Digital Current-Control Schemes

The paper is about comparing the performance of digital signal processor-based current controllers for three-phase active power filters. The wide use of nonlinear loads, such as front-end rectifiers connected to the power distribution systems for dc supply or inverter-based applications, causes significant power quality degradation in power distribution networks in terms of current/voltage harmonics, power factor, and resonance problems. Passive LC filters (together with capacitor banks for reactive power compensation) are simple, low-cost, and high-efficiency solution

Recent Advances in Robust Control

Robust control has been a topic of active research in the last three decades culminating in H_2/H_\infty and \mu design methods followed by research on parametric robustness, initially motivated by Kharitonov's theorem, the extension to non-linear time delay systems, and other more recent methods. The two volumes of Recent Advances in Robust Control give a selective overview of recent theoretical developments and present selected application examples. The volumes comprise 39 contributions covering various theoretical aspects as well as different application areas. The first volume covers selected problems in the theory of robust control and its application to robotic and electromechanical systems. The second volume is dedicated to special topics in robust control and problem specific solutions. Recent Advances in Robust Control will be a valuable reference for those interested in the recent theoretical advances and for researchers working in the broad field of robotics and mechatronics

A Novel Control Method For Grid Side Inverters Under Generalized Unbalanced Operating Conditions

This thesis provides a summary on renewable energy sources integration into the grid, using an inverter, along with a comprehensive literature research on variety of available control methods. A new generalized method for grid side inverter control under unbalanced operating conditions is also proposed. The presented control method provides complete harmonic elimination in line currents and DC link voltage with adjustable power factor. The method is general, and can be used for all levels of imbalance in grid voltages and line impedances. The control algorithm proposed in this work has been implemented by using MATLAB Simulink and dSPACE RT1104 control system. Simulation and experimental results presented in this thesis are in excellent agreement

A coordinated control of PMSG based wind turbine generator to improve fault-ride-through performance and transient stability

With the high penetration of wind power into the medium and low voltage power grid, ensuring power quality and transient stability following the utility grid codes become challenging nowadays. Wind power fluctuates with the variation of wind speed which leads to the voltage regulation and frequency control problems in the power grid. Among the issues wind power systems are facing, grid fault is a major one. According to the utility grid codes, wind turbine generators (WTGs) need to have enough fault ride through (FRT) capability. Different configurations of power converters and control techniques have been developed to address this issue. However, a coordinated controller which is capable of the grid voltage regulation, frequency control, and DC link overvoltage minimisation altogether at the time of grid faults is yet to be reported in any literature. This PhD research is focused on developing such a coordinated control method for a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based WTG. This coordinated control combines a pitch angle control, a flux weakening control and a reactive power control to enhance the low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability of the PMSG based variable speed wind energy conversion system (WECS). The design process of the controller parameters and the stability of proposed control strategy have been analysed. Here, the pitch angle controller is modified to adjust the pitch for wind power smoothing as well as LVRT enhancement during variable wind speeds and grid fault respectively. The flux weakening controller is used to reduce the flux linkages of PMSG by supplying negative field regulating current to reduce the DC link overvoltage during grid voltage dips. Additionally, static compensator (STATCOM) or grid side converter (GSC) is used to provide reactive power support during the grid faults. Extensive simulations of the proposed method have been carried out under different cases. The proposed control method is compared with the braking chopper (BC) and the battery energy storage system (BESS) based conventional controls via simulations results and are verified to perform better in providing FRT. Frequency stability of the grid connected WECS after the fault recovery is also an important issue which needs to be solved. If the frequency fluctuation goes beyond the safe limit, the power system will collapse creating a cascaded failure that was seen in the South Australian Power System in 2016. Therefore, it is essential to provide primary frequency control support for a stable operation of the power system. Two control methods are considered in this PhD research to provide the grid frequency stability. A simultaneous controller is developed based on the inertia support from the wind turbine and the DC-link capacitor energy to provide the primary frequency control from a PMSG based variable speed WECS. Another approach is developed based on the PMSG flux linkage controller with a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES). The SMES is considered here due to its higher efficiency over other energy storage devices. In this approach, the PMSG flux increases or decreases according to the frequency variation. Similarly, SMES also absorbs or injects some amount of real power when the system frequency is increased or decreased. Both strategies are verified with the WTGS connected to the single and multi-machine power systems under different wind speeds, load demand variations, and grid faults. Time series simulation results illustrate that a significant enhancement of frequency regulation is achieved with both proposed controllers

Small-Signal Modelling and Analysis of Doubly-Fed Induction Generators in Wind Power Applications

