Comparison of two three-phase pll systems for more electric aircraft

The More Electric Aircraft power system is characterized by variable supply frequency, in general between 360Hz and 900Hz. All equipment on board the aircraft have to operate delivering high performance under this variable frequency condition. In particular, power electronic converters need accurate control algorithms able to track the fundamental phase and frequency in real time, both in normal and unusual conditions. Phase Locked Loop (PLL) based algorithms are commonly used in traditional single and three phase power systems to provide phase and frequency estimations of the supply. Despite the simplicity of those algorithms, large estimation errors can arise when power supply voltage has variable frequency or amplitude, presents unbalances or is polluted with harmonics. To improve the quality of the phase and frequency real-time estimations, a robust PLL algorithm, based on a prediction-correction filter, is presented in this paper and compared with a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) based procedure. The performances of the two algorithms, implemented in a floating-point DSP, have been compared through an experimental validation obtained on a laboratory power converter prototype

Precollisional development and Cenozoic evolution of the Southalpine retrobelt (European Alps)

The retrobelts of doubly vergent collisional orogens are classically interpreted as late-stage postcollisional features. Here, we integrate literature data with new structural and thermochronological evidence from the European Alps in order to document the precollisional development of the retrobelt segment exposed in the central southern Alps. During the Late Cretaceous, by inversion of inherited extensional faults of Permian age, the Variscan basement of the central southern Alps was stacked southward onto the Permian-Mesozoic cover sequences of the Adria margin. These thrust systems were first deformed within regional-scale antiforms (the "Orobic anticlines") and then cut by Eocene magmatic bodies. Our apatite fission-track data show that these units were largely structured and exhumed to shallow crustal levels before the intrusion of the Eocene magmatic rocks. Therefore, thrusting and folding in the Alpine retrobelt took place before the final closure of the Alpine Tethys and subsequent continental collision between Adria and Europe. Final exhumation and uplift in the northern part of the Southalpine retrobelt took place under a dextral transpressional regime largely coeval with the right-lateral strike-slip activity along the Insubric fault. In Neogene times, deformation propagated southward, leading to the formation of a frontal thrust belt that is largely buried beneath the Po Plain

A Novel Repetitive Controller Assisted Phase-Locked Loop with Self-Learning Disturbance Rejection Capability for Three-Phase Grids

The synchronization between the power grid and distributed power sources is a crucial issue in the concept of smart grids. For tracking the real-time frequency and phase of three-phase grids, phase-locked loop (PLL) technology is commonly used. Many existing PLLs with enhanced disturbance/harmonic rejection capabilities, either fail to maintain fast response or are not adaptive to grid frequency variations or have high computational complexity. This article, therefore, proposes a low computational burden repetitive controller (RC) assisted PLL (RCA-PLL) that is not only effective on harmonic rejection but also has remarkable steady-state performance while maintaining fast dynamic. Moreover, the proposed PLL is adaptive to variable frequency conditions and can self-learn the harmonics to be canceled. The disturbance/harmonic rejection capabilities together with dynamic and steady-state performances of the RCA-PLL have been highlighted in this article. The proposed approach is also experimentally compared to the synchronous rotation frame PLL (SRF-PLL) and the steady-state linear Kalman filter PLL (SSLKF-PLL), considering the effect of harmonics from the grid-connected converters, unbalances, sensor scaling errors, dc offsets, grid frequency variations, and phase jumps. The computational burden of the RCA-PLL is also minimized, achieving an experimental execution time of only 12 μs

Modulated model predictive control for a 7-level cascaded h-bridge back-to-back converter

Multilevel Converters are known to have many advantages for electricity network applications. In particular Cascaded H-Bridge Converters are attractive because of their inherent modularity and scalability. Predictive control for power converters is advantageous as a result of its applicability to discrete system and fast response. In this paper a novel control technique, named Modulated Model Predictive Control, is introduced with the aim to increase the performance of Model Predictive Control. The proposed controller address a modulation scheme as part of the minimization process. The proposed control technique is described in detail, validated through simulation and experimental testing and compared with Dead-Beat and traditional Model Predictive Control. The results show the increased performance of the Modulated Model Predictive Control with respect to the classic Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control, in terms ofcurrent waveform THD. Moreover the proposed controller allows a multi-objective control, with respect to Dead-Beat Control that does not present this capability

