Robust fuzzy-sliding mode based UPFC controller for transient stability analysis in autonomous wind-diesel-PV hybrid system

This study presents a comparative study of transient stability and reactive power compensation issues in an autonomous wind–diesel-photovoltaic based hybrid system (HS) using robust fuzzy-sliding mode based unified power flow controller (UPFC). A linearised small-signal model of the different elements of the HS is considered for the transient stability analysis in the HS under varying loading conditions. An IEEE type 1 excitation system is considered for the synchronous generator in the HS, with negligible saturation characteristic, for detailed voltage stability analysis. It is noted from the simulation results that the performance of UPFC is superior to static VAR compensator and static synchronous compensator in improving the voltage profile of the HS. Further, fuzzy and fuzzy-sliding mode based UPFC controller is designed in order to improve the transient performance. Simulation results reflect the robustness of the proposed fuzzy-sliding mode controller for better reactive power management to improve the voltage stability in comparison with the conventional PI and fuzzy-PI controllers. In addition to this, system stability analysis is performed based on eigenvalue, bode and popov for supporting the robustness of the proposed controller

Passivity - Based Control and Stability Analysis for Hydro-Solar Power Systems

Los sistemas de energía modernos se están transformando debido a la inclusión de renovables no convencionales fuentes de energía como la generación eólica y fotovoltaica. A pesar de que estas fuentes de energía son buenas alternativas para el aprovechamiento sostenible de la energía, afectan el funcionamiento y la estabilidad del sistema de energía, debido a su naturaleza inherentemente estocástica y dependencia de las condiciones climáticas. Además, los parques solares y eólicos tienen una capacidad de inercia reducida que debe ser compensada por grandes generadores síncronos en sistemas hidro térmicos convencionales, o por almacenamiento de energía dispositivos. En este contexto, la interacción dinámica entre fuentes convencionales y renovables debe ser estudiado en detalle. Para 2030, el Gobierno de Colombia proyecta que el poder colombiano El sistema integrará en su matriz energética al menos 1,2 GW de generación solar fotovoltaica. Por esta razón, es necesario diseñar controladores robustos que mejoren la estabilidad en los sistemas de energía. Con alta penetración de generación fotovoltaica e hidroeléctrica. Esta disertación estudia nuevas alternativas para mejorar el sistema de potencia de respuesta dinámica durante y después de grandes perturbaciones usando pasividad control basado. Esto se debe a que los componentes del sistema de alimentación son inherentemente pasivos y permiten formulaciones hamiltonianas, explotando así las propiedades de pasividad de sistemas eléctricos. Las principales contribuciones de esta disertación son: una pasividad descentralizada basada control de los sistemas de control de turbinas hidráulicas para sistemas de energía de múltiples máquinas para estabilizar el rotor acelerar y regular el voltaje terminal de cada sistema de control de turbinas hidráulicas en el sistema como, así como un control basado en PI pasividad para las plantas solares fotovoltaicas

Nonlinear control of two-stage single-phase standalone photovoltaic system

This paper presents a single-phase Photovoltaic (PV) inverter with its superior and robust control in a standalone mode. Initially, modeling and layout of the Buck-Boost DC-DC converter by adopting a non-linear Robust Integral Back-stepping controller (RIBSC) is provided. The controller makes use of a reference voltage generated through the regression plane so that the operating point corresponding to the maximum power point (MPP) could be achieved through the converter under changing climatic conditions. The other main purpose of the Buck-Boost converter is to act like a transformer and produce an increased voltage at the inverter input whenever desired. By not using a transformer makes the circuit size more compact and cost-effective. The proposed RIBSC is applied to an H-bridge inverter with an LC filter to produce the sinusoidal wave in the presence of variations in the output to minimize the difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage. Lyapunov stability criterion has been used to verify the stability and finite-time convergence of the overall system. The overall system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink to test the system performance with different loads, varying climatic conditions and inverter reference voltages. The proposed methodology is compared with a back-stepping controller and Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller under rapidly varying climatic conditions. Results demonstrated that the proposed technique yielded a tracking time of 0.01s, a total harmonic distortion of 9.71% and a root means square error of 0.3998 in the case of resistive load thus showing superior control performance compared to the state-of-the-art control techniques

