55 research outputs found
A decentralized scalable approach to voltage control of DC islanded microgrids
We propose a new decentralized control scheme for DC Islanded microGrids
(ImGs) composed by several Distributed Generation Units (DGUs) with a general
interconnection topology. Each local controller regulates to a reference value
the voltage of the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) of the corresponding DGU.
Notably, off-line control design is conducted in a Plug-and-Play (PnP) fashion
meaning that (i) the possibility of adding/removing a DGU without spoiling
stability of the overall ImG is checked through an optimization problem; (ii)
when a DGU is plugged in or out at most neighbouring DGUs have to update their
controllers and (iii) the synthesis of a local controller uses only information
on the corresponding DGU and lines connected to it. This guarantee total
scalability of control synthesis as the ImG size grows or DGU gets replaced.
Yes, under mild approximations of line dynamics, we formally guarantee
stability of the overall closed-loop ImG. The performance of the proposed
controllers is analyzed simulating different scenarios in PSCAD.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1405.242
Plug-and-play and coordinated control for bus-connected AC islanded microgrids
This paper presents a distributed control architecture for voltage and
frequency stabilization in AC islanded microgrids. In the primary control
layer, each generation unit is equipped with a local controller acting on the
corresponding voltage-source converter. Following the plug-and-play design
approach previously proposed by some of the authors, whenever the
addition/removal of a distributed generation unit is required, feasibility of
the operation is automatically checked by designing local controllers through
convex optimization. The update of the voltage-control layer, when units plug
-in/-out, is therefore automatized and stability of the microgrid is always
preserved. Moreover, local control design is based only on the knowledge of
parameters of power lines and it does not require to store a global microgrid
model. In this work, we focus on bus-connected microgrid topologies and enhance
the primary plug-and-play layer with local virtual impedance loops and
secondary coordinated controllers ensuring bus voltage tracking and reactive
power sharing. In particular, the secondary control architecture is
distributed, hence mirroring the modularity of the primary control layer. We
validate primary and secondary controllers by performing experiments with
balanced, unbalanced and nonlinear loads, on a setup composed of three
bus-connected distributed generation units. Most importantly, the stability of
the microgrid after the addition/removal of distributed generation units is
assessed. Overall, the experimental results show the feasibility of the
proposed modular control design framework, where generation units can be
added/removed on the fly, thus enabling the deployment of virtual power plants
that can be resized over time
Plug-and-play distributed state estimation for linear systems
This paper proposes a state estimator for large-scale linear systems described by the interaction of state-coupled subsystems affected by bounded disturbances. We equip each subsystem with a Local State Estimator (LSE) for the reconstruction of the subsystem states using pieces of information from parent subsystems only. Moreover we provide conditions guaranteeing that the estimation errors are confined into prescribed polyhedral sets and converge to zero in absence of disturbances. Quite remarkably, the design of an LSE is recast into an optimization problem that requires data from the corresponding subsystem and its parents only. This allows one to synthesize LSEs in a Plug-and-Play (PnP) fashion, i.e. when a subsystem gets added, the update of the whole estimator requires at most the design of an LSE for the subsystem and its parents. Theoretical results are backed up by numerical experiments on a mechanical system
Primary fibroblast co-culture stimulates growth and metabolism in Sdhb-impaired mouse pheochromocytoma MTT cells
Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PGLs) due to mutations of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) B, a subunit of the SDH complex with a role in the Krebs cycle and the respiratory chain, tend to be larger at diagnosis and more prone to metastatic disease than other tumors. This presentation contrasts with the behavior of some cell line models of SDHB impairment, which show reduced growth compared to wild type. We hypothesize that reduced growth of SDHB-impaired monolayer culture models might reflect lack of support from sources within the tumor microenvironment. The present study therefore investigates how the microenvironment, modeled here by fibroblast co-culture, modulates cell metabolism, growth and invasion in an Sdhb-impaired mouse pheochromocytoma cell line. We employed two different constructs of short hairpin RNA to knockdown Sdhb and compared growth in a monolayer with and without fibroblast co-culture. Sdhb-silenced cells showed functional impairment of SDH with elevated succinate to fumarate ratio and decreased oxidative capacity. Cell growth was delayed with an increase in doubling time of 2 h or 20 h. Clonogenic cell survival and viability, on the other hand, were either unchanged or increased compared to control. In standard monolayer culture, no differences in pro-metastatic features were present. Co-culture with primary mouse fibroblast reversed the difference of proliferation between control and Sdhb knockdown but was unable to significantly influence invasiveness under these culture conditions. Metabolic studies identified that lactate secreted by fibroblasts was taken up preferentially by Sdhb-silenced cells. In summary, the present study identified a potential role for the tumor microenvironment in influencing phenotypic features of SDHB-mutated PGLs, providing a basis for the use of therapies targeted towards the tumor microenvironment
ENIGMA-A centralised supervisory controller for enhanced onboard electrical energy management with model in the loop demonstration
A centralised smart supervisor (CSS) controller with enhanced electrical energy management (E2-EM) capability has been developed for an Iron Bird Electrical Power Generation and Distribution System (EPGDS) within the Clean Sky 2 ENhanced electrical energy MAnagement (ENIGMA) project. The E2-EM strategy considers the potential for eliminating the 5 min overload capability of the generators to achieve a substantial reduction in the mass of the EPGDS. It ensures optimal power and energy sharing within the EPGDS by interfacing the CSS with the smart grid network (SGN), the energy storage and regeneration system (ESRS), and the programmable load bank 1 secondary distribution board (PLB1 SDU) during power overloads and failure conditions. The CSS has been developed by formalizing E2-EM logic as an algorithm operating in real time and by following safety and reliability rules. The CSS undergoes initial verification using model-in-the-loop (MIL) testing. This paper describes the EPGDS simulated for the MIL testing and details the E2-EM strategy, the algorithms, and logic developed for the ENIGMA CSS design. The CSS was subjected to two test cases using MIL demonstration, and based on the test results, the performance of the ENIGMA CSS is verified and validated
Fault diagnosis for uncertain networked systems
Fault diagnosis has been at the forefront of technological developments for several decades. Recent advances in many engineering fields have led to the networked interconnection of various systems. The increased complexity of modern systems leads to a larger number of sources of uncertainty which must be taken into consideration and addressed properly in the design of monitoring and fault diagnosis architectures. This chapter reviews a model-based distributed fault diagnosis approach for uncertain nonlinear large-scale networked systems to specifically address: (a) the presence of measurement noise by devising a filtering scheme for dampening the effect of noise; (b) the modeling of uncertainty by developing an adaptive learning scheme; (c) the uncertainty issues emerging when considering networked systems such as the presence of delays and packet dropouts in the communication networks. The proposed architecture considers in an integrated way the various components of complex distributed systems such as the physical environment, the sensor level, the fault diagnosers, and the communication networks. Finally, some actions taken after the detection of a fault, such as the identification of the fault location and its magnitude or the learning of the fault function, are illustrated
Understanding the mechanisms underlying the communication between normal and tumour cells in breast cancer
The microenvironment has been shown to play an important role in the various steps of tumour development. The main research efforts to date have focused on the tumour-stroma cross-talk, but the possibility that normal epithelial cells might also play a role in tumour progression has received little attention. The aim of this project was to study cell-cell interactions and evaluate how normal cells can influence the proliferation and apoptosis of cancer cells. Furthermore, this study aimed to delineate the signalling pathways underlying these paracrine communications and identify new potential molecular targets for therapy. To address these questions, the breast cancer cell line MCF7 and the normal mammary epithelial cells MCF10A and HMEC were used. Here, we show that non-tumorigenic mammary epithelial cells secrete factors able to enhance the proliferation of ERα+ breast cancer cells and suppress their ability to undergo apoptosis. Conditioned medium derived from MCF10A and HMEC cells (10A-CM and HMEC-CM) was capable of activating ERα in a hormone-independent manner via the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 pathway. Finally, a cytokine antibody analysis of the conditioned media allowed the identification of MCP-1 as one of the most prevalent cytokines in the 10A-CM. We found that this cytokine recapitulates the effects of 10A-CM and HMEC-CM, as it promoted MCF7 cell proliferation. Interestingly, MCP-1 activated the ERα by phosphorylating Ser167 via PI3K/Akt/mTORC1, as demonstrated also by silencing its receptors, CCR2 and CCR4. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that MCP-1 is involved in the activation of ERα signalling. Together, our data indicate that normal mammary cells support the proliferation of breast cancer cells via paracrine interactions. As this communication occurs within the terminal ductal lobular units, before the cross-talk between tumour and stroma takes place, a better understanding of the role of these cells may be useful for designing drugs that will prevent the progression of the tumour at its early stages
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