Modulated model predictive control for active split DC-bus 4-leg power supply

This paper proposes a constant switching frequency Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control (FCS-MPC), formally Modulated FCS-MPC or M2PC, for a 4-leg inverter having an Active Split DC-bus on the fourth leg. The great advantage of MPC over linear control schemes is the very fast transient response it is capable to produce; it also can handle general constrained nonlinear systems with multiple inputs and outputs in a unified and clear manner. These features are highly valuable in power electronic converters used to supply the electrical utility loads in micro-grids. However, one of the main drawback of the MPC is its variable switching frequency, above all in system with accurately tuned output power filters (i.e. switching traps), which is the case when stable voltage waveforms with very low harmonic content are required. The proposed investigation relates with the application of a constant switching frequency variant of the MPC to a 4-leg inverter with a specifically tuned filter to assure high quality voltage supply even in case of non-linear and unbalanced loads

Predictive control for active split DC-bus 4-leg inverters

This paper proposes a Predictive Control, formally Dead-Beat (DBC), for a four-leg inverter having an Active Split DC-bus on the fourth leg and LC filters on phase-to-neutral outputs. Such a configuration permits to reduce the voltage ripple on the neutral point connected to inverter grounding. As only few control techniques have been investigated for Active Split DC-bus, the paper proposes to investigate the performance of DBC, which has been widely used for other power electronics applications. The main advantage of DBC over the classical PI or Resonant controller is that no tuning is required for control loop, while obtaining very fast transient response as well it can handle general constrained nonlinear systems with multiple inputs and outputs in a unified and clear manner. These features are highly valuable in power electronic converters used to supply the electrical utility loads in micro-grids. However, one of the main drawback of the DBC is the limited capabilities on harmonics compensations required when supplying unbalanced and non-linear loads. The paper presents continuous-time and discrete-time models of DBC applied to a four-leg VSI with Active Split DC-bus, highlighting the performance through simulation results as well as experimental tests

Field testing of tube-dip-in water precipitation collectors used in isotope hydrology

The oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope composition in precipitation serves as a benchmark in most isotope atmospheric, (eco-)hydrological, and paleoclimatological applications. Several rain collectors have been designed for collecting monthly, daily or event-based precipitations aiming to prevent evaporation and associated isotope fractionation. Oil collectors have been the most widely used for many years and only recently they are being progressively replaced by free- oil Tube-dip-in water collectors, especially after their formal publication by Gröning et al. (2012) and the production of a commercial version (Palmex Ltd). Although the reliability of this precipitation collector has been proven, many doubts remain when dealing with small precipitation amounts (Michelsen et al., 2018). Field testing of precipitation collectors is therefore encouraged, which should be carried out under the same environmental conditions of areas where researchers want to undertake their studies. In this work, we tested the field performance of different precipitation collectors in preventing evaporation and isotope fractionation. Two main objectives were behind this study: i) to evaluate the reliability of tube-dip-in water collectors for very low precipitation amounts; ii) to test a homemade Tube-dip-in water collector for different water amounts. The experiment consisted of simulating the collection of small monthly precipitation samples in spring and summer when atmospheric conditions are more likely to promote evaporation. The experiment was carried out on the rooftop of the Earth Science Department of the University of Pisa from March 2022 to July 2022. Four different collector designs were tested simultaneously over four different periods (each lasting approximately one month): a Control collector with no anti-evaporative system; an Oil collector; a Palmex Tube-dip-in water collector; a homemade Tube-dip-in water collector. They were filled to 1.4% of their total volume (10 L) with water of known isotope composition. Since the diameter of 13.5 cm of most common funnels, this percentage corresponds to ~10 mm. Other two homemade Tube-dip-in water collectors were filled to 5% and 10%, corresponding to ~35 mm and ~70 mm. All the collectors were placed outside at the start of each period. Evaporative mass losses were determined gravimetrically and samples for isotope analyses were collected at the end of each period. On average, the Oil collector showed the smallest mass losses, and the isotope shifts were much lower than analytical errors. The Palmex collector failed, with even larger mass losses and isotope shifts (Δδ18O = 0.42‰ and Δδ2H = 1.6‰) than the Control collector. The home-made Tube-dip-in water collectors performed well and better than Palmex. Mass losses and isotope shifts tended to increase with increasing temperature and decreasing relative humidity