Integral Backstepping Based Nonlinear Control for Maximum Power Point Tracking and Unity Power Factor of a Grid Connected Hybrid Wind-Photovoltaic System

This paper proposes a novel integral backstepping-based nonlinear control strategy for a grid-connected wind-photovoltaic hybrid system. Firstly, detailed three-phase models of the hybrid system elements are presented, and then an overall state-space model is derived. Secondly, nonlinear control laws for the hybrid system’s converters are developed with the aim of ensuring maximum extraction of the available renewable energy, stabilizing the DC bus voltage and guaranteeing the operation of the hybrid system at unity power factor. The overall stability of the closed-loop system is demonstrated on the basis of Lyapunov’s stability theory. Comprehensive simulations, using the MATLAB/Simulink software environment, are carried out to assess the effectiveness of the proposed control methodology. The simulation results obtained confirm that the proposed control strategy offers high efficiency in various operating modes of the hybrid generation system

Control of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell System

265 p.In the era of sustainable development, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology has shown significant potential as a renewable energy source. This thesis focuses on improving the performance of the PEM fuel cell system through the use of appropriate algorithms for controlling the power interface. The main objective is to find an effective and optimal algorithm or control law for keeping the stack operating at an adequate power point. Add to this, it is intended to apply the artificial intelligence approach for studying the effect of temperature and humidity on the stack performance. The main points addressed in this study are : modeling of a PEM fuel cell system, studying the effect of temperature and humidity on the PEM fuel cell stack, studying the most common used power converters in renewable energy systems, studying the most common algorithms applied on fuel cell systems, design and implementation of a new MPPT control method for the PEM fuel cell system

A multi-modular second life hybrid battery energy storage system for utility grid applications

