Realization of a 10 kW MES power to methane plant based on unified AC/DC converter

This paper presents a galvanic isolated multi output AC/DC topology that is suitable for Microbial electrosynthesis (MES) based Power to Methane energy storage systems. The presented scheme utilizes a three phase back to back converters, a single-input and multiple-output three phase transformer, single diode rectifiers and buck converters that employ a proper interconnection between MES cells and the mains. The proposed topology merges all the required single phase AC/DC converters as a unified converter which reduces the overall system size and provides system integrity and overall controllability. The proposed control scheme allows to achieve the following desired goals:1) Simultaneous control of all cells; 2) Absorbing power from the grid and covert to methane when the electricity price goes down; 3) the power factor and the quality of grid current is under control; 4) Supplying MES cells at the optimal operating point. For verification of system performance, Real time simulation results that are obtained from a 10-kW MES energy storage are presented.Postprint (author's final draft

Diode-clamped multilevel converters with integrable gate-driver power-supply circuits

This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.This paper presents a novel modulation for a two-stage dc-ac power converter with high-frequency isolation installed in a photovoltaic stand-alone system. The presented modulation, which is designed for the converter discontinuous conduction mode of operation, solves the problem of connection to a grid, and permits a bidirectional power flow. In this document is described the modulation strategy and some simulation and experimental results are presented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Remote power control strategy based on virtual flux approach for the grid tied power converters

The control of active and reactive power for the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) based power plants are very important. The injection of active and reactive power to the grid is normally controlled at the Point of Common Connection (PCC) where this point is typically far away from the power converter station. This paper proposed a controlling principle which is based on virtual flux approach that permits to control remotely the power injected at the PCC. The results will show that the Virtual Flux (VF) estimation is capable to estimate the grid voltage in any point of the network as well as the capability of the control principle to inject the specific amount of active and reactive power at a point that can be some kilometers away. In this paper, the basic principle for the remote power control is presented and the effectiveness of the proposed system has been validated by experimental studies.Postprint (published version

Improving long line stability by integrating renewables using static synchronous generators

Postprint (author's final draft

Synchronous frequency support of photovoltaic power plants with inertia emulation

©2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Grid stability is one of the main concerns in renewable energies. The lack of inertia and their low capability to provide frequency support has created the need for implementing new control strategies to solve this problem. In current networks, frequency and voltage support are performed through synchronous generators, which provide an inherent grid support due to the inertia presented in their mechanical rotors. Based on the same concept, renewable energies based on power converters have introduced synchronous controllers to emulate the dynamic behavior of synchronous generators and provide voltage and frequency support. However, most synchronous control strategies integrate their controllers as an add-on firmware embedded in each power converter, without presenting a coordinated synchronous performance when several converters operate in a PV power plant. The aggregation of several power converters operating with a coordinated synchronous response would be advantageous in these cases, since they can provide a harmonic response with an automatic power distribution when grid support is required. This paper presents a synchronous control strategy for photovoltaic power plants, which manages several power converters as an aggregated synchronous system.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Synchronous power controller merits for dynamic stability improvement in long line by renewables

Postprint (author's final draft

Proportional-resonant current controller with orthogonal decoupling on the aß-reference frame

The increasing penetration of grid-connected RES systems, advanced control algorithms have been developed to operate under grid faults and fulfill strict requirements of the grid codes. In order to overcome this, the current controller performance is critical considering it as the inner control loop of any grid-connected RES system. Based on the resonant control concept, this paper presents a modified structure for this controller which results advantageous when implemented on RES systems, as it permits better performance during the dynamic state of the controller. This paper also deals with the analysis of the decoupling terms in the aß reference frame, as well as the capability to generate a decoupled control of the positive and the negative sequence. The proposed controller will be analyzed, discussed and finally validated by means of simulation analysis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Synchronous power control for PV solar inverters with power reserve capability

The increasing penetration of renewable energy systems force the grid-connected power converters to use advanced active power controls, which needs to add more functionalities to their control strategies. A power reserve control is being required for grid support capabilities on Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Classical algorithms as the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) cannot withstand power reserve on its control, due to this, different control strategies have to be formulated to gain the power reserve capability. On this paper a cost-effective solution to perform the power reserve is presented, which provide a good solution for frequency regulation as well as for general grid fault conditions. Simulation test have been performed to verify the control capacity of this cost-effective solution.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Synchronous power control of grid-connected power converters under asymmetrical grid fault

Control of grid-connected power converters is continuously developing to meet the grid codes, according to which the generation units should keep connected to the grid and further provide ancillary services, such as voltage and frequency support, negative sequence current injection, inertia emulation, etc. A virtual admittance controller is proposed in this paper for the objective of voltage support under asymmetrical grid faults. By using independent and selective admittances for positive and negative sequence current injection, the unbalanced voltage can be significantly compensated during asymmetrical faults. The controller is based on the generic control framework of the synchronous power controller (SPC), which is able to control a power converter with emulated and improved synchronous generator characteristics. Simulation and experimental results based on two paralleled 100 kW grid-connected power converters demonstrate the controller to be effective in supporting unbalanced voltage sags.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Pulsewidth modulations for the comprehensive capacitor voltage balance of n-level three-leg diode-clamped converters

In the previous literature, the introduction of the virtual-space-vector (VV) concept for the three-level, three-leg neutral-point-clamped converter has led to the definition of pulsewidth modulation (PWM) strategies, guaranteeing a dc-link capacitor voltage balance in every switching cycle under any type of load, with the only requirement being that the addition of the three phase currents equals zero. This paper presents the definition of the VVs for the general case of an n-level converter, suggests guidelines for designing VV PWM strategies, and provides the expressions of the leg duty-ratio waveforms corresponding to this family of PWMs for an easy implementation.Modulations defined upon these vectors enable the use of diode-clamped topologies with passive front-ends. The performance of these converters operated with the proposed PWMs is compared to the performance of alternative designs through analysis, simulation, and experiments.Postprint (published version