Multi-objective modulated Model Predictive Control for a multilevel solid state transformer

Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control (FCS-MPC) offers many advantages over more traditional control techniques, such as the ability to avoid cascaded control loops, easy inclusion of constraint and fast transient response of the control system. This control scheme has been recently applied to several power conversion systems, such as two, three or more level converters, Matrix converters, etc. Unfortunately, because of the lack of presence of a modulation strategy, this approach produces spread spectrum harmonics which are difficult to filter effectively. This may results in a degraded power quality when compared to more traditional control schemes. Furthermore, high switching frequencies may be needed, considering the limited number of switching states in the converter. This paper presents a novel multi-objective Modulated predictive control strategy, which preserves the desired characteristics of FCS-MPC but produces superior waveform quality. The proposed method is validated by experimental tests on a seven level Cascaded H-Bridge Back-To-Back converter and compared to a classic MPC scheme

Moisture sources and climatic effects controlling precipitation stable isotope composition in a western Mediterranean island (Pianosa, Italy)

The Mediterranean basin is indicated as a hot spot of climate change, which is an area whose climate is especially responsive to variations. The insular environment is one of the most threatened by the current climate change, especially in terms of drought events, with serious consequences for water scarcity and water stress. This issue is even enhanced in small islands, whose ecosystems are among more sensitive to climatic changes and water availability. The stable isotope composition of hydrogen (delta 2H) and oxygen (delta 18O) in precipitation is globally recognized as a powerful natural tracer in the water cycle and represents the starting point to investigate hydrological processes. The understanding of the prevailing factors that drive the isotopic variability of precipitation in the Mediterranean is therefore essential to unravel the hydrological processes and to ensure proper and sustainable management of potentially vulnerable resources to climate change. Here, we discuss the results of multi-year isotopic monitoring in the period 2014-2021 of monthly precipitation collected on Pianosa Island (Italy), a small island located in the northern Tyrrhenian (western Mediterranean). The lower slope and intercept of the Local Meteoric Water Line of the island compared to the Global Meteoric Water Line indicated warmer and drier climatic conditions, suggesting the existence of sub-cloud evaporation processes of raindrops during precipitation, especially in summer. The mean delta 18O of precipitation was lower with respect to other sites placed at higher elevation in this Mediterranean region, due to the lack of summer precipitation which were generally enriched in heavy isotopes. Temperature and amount effects may explain part of the delta 18O variability observed at the monthly and seasonal scale. An HYSPLIT-based moisture uptake analysis indicated the area between the western Mediterranean basin, Italy, and the Adriatic Sea as the region that supplied most of the humidity associated with monthly precipitation samples on Pianosa Island. Less moisture was picked from the northwestern areas of Europe, the North Atlantic Ocean, the proximal Atlantic Ocean, the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. Consistently with the rainout effect, the higher the moisture fraction picked from the more proximal regions, the more positive the delta 18O of precipitation occurring on Pianosa Island; conversely, the higher the percentage of moisture sourced from more distal regions, the more negative the delta 18O. A multiple linear model was proposed to predict the delta 18O of monthly precipitation from temperature, precipitation amount and moisture origin data, which explained 45% of the delta 18O variability. The deuterium excess variability on the island was partly controlled by the local climatic variables, whose effect potentially modifies the original d-excess signature imprinted at the moisture source. No relationship was found between the precipitation deuterium excess and moisture sources, suggesting that more attention should be paid when using the deuterium excess as a tracer of moisture origin, especially in the Mediterranean

Active DC voltage balancing PWM technique for high-power cascaded multilevel converters

In this paper a dedicated PWM technique specifically designed for single-phase (or four wire three-phase) multilevel Cascaded H-Bridge Converters is presented. The aim of the proposed technique is to minimize the DC-Link voltage unbalance, independently from the amplitude of the DC-Link voltage reference, and compensate the switching device voltage drops and on-state resistances. Such compensation can be used to achieve an increase in the waveform quality of the converter. This is particularly useful in high-power, low supply voltage applications where a low switching frequency is used. The DC-Link voltage balancing capability of the method removes the requirement for additional control loops to actively balance the DC-Link voltage on each H-Bridge, simplifying the control structure. The proposed modulation technique has been validated through the use of simulation and extensive experimental testing to confirm its effectiveness