The modern grid system or the smart grid is likely to be populated with multiple distributed energy sources, e.g. wind power, PV power, Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV). It will also include a variety of linear and nonlinear loads. The intermittent nature of renewable energies like PV, wind turbine and increased penetration of Electric Vehicle (EV) makes the stable operation of utility grid system challenging. In order to ensure a stable operation of the utility grid system and to support smart grid functionalities such as, fault ride-through, frequency response, reactive power support, and mitigation of power quality issues, an energy storage system (ESS) could play an important role. A fast acting bidirectional energy storage system which can rapidly provide and absorb power and/or VARs for a sufficient time is a potentially valuable tool to support this functionality. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are one of a range suitable energy storage system because it can provide and absorb power for sufficient time as well as able to respond reasonably fast. Conventional BESS already exist on the grid system are made up primarily of new batteries. The cost of these batteries can be high which makes most BESS an expensive solution. In order to assist moving towards a low carbon economy and to reduce battery cost this work aims to research the opportunities for the re-use of batteries after their primary use in low and ultra-low carbon vehicles (EV/HEV) on the electricity grid system. This research aims to develop a new generation of second life battery energy storage systems (SLBESS) which could interface to the low/medium voltage network to provide necessary grid support in a reliable and in cost-effective manner. The reliability/performance of these batteries is not clear, but is almost certainly worse than a new battery. Manufacturers indicate that a mixture of gradual degradation and sudden failure are both possible and failure mechanisms are likely to be related to how hard the batteries were driven inside the vehicle. There are several figures from a number of sources including the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Control) and Arup and Cenex reports indicate anything from 70,000 to 2.6 million electric and hybrid vehicles on the road by 2020. Once the vehicle battery has degraded to around 70-80% of its capacity it is considered to be at the end of its first life application. This leaves capacity available for a second life at a much cheaper cost than a new BESS Assuming a battery capability of around 5-18kWhr (MHEV 5kWh - BEV 18kWh battery) and approximate 10 year life span, this equates to a projection of battery storage capability available for second life of >1GWhrs by 2025. Moreover, each vehicle manufacturer has different specifications for battery chemistry, number and arrangement of battery cells, capacity, voltage, size etc. To enable research and investment in this area and to maximize the remaining life of these batteries, one of the design challenges is to combine these hybrid batteries into a grid-tie converter where their different performance characteristics, and parameter variation can be catered for and a hot swapping mechanism is available so that as a battery ends it second life, it can be replaced without affecting the overall system operation. This integration of either single types of batteries with vastly different performance capability or a hybrid battery system to a grid-tie 3 energy storage system is different to currently existing work on battery energy storage systems (BESS) which deals with a single type of battery with common characteristics. This thesis addresses and solves the power electronic design challenges in integrating second life hybrid batteries into a grid-tie energy storage unit for the first time. This study details a suitable multi-modular power electronic converter and its various switching strategies which can integrate widely different batteries to a grid-tie inverter irrespective of their characteristics, voltage levels and reliability. The proposed converter provides a high efficiency, enhanced control flexibility and has the capability to operate in different operational modes from the input to output. Designing an appropriate control system for this kind of hybrid battery storage system is also important because of the variation of battery types, differences in characteristics and different levels of degradations. This thesis proposes a generalised distributed power sharing strategy based on weighting function aims to optimally use a set of hybrid batteries according to their relative characteristics while providing the necessary grid support by distributing the power between the batteries. The strategy is adaptive in nature and varies as the individual battery characteristics change in real time as a result of degradation for example. A suitable bidirectional distributed control strategy or a module independent control technique has been developed corresponding to each mode of operation of the proposed modular converter. Stability is an important consideration in control of all power converters and as such this thesis investigates the control stability of the multi-modular converter in detailed. Many controllers use PI/PID based techniques with fixed control parameters. However, this is not found to be suitable from a stability point-of-view. Issues of control stability using this controller type under one of the operating modes has led to the development of an alternative adaptive and nonlinear Lyapunov based control for the modular power converter. Finally, a detailed simulation and experimental validation of the proposed power converter operation, power sharing strategy, proposed control structures and control stability issue have been undertaken using a grid connected laboratory based multi-modular hybrid battery energy storage system prototype. The experimental validation has demonstrated the feasibility of this new energy storage system operation for use in future grid applications

Robust dynamic control strategy for standalone photovoltaic system under varying load and environmental conditions

Standalone photovoltaic (PV) systems are widely considered as an alternative source of utility grid due to the notable merits such as inexhaustible solar energy, pollution and noise free power generation, ease of assembly and relatively low costs. However, the major drawbacks of these systems are their environmentally-dependent characteristics and performance degradation due to sudden load variations. In order to address these challenges, two objectives must be met simultaneously for consistent and reliable output of PV system. First, the efficient tracking of maximum power point of the PV array in changing environmental conditions and secondly, the smooth conversion of the direct current (DC) input voltage into the desired level of alternating current (AC) output voltage in the presence of load variations. In this thesis, a standalone PV system with two independent control strategies have been presented. At the first stage, a hybrid non-linear maximum power point (MPPT) technique based on the perturb and observe and integral back-stepping control algorithm is proposed to extract the maximum power from the PV array. The integral action in the MPPT algorithm significantly reduces the oscillations in the PV array output that is fed to the DC-AC inverter at the second stage. Then, at the second stage, a dynamic disturbance rejection strategy based on super twisting sliding mode control (ST-SMC) has been proposed to regulate AC power for a variety of loads at the system output. The PV inverter load parameter disturbances and their effect on the system dynamics are aggregated into a perturbation, which is then estimated online by a newly designed higher-order sliding mode observer. The estimated perturbation is then compensated by the ST-SMC such that a better control performance could be achieved with significant robustness against load disturbances. The proposed control algorithms are evaluated and benchmarked with the existing backstepping controller (BSC) in terms of dynamic response, efficiency, steady-state error and total harmonic distortion (THD) handling capability under varying environmental and load conditions. The designed control strategy reaches the steady-state in 0.005 sec and gives a DC-DC conversion efficiency of 99.85% for the peak solar irradiation level as compared to the 0.008 sec and 99.7% for BSC. The AC-stage steady-state error is minimized to 0.005V compared to 0.51V of BSC whereas, THD is limited to 0.07% and 0.11% for linear and non-linear loads respectively for the proposed algorithm as compared to 0.34% and 2.04% for BSC