The worldwide demand for more diverse and greener energy supply has had a significant impact on the development of wind energy in the last decades. From 2 GW in 1990, the global installed capacity has now reached about 100 GW and is estimated to grow to 1000 GW by 2025. As wind power penetration increases, it is important to investigate its effect on the power system. Among the various technologies available for wind energy conversion, the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) is one of the preferred solutions because it offers the advantages of reduced mechanical stress and optimised power capture thanks to variable speed operation. This work presents the small-signal modelling and analysis of the DFIG for power system stability studies. This thesis starts by reviewing the mathematical models of wind turbines with DFIG convenient for power system studies. Different approaches proposed in the literature for the modelling of the turbine, drive-train, generator, rotor converter and external power system are discussed. It is shown that the flexibility of the drive train should be represented by a two-mass model in the presence of a gearbox. In the analysis part, the steady-state behaviour of the DFIG is examined. Comparison is made with the conventional synchronous generators (SG) and squirrel-cage induction generators to highlight the differences between the machines. The initialisation of the DFIG dynamic variables and other operating quantities is then discussed. Various methods are briefly reviewed and a step-by-step procedure is suggested to avoid the iterative computations in initial condition mentioned in the literature. The dynamical behaviour of the DFIG is studied with eigenvalue analysis. Modal analysis is performed for both open-loop and closed-loop situations. The effect of parameters and operating point variations on small signal stability is observed. For the open-loop DFIG, conditions on machine parameters are obtained to ensure stability of the system. For the closed-loop DFIG, it is shown that the generator electrical transients may be neglected once the converter controls are properly tuned. A tuning procedure is proposed and conditions on proportional gains are obtained for stable electrical dynamics. Finally, small-signal analysis of a multi-machine system with both SG and DFIG is performed. It is shown that there is no common mode to the two types of generators. The result confirms that the DFIG does not introduce negative damping to the system, however it is also shown that the overall effect of the DFIG on the power system stability depends on several structural factors and a general statement as to whether it improves or detriorates the oscillatory stability of a system can not be made

Impiego di regolatori ripetitivi per il controllo di convertitori elettronici di potenza per l'interfacciamento con la rete elettrica

L’obiettivo di tesi consiste nel valutare il funzionamento di regolatori ripetitivi per il controllo di un inverter utilizzato come filtro attivo al fine di eliminare le armoniche di corrente prodotte da un carico distorcente trifase connesso in rete. È descritto lo schema di simulazione realizzato in ambiente Simulink di Matlab per poter individuare una possibile implementazione del controllo. È descritta l’attività di prototipazione rapida svolta mediante il sistema dSPACE per poter verificare sperimentalmente il funzionamento del controllo con regolatore ripetitivo su un modello di impianto reale costituito da inverter, carico distorcente e rete

Digital repetitive control under varying frequency conditions

Premi extraordinari doctorat curs 2011-2012, àmbit d’Enginyeria IndustrialThe tracking/rejection of periodic signals constitutes a wide field of research in the control theory and applications area and Repetitive Control has proven to be an efficient way to face this topic; however, in some applications the period of the signal to be tracked/rejected changes in time or is uncertain, which causes and important performance degradation in the standard repetitive controller. This thesis presents some contributions to the open topic of repetitive control working under varying frequency conditions. These contributions can be organized as follows: One approach that overcomes the problem of working under time varying frequency conditions is the adaptation of the controller sampling period, nevertheless, the system framework changes from Linear Time Invariant to Linear Time-Varying and the closed-loop stability can be compromised. This work presents two different methodologies aimed at analysing the system stability under these conditions. The first one uses a Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) gridding approach which provides necessary conditions to accomplish a sufficient condition for the closed-loop Bounded Input Bounded Output stability of the system. The second one applies robust control techniques in order to analyse the stability and yields sufficient stability conditions. Both methodologies yield a frequency variation interval for which the system stability can be assured. Although several approaches exist for the stability analysis of general time-varying sampling period controllers few of them allow an integrated controller design which assures closed-loop stability under such conditions. In this thesis two design methodologies are presented, which assure stability of the repetitive control system working under varying sampling period for a given frequency variation interval: a mu-synthesis technique and a pre-compensation strategy. On a second branch, High Order Repetitive Control (HORC) is mainly used to improve the repetitive control performance robustness under disturbance/reference signals with varying or uncertain frequency. Unlike standard repetitive control, the HORC involves a weighted sum of several signal periods. With a proper selection of the associated weights, this high order function offers a characteristic frequency response in which the high gain peaks located at harmonic frequencies are extended to a wider region around the harmonics. Furthermore, the use of an odd-harmonic internal model will make the system more appropriate for applications where signals have only odd-harmonic components, as in power electronics systems. Thus an Odd-harmonic High Order Repetitive Controller suitable for applications involving odd-harmonic type signals with varying/uncertain frequency is presented. The open loop stability of internal models used in HORC and the one presented here is analysed. Additionally, as a consequence of this analysis, an Anti-Windup (AW) scheme for repetitive control is proposed. This AW proposal is based on the idea of having a small steady state tracking error and fast recovery once the system goes out of saturation. The experimental validation of these proposals has been performed in two different applications: the Roto-magnet plant and the active power filter application. The Roto-magnet plant is an experimental didactic plant used as a tool for analysing and understanding the nature of the periodic disturbances, as well as to study the different control techniques used to tackle this problem. This plant has been adopted as experimental test bench for rotational machines. On the other hand, shunt active power filters have been widely used as a way to overcome power quality problems caused by nonlinear and reactive loads. These power electronics devices are designed with the goal of obtaining a power factor close to 1 and achieving current harmonics and reactive power compensation.Award-winningPostprint (published version