Alexandru-Viorel Palacean

Dr. Alexandru-Viorel Palacean

Computer Science and Engineering, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Bucharest, Bucureşti, Romania
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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

3Years (2024-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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28 August 2024 in Applied Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Alexandru-Viorel PalaceanAlexandru-Viorel Palacean
Alexandru-Viorel Palacean
DTDumitru-Cristian Tranca
Dumitru-Cristian Tranca
RRRazvan Rughinis
Razvan Rughinis
DRDaniel Rosner
Daniel Rosner
Considering the widespread presence of switching devices on the power grid (including renewable energy system inverters), network distortion is more prominent. To maximize network efficiency, our goal is to minimize these distortions. Measuring the voltage and current total harmonic distortion (THD) using power meters and other specific equipment, and assessing power factor and peak currents, represents a crucial step in creating an efficient and stable smart grid. In this paper, we propose a power meter capable for measuring both standard electrical parameters and power quality parameters such as the voltage and current total harmonic distortion factors. The resulting device is compact and DIN-rail-mountable, occupying only three modules in an electrical cabinet. It integrates both wired and wireless communication interfaces and multiple communication protocols, such as Modbus RTU/TCP and MQTT. A microSD card can be used to store the device configuration parameters and to record the measured values in case of network fault events, the device’s continuous operation being ensured by the integrated backup battery in this situations. The device was calibrated and tested against three industrial power meters: Siemens SENTRON PAC4200, Janitza UMG-96RM, and Phoenix Contact EEM-MA400, obtaining an overall average measurement error of only 1.22%.

15 October 2025 in Applied Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Victor StoicaVictor Stoica
Victor Stoica
Alexandru-Viorel PalaceanAlexandru-Viorel Palacean
Alexandru-Viorel Palacean
DTDumitru-Cristian Tranca
Dumitru-Cristian Tranca
FSFlorin-Alexandru Stancu
Florin-Alexandru Stancu
IoT (Internet of Things)-enabled solar irradiance sensors are evolving toward energy harvesting, interoperability, and open-source availability, yet current solutions remain either costly, closed, or limited in robustness. Based on a thorough literature review and identification of future trends, we propose an open-source smart wireless sensor that employs a small photovoltaic module simultaneously as sensing element and energy harvester. The device integrates an ESP32 microcontroller, precision ADC (Analog-to-Digital converter), and programmable load to sweep the PV (photovoltaic) I–V (Current–Voltage) curve and compute irradiance from electrical power and solar-cell temperature via a calibrated third-order polynomial. Supporting Modbus RTU (Remote Terminal Unit)/TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport), and ZigBee, the sensor operates from batteries or supercapacitors through sleep–wake cycles. Validation against industrial irradiance meters across 0–1200 W/m2 showed average errors below 5%, with deviations correlated to irradiance volatility and sampling cadence. All hardware, firmware, and data-processing tools are released as open source to enable reproducibility and distributed PV monitoring applications.