Interface Upgrade to Enable Advanced Controls of Power Systems and Power Electronics
Abstract
Modern power systems are using more and more power converters, from single converter tosystem of converters. Power converters convert electrical power from one form to another bysemiconductor devices. Significant amount of the generated electrical power is being processed orrecycled through some form of power conversion systems. Applications of power converters canimprove system~s power density, efficiency, and flexibility. With the widespread use of efficientand cost-effective power electronics technology, the world could see significant reduction inenergy consumption.The researches in power electronics are usually focused on developing new devices and newconverter topologies, such as GaN transistor, quasi-Z-source inverter, etc. In addition to researchon single converters, there are also active research on systems of converters, like modular multilevelconverter, cascaded photovoltaic system, paralleled UPS, and inverter-interfaced microgrids.However, new hardware designs require the support of suitable control designs to fully unlocktheir potentials. Advanced control strategies are especially important for systems of converters,whose complexity will lower such systems~ the reliability and efficiency, if they are not properlycontrolled.There have been big gaps between the theoretical control, the experimental power electronics,and the power systems in between. Control researchers usually do not have the expertise to modela complex physical system and test the designed algorithms through hardware experiments.Similarly, power system and power electronics researchers have doubt against advanced controlalgorithms and prefer using PI controls that are simple to implement but have limited performance.In addition, power system researchers tend to conduct analysis and simulation based on simplifiedlarge system models. In comparison, power electronics researchers consider more local demandsthan system-wide requirements. To design effective control solutions for complex powerelectronic system, such as systems of converters, advanced control theory should be introducedand the requirements of power systems need to be addressed.Besides integrating expertise of the three research areas, an advanced experimental platformis also necessary. For ease of use and efficiency of R&D, the experimental platform should notchallenge the researchers of different backgrounds too much. The experimental platform shouldallow control researchers to test their algorithms through hardware experiment using what they aregood at, i.e. Matlab/Simulink. The platform should also make it easier for power electronicsresearchers to implement and further test the algorithms using DSP. The platform should alsoprovide power systems researchers an additional way to test their algorithms, such as powerhardware-in-the-loop simulation.Our group have been developing a powerful experimental platform that can benefitmultidisciplinary research on energy system control. Currently, there are three separate systems in2our lab, which include an OPAL-RT real-time digital simulator, a microgrid testbed, and a modularmulti-level converter (MMC). DSP control boards are used to implement fundamental algorithmsto control the microgrid testbed and the MMC. Since the DSP has limited clock speed andinterfaces, they are incapable of implementing advanced control algorithms. The simulator cansimulate accurate power system models in real-time but cannot realize high-performance hardwarecontrol due to its I/O ports and the susceptibility to communication noises. Just like the need forintegrated power system in naval ships, the currently three systems should be interconnected tofully utilize their capabilities.The concept of the project is illustrated in Figure 1. The requested $50k funding will be usedfor the acquisition of commercial I/O cards and the development of electrical/optical signalconversion cards. The acquisition of 9 digital I/O cards will enable full control of the MMC andthe micro
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612884
Entities
People
- Wenxin Liu
Organizations
- Lehigh University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy