Advanced Solutions for Renewable Energy Integration into the Grid Addressing Intermittencies, Harmonics and Inertial Response

Numerous countries are trying to reach almost 100\% renewable penetration. Variable renewable energy (VRE), for instance wind and PV, will be the main provider of the future grid. The efforts to decrease the greenhouse gasses are promising on the current remarkable growth of grid connected photovoltaic (PV) capacity. This thesis provides an overview of the presented techniques, standards and grid interface of the PV systems in distribution and transmission level. This thesis reviews the most-adopted grid codes which required by system operators on large-scale grid connected Photovoltaic systems. The adopted topologies of the converters, the control methodologies for active - reactive power, maximum power point tracking (MPPT), as well as their arrangement in solar farms are studied. The unique L(LCL)2 filter is designed, developed and introduced in this thesis. This study will help researchers and industry users to establish their research based on connection requirements and compare between different existing technologies. Another, major aspect of the work is the development of Virtual Inertia Emulator (VIE) in the combination of hybrid energy storage system addressing major challenges with VRE implementations. Operation of a photovoltaic (PV) generating system under intermittent solar radiation is a challenging task. Furthermore, with high-penetration levels of photovoltaic energy sources being integrated into the current electric power grid, the performance of the conventional synchronous generators is being changed and grid inertial response is deteriorating. From an engineering standpoint, additional technical measures by the grid operators will be done to confirm the increasingly strict supply criteria in the new inverter dominated grid conditions. This dissertation proposes a combined virtual inertia emulator (VIE) and a hybrid battery-supercapacitor-based energy storage system . VIE provides a method which is based on power devices (like inverters), which makes a compatible weak grid for integration of renewable generators of electricity. This method makes the power inverters behave more similar to synchronous machines. Consequently, the synchronous machine properties, which have described the attributes of the grid up to now, will remain active, although after integration of renewable energies. Examples of some of these properties are grid and generator interactions in the function of a remote power dispatch, transients reactions, and the electrical outcomes of a rotating bulk mass. The hybrid energy storage system (HESS) is implemented to smooth the short-term power fluctuations and main reserve that allows renewable electricity generators such as PV to be considered very closely like regular rotating power generators. The objective of utilizing the HESS is to add/subtract power to/from the PV output in order to smooth out the high frequency fluctuations of the PV power, which may occur due to shadows of passing cloud on the PV panels. A control system designed and challenged by providing a solution to reduce short-term PV output variability, stabilizing the DC link voltage and avoiding short term shocks to the battery in terms of capacity and ramp rate capability. Not only could the suggested system overcome the slow response of battery system (including dynamics of battery, controller, and converter operation) by redirecting the power surges to the supercapacitor system, but also enhance the inertial response by emulating the kinetic inertia of synchronous generator

Converter based electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for fuel cell stacks

Fuel cells are important devices in a hydrogen-based chain of energy conversion. They have distinctive advantages over batteries with their higher energy density and faster refueling speed, which make them attractive in stationary power supplies and heavy-duty vehicles. However, the high cost and low durability associated with modern fuel cells are still hindering their wider commercialization. Besides developing more reliable and lower cost materials and advanced assemblies of cells and stacks, a practical and effective diagnostic tool is highly needed for fuel cells to identify any abnormal internal conditions and assist with maintenance scheduling or application of on-board mitigating schemes. Conventionally, linear instruments were used for fuel cell EIS, however, limited to single cells or short stacks only as a laboratory testing method. With recent developments, EIS enabled by switching power converters are capable of being applied to a high-power stack directly. This approach has the potential for practical field applications such as a servicing tool for fuel cell manufacturers or an on-board diagnostic tool of a moving vehicle. Previous works on converter based EIS have made a few different attempts at conceptually realizing this solution while several significant issues were not well recognized and resolved yet. As such, this thesis explores further on this topic to address the flexibility of EIS perturbation generation, the perturbation frequency range, and the linkage between fuel cell EIS requirements and the converter design to push for its readiness for practical implementations. Several new solutions are proposed and discussed in detail, including a total software approach for existing high-power converters to enable wide-frequency-range EIS, a redesign of the main dc/dc converter enabling wide-frequency-range perturbations, and a separate auxiliary converter as a standalone module for EIS operation. A detailed analysis of oscillations brought by converter based EIS in powertrains is also presented

Power delivery mechanisms for asynchronous loads in energy harvesting systems

PhD ThesisFor systems depending on methods, a fundamental contradiction in the power delivery chain has existed between conventional to supply it. DC/DC conversion (e.g.) has therefore been an integral part of such systems to resolve this contradiction. be made tolerant to a much wider range of Vdd variance. This may open up opportunities for much more energy efficient methods of power delivery. performance of different power delivery mechanisms driving both asynchronous and synchronous loads directly from a harvester source bypassing bulky energy method, which employs a energy from a EH circuit depending on load and source conditions, is developed. through comprehensive comparative analysis. Based on the novel CBB power delivery method, an asynchronous controller is circuits to work with tasks. The successful asynchronous control design drives a case study that is meant to explore relations between power path and task path. To deal with different tasks with variable harvested power, systems may have a range of operation conditions and thus dynamically call for CBB or SCC type power set of capacitors to form CBB or SCC is implemented with economic system size. This work presents an unconventional way of designing a compact-size, quick- circuit overcome large voltage variation in EH systems and implement smart power management for harsh EH environment. The power delivery mechanisms (SCC, employed to help asynchronous- logic-based chip testing and micro-scale EH system demonstrations

Single and Dual DC Buses Nanogrids with Decentralized Control

The existing power system is based on a centralized approach. Large power plants produce AC electricity that is transmitted over long distances for distribution to the consumers. To meet a higher load demand, the entire system has to be upgraded, which is costly and acquiring rights of way can take decades. Another approach, called distributed generation, is the deployment of smaller generation units closer to the users. This can be based on renewable energy sources (RESs) that mitigate the environmental impact of power generation. However, the stochastic nature of RESs can lead to power quality issues in the distribution system. This can be addressed with the addition of energy storage units and controlling the system as a cluster or a microgrid. This concept can be extended for small buildings and residences, called nanogrids, offering a means for the realization of net-zero energy homes (NZEHs). These can be AC or DC, but the latter looks more promising since most RESs suitable for NZEHs provide a DC output and DC-DC interfaces tend to present a higher efficiency than their DC-AC counterparts. DC nanogrids also favor the integration of electric vehicles (EVs) and are compatible with modern, electronically controlled, appliances. To date, there are no standards concerning the number of buses and voltage levels of DC nanogrids. The control structure of DC micro and nanogrids, can be based on a hierarchical approach where the primary control level relies on locally measured quantities. This allows a decentralized operation of interfaces using the DC bus voltage as a communication means and V vs. I curves, with specific parameters, for coordination of operation, a method known as DC bus signaling (DBS). There are several aspects of DC nanogrids for NZEHs that deserve further investigation and are addressed in this thesis. These include a means for a smooth transition of the modes of operation of RESs, such as photovoltaic (PV), which employ V vs. I curves with three regions. This can minimize the DC bus voltage variations as the system adjusts to variations in load demand and power generation due to varying solar irradiances. The use of supercapacitors (SCs) along with batteries in hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) can mitigate the impact of high and fast current variations on the losses and lifetime of the battery units. However, by controlling the HESS as a single unit, one forfeits the potential contribution of the SC and its high power capabilities to dynamically improve voltage regulation in a DC nanogrid. This can be achieved by controlling the SC and battery independently without sacrificing the support the battery receives from the SC. Finally, although dual DC bus nanogrids have been advocated by industry associations, they are conceived to have power sources and storage units only in the high voltage (HV) bus. The low voltage (LV) bus is fed through a unidirectional converter, making it vulnerable to a fault in a single element. This thesis proposes the deployment of generation and storage in both buses, with a bidirectional interface for optimizing power balance in both buses. The techniques proposed in this thesis are verified by means of simulation or experimental results

Design, management and control of energy storage DC nano-grid.

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

유기발광 다이오드 표시장치를 장착한 이동형 시스템의 전력 공급 최적화

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 전기·컴퓨터공학부, 2012. 8. 장래혁.오늘날 스마트폰, 태블릿 PC 와 같은 휴대용 전자기기는 고성능의 중앙처리장치 (CPU), 대용량 메모리, 대형 화면, 고속의 무선 인터페이스 등을 탑재함에따라 전 력 소모량이 급속히 증가하여 그 전력 소모는 이미 소형의 랩탑 컴퓨터 수준에 이르고 있다. 성능과 전력 소모량의 측면에서 휴대용 전자기기와 랩탑 컴퓨터 사 이의 구분이 점차 사라지고 있음에도 배터리 및 전력 변환 회로는 기존의 설계 원칙들만을 따라 설계되고 있는 실정이다. 삼성전자의 갤럭시 탭 및 Apple 사의 iPad 등 스마트폰 및 태블릿 PC의 경우 1-cell 직렬 리튬 이온 전지를 사용하는 반 면, 랩탑 컴퓨터의 경우는 제조사에 따라 3-cell 에서 5-cell 직렬 등으로 설계되고 있다. 이는 배터리 출력 전압을 다르게 함으로써 전력 변환 효율에 영향을 준다. 전력 변환 회로의 효율 및 배터리의 수명은 입출력 전압/전류를 비롯한 동작 환경의 영향을 받는다. 휴대용 전자기기에 사용되는 각종 전자부품은 전력 소모를 줄이기 위한 다양한 기능들을 구현하고 있으며, 중앙처리장치의 동적 전압/주파 수 조절 기법 등 공급전압의 변화를 수반하는 기법 역시 다양하게 적용되고 있다. 이는 각 장치의 공급 전압 및 전류의 변화로 인한 전력 변환 회로의 효율의 변화 를 초래한다. 따라서 중앙처리장치, 디스플레이 등 주요 전력 소비 장치의 전력 절감 기법을 개발할 때에는 개별 장치의 전력 소비를 줄이는 것과 동시에 개별 장 치의 동작 행태에 대한 정확한 분석에 기반하여 배터리, 전력 변환회로의 설계가 함께이루어져야 한다. 선행 연구를 통해 배터리의 특성을 고려한 배터리 구성의 최적화 기법이 제안되었다 [1]. 중앙처리장치의 동적 전압/주파수 제어 기법에 이어 유기발광다이오드(OLED) 기반 디스플레이의 동적 구동회로 공급 전압 기법이 제안되었다 [2]. 유기발광다 이오드 디스플레이는 전력 소모 및 시야각 등 기존 액정 표시장치에 비해 여러 우수한 특성으로 인해 주목받고 있는 차세대 디스플레이 장치이다. 유기발광다 이오드 디스플레이의 적은 전력 소모량에도 불구하고 화면의 대형화 및 해상도의 고밀도화에 따라 시스템 전력 소모에서 여전히 큰 비중을 차지하고 있다. 유기발 광다이오드 디스플레이의 동적 구동회로 공급 전압 기법(OLED DVS)는 색상의 변화의 기초한 기존의 유기발광다이오드 디스플레이 전력 절감 기법과는 달리 최 소한의 이미지 왜곡만을 수반하여 대부분의 사진, 동영상 등에 적용가능한 전력 절감 기법이다. 해당 기법은 공급 전압의 변화시킬 필요가 있으며, 이를 시스템에 올바르게 통합시키기 위해서는 전력 변환 회로 및 배터리 구성에 미치는 영향을 고려해야 한다. 본 논문에서는 유기발광다이오드 디스플레이의 전력 소모와 함께 전체 시스 템 효율에 미치는 영향을 함께 고려하여 시스템을 최적화한다. 배터리 구성 역 시 기존의 설계 표준 대신 체계적인 시스템 분석에 기반한 최적화가 시도되었다. 공급전압이 조절 가능한 유기발광다이오드 디스플레이 하드웨어 및 제어기 시스 템-온-칩 (System-on-a-chip, SoC) 가 제작되었고, 그 동작 특성이 분석되었다. 기존 스마트폰 및 태블릿 PC 개발용 플랫폼의 전력 변환 효율 및 동작 특성 역시 분석 되었다. 유기발광다이오드 디스플레이의 동적 구동회로 공급 전압 기법의 동작 특성 및 스마트폰 플랫폼의 동작 특성, 배터리 특성에 대한 분석을 기반으로 시스 템 수준에서의 전력 변환 효율이 최적화되었다.Modern mobile devices such as smartphone or tablet PC are typically equipped a high-performance CPU, memory, wireless interface, and display. As a result, their power consumption is as high as a small-size laptop computer. The boundary between the mobile devices and laptop computer is becoming unclear from the perspective of the performance and power. However, their battery and related power conversion architecture are only designed according to the legacy design so far. Smartphone and tablet PCs from major vendors such as iPad from Apple or Galaxy-tab from Samsung uses 1-cell Li-ion battery. The laptop PC typically has 3-cell Li-ion battery. The output voltage of the battery affect system-level power conversion efficiency. Furthermore, traditional power conversion architecture in the mobile computing system is designed only considering the fixed condition where the system-level low-power techniques such as DVFS are becoming mandatory. Such a low-power techniques applied to the major components result in not only load demand fluctuation but also supply voltage changing. It has an effect on the battery lifetime as well as the system-level power delivery efficiency. The efficiency is affected by the operating condition including input voltage, output voltage, and output current. We should consider the operating condition of the major power consumer such as a display to enhance the system-level power delivery efficiency. Therefore, we need to design the system not only from the perspective of the power consumption but also energy storage design. The optimization of battery setup considering battery characteristics was presented in [1]. Beside the DVFS of microprocessor, a power saving technique based on the supply voltage scaling of the OLED driver circuit was recently introduced [2]. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) is a promising display device which has a lot of advantages compared with conventional LCD, but it still consumes significant amount of power consumption due to the size and resolution increasing. The OLED dynamic voltage scaling (OLED DVS) technique is the first OLED display power saving technique that induces only minimal color change to accommodate display of natural images where the existing OLED low-power techniques are based on the color change. The OLED DVS incurs supply voltage change. Therefore we need to consider the system-level power delivery efficiency and battery setup to properly integrate the DVS-enabled OLED display to the system. In this dissertation, we not only optimize the power consumption of the OLED display but also consider its effect on the whole system power efficiency. We perform the optimization of the battery setup by a systematic method instead of the legacy design rule. At first, we develop an algorithm for the OLED DVS for the still images and a histogram-based online method for the image sequence with a hardware board and a SoC. We characterize the behavior of the OLED DVS. Next, we analyze the characteristics of the smartphone and tablet-PC platforms by using the development platforms. We profile the power consumption of each components in the smartphone and power conversion efficiency of the boost converter which is used in the tablet-PC for the display devices. We optimize not only the power consuming components or the conversion system but also the energy storage system based on the battery model and system-level power delivery efficiency analysis.1 Introduction 1.1 Supply Voltage Scaling for OLED Display 1.2 Power Conversion Efficiency in MobileSystems 1.3 Research Motivation 2 Related Work 2.1 Low-Power Techniques for Display Devices 2.1.1 Light Source Control-Based Approaches 2.1.2 User Behavior-Based Approaches 2.1.3 Low-Power Techniques for Controller and Framebuffer 2.1.4 Pre-ChargingforOLED 2.1.5 ColorRemapping 2.2 Battery discharging efficiency aware low-power techniques 2.2.1 Parallel Connection 2.2.2 Constant-Current Regulator-Based Architecture 2.3 System-level power analysis techniques 3 Preliminary 38 3.1 Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) Display 3.1.1 OLED Cell Architecture 3.1.2 OLED Panel Architecture 3.1.3 OLED Driver Circuits 3.2 Effect of VDD scaling on driver circuits 3.2.1 VDD scaling for AM drivers 3.2.2 VDD scaling for PWM drivers 4 Supply Voltage Scaling and Image Compensation of OLED displays 4.1 Image quality and power models of OLED panels 4.2 OLED display characterization 4.3 VDD scaling and image compensation 5 OLED DVS implementation 5.1 Hardware prototype implementation 5.2 OLED DVS System-on-Chip implementation 5.3 Optimization of OLED DVS SoC 5.4 VDD transition overhead 6 Power conversion efficiency and delivery architecture in mobile Systems 6.1 Power conversion efficiency model of switching-Mode DC–DC converters 6.2 Power conversion efficiency model of linear regulator power loss model 6.3 Rate Capacity Effect of Li-ion Batteries 7 Power conversion efficiency-aware battery setup optimization with DVS- enabled OLED display 7.1 System-level power efficiency model 7.2 Power conversion efficiency analysis of smartphone platform 7.3 Power conversion efficiency for OLED power supply 7.4 Li-ion battery model 7.4.1 Battery model parameter extraction 7.5 Battery setup optimization 8 Experiments 8.1 Simulation result for OLED display with AM driver 8.2 Measurement result for OLED display with PWM driver 8.3 Design space exploration of battery setup with OLED displays 9 Conclusion 10 Future WorkDocto

Energy-Sustainable IoT Connectivity: Vision, Technological Enablers, Challenges, and Future Directions

Technology solutions must effectively balance economic growth, social equity, and environmental integrity to achieve a sustainable society. Notably, although the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm constitutes a key sustainability enabler, critical issues such as the increasing maintenance operations, energy consumption, and manufacturing/disposal of IoT devices have long-term negative economic, societal, and environmental impacts and must be efficiently addressed. This calls for self-sustainable IoT ecosystems requiring minimal external resources and intervention, effectively utilizing renewable energy sources, and recycling materials whenever possible, thus encompassing energy sustainability. In this work, we focus on energy-sustainable IoT during the operation phase, although our discussions sometimes extend to other sustainability aspects and IoT lifecycle phases. Specifically, we provide a fresh look at energy-sustainable IoT and identify energy provision, transfer, and energy efficiency as the three main energy-related processes whose harmonious coexistence pushes toward realizing self-sustainable IoT systems. Their main related technologies, recent advances, challenges, and research directions are also discussed. Moreover, we overview relevant performance metrics to assess the energy-sustainability potential of a certain technique, technology, device, or network and list some target values for the next generation of wireless systems. Overall, this paper offers insights that are valuable for advancing sustainability goals for present and future generations.Comment: 25 figures, 12 tables, submitted to IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Societ

Computational Sprinting: Exceeding Sustainable Power in Thermally Constrained Systems

Although process technology trends predict that transistor sizes will continue to shrink for a few more generations, voltage scaling has stalled and thus future chips are projected to be increasingly more power hungry than previous generations. Particularly in mobile devices which are severely cooling constrained, it is estimated that the peak operation of a future chip could generate heat ten times faster than than the device can sustainably vent. However, many mobile applications do not demand sustained performance; rather they comprise short bursts of computation in response to sporadic user activity. To improve responsiveness for such applications, this dissertation proposes computational sprinting, in which a system greatly exceeds sustainable power margins (by up to 10Ã?) to provide up to a few seconds of high-performance computation when a user interacts with the device. Computational sprinting exploits the material property of thermal capacitance to temporarily store the excess heat generated when sprinting. After sprinting, the chip returns to sustainable power levels and dissipates the stored heat when the system is idle. This dissertation: (i) broadly analyzes thermal, electrical, hardware, and software considerations to analyze the feasibility of engineering a system which can provide the responsiveness of a plat- form with 10Ã? higher sustainable power within today\u27s cooling constraints, (ii) leverages existing sources of thermal capacitance to demonstrate sprinting on a real system today, and (iii) identifies the energy-performance characteristics of sprinting operation to determine runtime sprint pacing policies

Noise-sensing energy-harvesting wireless sensor network nodes

Noise pollution is becoming an increasing concern in many urban regions all over the world. An important step in fighting and mitigating noise pollution is its quantification. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can potentially help with these efforts, as they enable the simultaneous and continuous gathering of data over wide geographic regions. The need to replace batteries however makes the maintenance of such physically very large networks impractical. As an alternative to batteries, noise-sensing WSNs could also be powered by energy harvesting. While energy-harvesting WSNs have been demonstrated before, utilizing energy harvesting for powering noise-sensing WSNs still pose a significant challenge because of application’s unique requirements, such as a high power consumption profile for extended periods of time. In this thesis, we address four key areas of research necessary on to make energy-harvesting noise-sensing WSNs possible and, more importantly, practical to use in large-scale settings. The first key area that we address is that of new and emerging energy storage technologies, and how current algorithms and infrastructures must be modified to take advantage of them. The second key area is that of currently-accepted technical requirements, and their assessment on whether they would indeed lead to the attainment of long-term goals. The third key area is that of test methodologies for energy-harvesting designs, and how they should be modified to facilitate validation of results between researchers. The final key area is that of techniques and algorithms for future capabilities that energy-harvesting noise-sending WSNs will or can have, and how we should prepare for them, even though they may not yet exist. We provide research to support all four key areas in this work and provide concrete examples for each