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In this article, islanding detection, control, grid synchronization, and power share techniques have been considered for the seamless operation of ac microgrid in grid-connected mode, islanded mode, and during the transition between both modes. A master–slave organization coordinates the power distribution among microgrid sources. The control scheme of each source is designed with a nested loop robust linear quadratic regulator and mixed $H_{2}/H_{\infty }$ optimal controller. The islanding detection algorithm is developed with synchro-extraction transform and optimal support vector machine (OSVM). An optimal linear Kalman filter-based synchronous reference frame phase locked loop (OLKF-SRFPLL) method is considered for the reconnecting of the microgrid to the utility grid. For optimal parameter tuning in the OSVM and LKF-SRFPLL methods, a particle swarm optimization technique is used. The seamless operation of the proposed ac microgrid system is verified in MATLAB/SIMULINK, and the practical feasibility is verified with an experimental photo-type setup and dSPACE 1202 control kit. Simulation and experimental results are presented to illustrate the seamless operation of the proposed ac microgrid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, multiple parallel photovoltaic (PV) inverters based microgrid is developed to enhance the reliability and accessibility of electricity in remote areas. A self-adaptive control strategy is presented for a microgrid to ensure a seamless transition between the islanded mode (IAM) and grid-connected mode (GCM) of operation with a proportional power sharing. This microgrid consists of two solar PV inverters based on local distributed generation (DG) units. Each PV-inverter unit feeds an active power to support local loads and the power demand of each local load is shared between respective DG units and microgrid. The PV-battery-interfaced main unit with a self-adaptive control strategy in parallel with a PV array supported unit-2 is considered to operate in the IAM and GCM of operation. The control strategy achieves transient free operation during load disturbances, power variation at the PV array side, and off-grid operation. Moreover, the microgrid ensures high-quality performance at the point of common coupling and provides the seamless transition between GCM and IAM to guarantee a continuous power to critical loads. The microgrid simulation and experimental results are presented under various operating conditions, such as load variation, intermittent power generation, and automated mode transition between GCM and IAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual active bridge (DAB) converters have the capability of handling high power in compact form and it is one of the key elements for interconnecting different dc microgrid clusters. A DAB also offers bidirectional power transfer with galvanic isolation between two power buses of similar or different voltage levels, i.e., low voltage and high voltage buses. In microgrid applications, bus voltage regulation is necessary for an uninterrupted power flow and reliable operation of dc microgrids. Due to the galvanic isolation and modularity nature of a DAB, the output can be easily interconnected for efficient and reliable power sharing. In this article, taking the advantage of modularity property of the DAB, an efficient and improved power sharing scheme is developed to stabilize the bus voltage in microgrid applications. A robust bidirectional power sharing control strategy is developed between DABs from different high voltage buses to low voltage buses that improves the voltage stability. An advanced supervisory controller is designed by considering the nonlinearity and uncertainty that ensures stable dc bus voltage and reliable power sharing among DABs under different operating conditions. The controller is validated theoretically and a small-scale laboratory prototype is developed. The concept is verified experimentally at different possible scenarios. From theoretical and experimental results, it is found that the proposed DAB control provides excellent performance in terms of power sharing, dc-bus voltage regulation and power quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust controller design for the voltage control of an autonomous three-phase voltage source converter (VSC) is proposed. As compared with the conventional proportional plus integral (PI) controllers, fractional order controllers make the VSC system robust due to their fractional characteristics. The fractional PI $\lambda$ controller has an additional degree of freedom $\lambda$ along with $k_p$ and $k_i$ gains of the conventional PI controller. Detailed modeling of a VSC is used in the controller design process so as it include inner current control and filter dynamics. The outer fractional voltage controller is designed such that the VSC system satisfies a required phase margin, with improved robustness in the system and capability to attenuate the noise. The overall system stability is analyzed using both bode plot and step response, and these responses are compared with a conventional PI controller. Further, the dynamic performance of the fractional controller is evaluated by simulating the nonlinear system. A hardware prototype is also developed to demonstrate the practical realization of the controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a dynamic power management scheme (PMS) is proposed for a standalone hybrid ac/dc microgrid, which constitutes a photovoltaic (PV)-based renewable energy source, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (FC) as a secondary power source, and a battery and a supercapacitor as hybrid energy storage. The power management algorithm accounts for seamless operation of the microgrid under various modes and state-of-charge limit conditions of hybrid energy storage when all the sources, storages, and loads are connected directly at the dc link. The PMS generates current references for dc converter current controllers of the FC, the battery, and the supercapacitor. The average and fluctuating power components are separated using a moving average filter. The dc-link voltage regulation under dynamic changes in load and source power variation is proposed. Also, PV power curtailment through control is formulated. The proposed power management is modified and extended to multiple PV generation systems and batteries, with all the sources and storages geographically distributed and operating under multitime-scale adaptive-droop-based control with supervisory control for mode transition. The proposed PMS is validated using simulation results. Also, field programmable gate array/Labview-based laboratory-scale experimental results are presented to validate the PMS under various critical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a repetitive learning-based phase locked loop (RLPLL) to improve power quality of the grid-connected dc microgrids under distorted grid voltage in a weak grid. The harmonic component present in grid current in a high impedance network amplifies the distortion in voltage, which often leads to instability. Since the behavior of the conventional synchronous reference frame PLL (SRF-PLL) varies, owing to the proportional-integral gains constrained to harmonic rejection bandwidth ultimately leading to a sluggish response. However, RLPLL accommodates this limitation with a comparable dynamic performance and enhanced harmonic attenuation properties. This has been achieved by using a Lyapunov-based approach for harmonic estimation, which facilitates the periodicity and boundedness of the harmonic component to obtain an adaptive learning-based update. To deal with the computational burden, this paper also provides a low-computing alternative model of the proposed strategy. The dynamic response of RLPLL along with a comparative analysis with SRF-PLL is governed by many events directly affecting the dc voltage, which is critical for the operation of dc microgrids. Its performance is validated under different scenarios in a 1-kVA field programmable gate array-based experimental setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]