The energy industry is fundamental in that it powers every other modern industry. As engineers, we often take for granted how our energy sources are developed, maintained, and improved upon since power is typically a secondary resource used to achieve a primary objective. But from the end user perspective, energy serves the role of a force multiplier. It is a means of amplifying our well-being as we travel through everyday life, in search of cheap, reliable, and robust means of electrification. From an enterprise perspective, where access to the grid is trivial, novel solutions in power electronics are often unnecessary. But to those who operate in the off-grid portable space, any means of optimizing efficiency, or maximizing power density is cause for canine-like salivation. To the extent that we can improve our portable energy solutions, we stand to gain immense operational results in how we consider and measure product performance. It is to this end that we seek to investigate seemingly niche solutions in the problem area of autonomous and optimal power design.