Power Management Strategies for a Wind Energy Source in an Isolated Microgrid and Grid Connected System

This thesis focuses on the development of power management control strategies for a direct drive permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based variable speed wind turbine (VSWT). Two modes of operation have been considered: (1) isolated/islanded mode, and (2) grid-connected mode. In the isolated/islanded mode, the system requires additional energy sources and sinks to counterbalance the intermittent nature of the wind. Thus, battery energy storage and photovoltaic (PV) systems have been integrated with the wind turbine to form a microgrid with hybrid energy sources. For the wind/battery hybrid system, several energy management and control issues have been addressed, such as DC link voltage stability, imbalanced power flow, and constraints of the battery state of charge (SOC). To ensure the integrity of the microgrid, and to increase its flexibility, dump loads and an emergency back-up AC source (can be a diesel generator set) have been used to protect the system against the excessive power production from the wind and PV systems, as well as the intermittent nature of wind source. A coordinated control strategy is proposed for the dump loads and back up AC source. An alternative control strategy is also proposed for a hybrid wind/battery system by eliminating the dedicated battery converter and the dump loads. To protect the battery against overcharging, an integrated control strategy is proposed. In addition, the dual vector voltage control (DVVC) is also developed to tackle the issues associated with unbalanced AC loads. To improve the performance of a DC microgrid consisting wind, battery, and PV, a distributed control strategy using DC link voltage (DLV) based control law is developed. This strategy provides simpler structure, less frequent mode transitions, and effective coordination among different sources without relying on real-time communication. In a grid-connected mode, this DC microgrid is connected to the grid through a single inverter at the point of common coupling (PCC). The generated wind power is only treated as a source at the DC side for the study of both unbalanced and balanced voltage sag issues at a distribution grid network. The proposed strategy consists of: (i) a vector current control with a feed-forward of the negative-sequence voltage (VCCF) to compensate for the negative sequence currents; and (ii) a power compensation factor (PCF) control for the VCCF to maintain the balanced power flow between the system and the grid. A sliding mode control strategy has also been developed to enhance the overall system performance. Appropriate grid code has been considered in this case. All the developed control strategies have been validated via extensive computer simulation with realistic system parameters. Furthermore, to valid developed control strategies in a realistic environment in real-time, a microgrid has been constructed using physical components: a wind turbine simulator (WTS), power electronic converters, simulated grid, sensors, real-time controllers and protection devices. All the control strategies developed in this system have been validated experimentally on this facility. In conclusion, several power management strategies and real-time control issues have been investigated for direct drive permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based variable speed wind turbine system in an islanded and grid-connected mode. For the islanded mode, the focuses have been on microgrid control. While for the grid-connected mode, main consideration has been on the mitigation of voltage sags at the point of common coupling (PCC)

Power Converter of Electric Machines, Renewable Energy Systems, and Transportation

Power converters and electric machines represent essential components in all fields of electrical engineering. In fact, we are heading towards a future where energy will be more and more electrical: electrical vehicles, electrical motors, renewables, storage systems are now widespread. The ongoing energy transition poses new challenges for interfacing and integrating different power systems. The constraints of space, weight, reliability, performance, and autonomy for the electric system have increased the attention of scientific research in order to find more and more appropriate technological solutions. In this context, power converters and electric machines assume a key role in enabling higher performance of electrical power conversion. Consequently, the design and control of power converters and electric machines shall be developed accordingly to the requirements of the specific application, thus leading to more specialized solutions, with the aim of enhancing the reliability, fault tolerance, and flexibility of the next generation power systems