for the environment. The opportunity to use fuel cells to store electric energy is quite fascinating—the charging times will be shortened and heavy passenger transport should be effortless challenged. On the basis of the present history and by investigating the available information, this work reports the current e-mobility state in Italy and forecasts the cities in which a fuel cell charging infrastructure should be more profitable, with the intention of granting a measured outlook on the plausible development of this actual niche market.

In this paper, a complete computer aided procedure based on the power density concept and aimed at the automatic design of EMI filters for power electronic converters is presented. It is rule-based, and it uses suitable databases built-up by considering information on passive components available from commercial datasheets. The power density constraint is taken into consideration by imposing the minimization of the filter volume and/or weight; nevertheless, the system in which the automatically designed filter is included satisfies the electromagnetic compatibility standards limits. Experimental validations of the proposed procedure are presented for two real case studies, for which the performance and the size of the best filter design are compared with those related to a conventionally designed one.

The sustainable development of our planet is considerably related to a relevant reduction of CO₂ global emissions, with building consumption contributing more than 40%. In this scenario, new technological conceptions, such as building-integrated photovoltaic technology, emerged in order to satisfy the requirements of sustainability imposed by the European Union. Therefore, the aim of this work is to provide a technical and economical comparison of the performances of different vertical-mounted innovative photovoltaic systems, potentially integrated on a building instead of on traditional windows or glass walls. The proposed investigation was carried out by means of experimental tests on three different next-generation vertical structures. The related results are described and discussed, highlighting the advantages and the drawbacks of the proposed technologies.

This paper presents the results of a first investigation on the effects of lightning stroke on medium voltage installations’ grounding systems, interconnected with the metal shields of the Medium Voltage (MV) distribution grid cables or with bare buried copper ropes. The study enables us to evaluate the distribution of the lightning current among interconnected ground electrodes in order to estimate if the interconnection, usually created to reduce ground potential rise during a single-line-to-ground fault, can give place to dangerous situations far from the installation hit by the lightning stroke. Four different case studies of direct lightning stroke are presented and discussed: (1) two secondary substations interconnected by the cables’ shields; (2) two secondary substations interconnected by a bare buried conductor; (3) a high voltage/medium voltage station connected with a secondary substation by the medium voltage cables’ shields; (4) a high voltage/medium voltage station connected with a secondary substation by a bare buried conductor. The results of the simulations show that a higher peak-lowering action on the lighting-stroke current occurs due to the use of bare conductors as interconnection elements in comparison to the cables’ shields.

In the field of high voltage transmission systems, different degradation phenomena affect the reliability of the employed components. In particular, under DC stress, the space charge accumulation phenomenon is believed the most responsible of the dielectrics lifetime reduction. To measure the accumulated space charges in flat specimens, the PEA method is one of the most used techniques. The working principle of the PEA cell is based on the acoustic waves propagation and detection. As is well known, the acoustic waves propagating in different means are partially transmitted and partially reflected. Therefore, the piezoelectric sensor of the PEA cell is subjected of both direct and reflected waves. The latter, which are also present in the PEA cell output signal, if are not taken into account could be easily confused as a charge accumulation. For this reason, in this work the acoustic waves behavior within the PEA cell has been simulated in order to avoid incorrect interpretation of the PEA cell output charge profiles. In this paper, compared to other works present in literature in which only the surface charges were considered, the space charges accumulated in the insulation bulk are also considered for a complete analysis of the waves behavior during the PEA measures. The results found in the present work are very useful for cables manufacturing industries in which the choice of the dielectric materials is strongly influenced by the space charge accumulation phenomenon.

The accumulation of space charge inside the dielectric layer of an HVDC cable is one of the most important issue to be considered in the design stage and during the operating conditions. The separation of space charge is due to several factors including the dependence on temperature of the electrical conductivity of the insulation and the establishment of a thermal gradient under load conditions. This research is focused on the investigation of the effect of an axial heat transmission on the space charge and electric field distributions in an HVDC cable. In order to assess the impact of this phenomenon, a case study involving a cable immersed partly in water and partly in air has been simulated by means of a 2-D thermal and electrical model in time domain. The electric field calculation is based on the quasi-static Maxwell model and the current continuity equation. To simulate the effect of waves, a moving water-air interface is considered, with time varying sinusoidal law. The results show the establishment of an electrical field peak near the water-air interface due to an increased temperature drop over the insulation in this area. The approach and the findings described in this article attempt to improve the knowledge in the relationship between thermal and electrical phenomena in HVDC cables. Moreover, this article focuses on the advisability of appropriately considering the impact of the axial heat transfer in the standards on the thermal rating of HVDC cables.