Search

As the electronic interfaces between distributed energy resources and the electrical network, power converters play a vital role in voltage stabilization and power conversion. So far, various power converter control methods have been developed. Now it is urgently needed to compare and understand these approaches to support the smart microgrid pyramid. This article provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of parallel power converter control in microgrid applications. The most important control schemes to address existing challenges, including concentrated control, master–slave control, droop mechanism, virtual synchronous generators, virtual oscillator control, distributed cooperative control, and model predictive control, are highlighted and analyzed in detail. In addition, the hierarchical control structure, as well as future trends, are reviewed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new control strategy of microgrids for the improved voltage quality. In the existing control techniques, the droop control is commonly adopted as a decentralized power sharing method at the cost of voltage deviations. Besides, the conventional cascaded control featuring relatively slow dynamic response shows difficulties in handling the fluctuation of renewable energy outputs, leading to further voltage quality deterioration. In this paper, an advanced model predictive power control strategy by considering the battery constraints is proposed for the bidirectional dc–dc converters to smooth the solar photovoltaic (PV) outputs and stabilize the dc-bus voltages. A model predictive voltage control scheme taking into account the voltage changing trend is then developed to control the distributed inverters to improve the output ac voltages. Furthermore, a washout-filter-based power sharing approach with the plug-and-play capability is adopted to achieve a proper load sharing among parallel inverters and mitigate the voltage deviation. The proposed control strategy is numerically simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and experimentally verified by hardware-in-the-loop tests under the condition of fluctuating PV outputs and variable power demands. (This paper is accompanied by a video showing the hardware-in-the-loop test.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a new power and data-parallel transmission method for wireless power transfer (WPT) systems based on a magnetically decoupled coupling structure is proposed. Unipolar coils are used for power transfer, while series-connected perpendicular bipolar coils are used for data transfer. Data transfer coils are placed in overlap with the power transfer coils at both primary side and secondary side, respectively, to form a compact structure. Especially, the side lengths of data transfer coils are intentionally designed to be smaller than the power transfer coils. Thus, in the specific four-quadrant misalignment area, the crosstalk interference between power and data transfer channels can almost be neglected, resulting in a straightforward design of data processing circuit. With the proposed coupling structure, data transfer presents a symmetrical misalignment ability. Moreover, the data transfer channel is utilized to conduct the closed-loop control of output voltage in the WPT system. Thus, in the specific four-quadrant misalignment area, stable power transfer can also be achieved. The feasibility of the proposed power and data-parallel transfer method is verified by a 122-W laboratory prototype. The system efficiency reaches 87% and data transfer rate is 19.2 kb/s. (This letter is accompanied by a video demonstrating the experimental test). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a novel model predictive control strategy without involving any proportional-integral-differential regulators for practical renewable energy based ac microgrids. The proposed method consists of a model predictive power control (MPPC) scheme and a model predictive voltage control (MPVC) scheme. By controlling the bidirectional buck-boost converters of the battery energy storage systems based on the MPPC algorithm, the fluctuating output from the renewable energy sources can be smoothed, while stable dc-bus voltages can be maintained as the inverters' inputs. Then, the parallel inverters are controlled by using a combination of the MPVC scheme and the droop method to ensure stable ac voltage output and proper power sharing. Compared with the traditional cascade control, the proposed method is simpler and shows better performance, which is validated in simulation on MATLAB/Simulink and on real-time laboratory platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicle (EV) has been widely used in our life, one of the key technologies is the batteries, power accumulator battery test system (PABTS), which is initiated for evaluating the performance of the EV batteries, has been used in many battery-manufacture companies. The parallel operation of the PABTS forms a dc-microgrid, owing to the low inertia of the dc-link capacitance, the charging and discharging tests of the batteries can easily cause dc-bus voltage fluctuations, which may jeopardize the system stability. To increase the system inertia and achieve good system stability, a fractional-order model-predictive-control (FOMPC) and fractional-order virtual-inertia-control (FOVIC) strategy (namely, FOMPC-FOVIC method) is proposed for the bidirectional grid-connected converter. First, the fractional-order virtual inertial link is used to replace the integral-order virtual inertial link, which significantly improves the system stability. Second, combined with fractional-order model-predictive-control, virtual dc current compensation is proposed to further suppress the dc-bus voltage fluctuations. Finally, the fractional-order discrete state-space equation of the virtual inertial link is derived, and the cost function design and its optimal solution are elaborated. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed FOMPC-FOVIC scheme, experimental results indicate that the proposed method is superior to the existing methods in terms of inertial support and dc-bus voltage regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficiency remains a key challenge in wireless charging in academia and industry. In this article, a new wireless power transfer (WPT) system based on a double-half-bridge (DHB) inverter with two variable inductors (VIs) is proposed. Compared with conventional full-bridge (FB) inverters, the DHB inverter can reduce the current through the mosfets under the same output power and thus, reduce the conduction loss. Next, by adjusting the inductances of the VIs instead of using phase shift (PS) method, the output voltage or current can be controlled, while the circulating current can be eliminated and wide-range zero voltage switching operation can be achieved. Consequently, the power loss can be further reduced. Circuit analysis, VI design, as well as hardware implementation, are provided in detail. A laboratory prototype is built to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. Close agreement is obtained between simulation and experimental results. The maximum efficiency can reach 92.4%, which is 3.65% higher than traditional PS control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To maintain a stable output voltage under various operating conditions without introducing extra dc/dc converters, phase-shift (PS) control is usually adopted for wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. By using this method, however, zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operation cannot be guaranteed, especially in light-load conditions. To achieve high efficiency and reduce electromagnetic interference, it is significant for WPT systems to achieve ZVS operation of all switching devices in the whole operation range. In this article, an auxiliary variable inductor, of which the equivalent inductance can be controlled by adjusting the dc current in its auxiliary winding, is designed for series–series-compensated WPT systems under PS control to mitigate the loss arising from hard switching. As a result, a wide ZVS operation range of all switching devices can be achieved. A laboratory prototype is built to verify the theoretical analysis. The experimental results show that, under load and magnetic coupling variations, ZVS operation at fixed operation frequency as well as a constant dc output voltage can be maintained. Compared to the conventional method with only PS control, the proposed WPT can achieve higher overall efficiency in a wider load range owing to the wide ZVS operation range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For inductive power transfer (IPT) systems, loads and system input voltages are subject to change, which affects system efficiency and stability. This article presents a perturbation and observation (P&O) method for maximum energy efficiency tracking (MEET) with a model predictive control (MPC) scheme for improving the dynamic performance of series–series compensated IPT systems. In the IPT system, the inverter at the primary side incorporates the P&O method and phase shift modulation (PSM) to minimize system input power. Meanwhile, the rectifier at the secondary side is controlled by MPC control based PSM to improve the dynamic response of the output voltage. Simulated and experimental results show that, compared to the PI controller, the MPC controller, based on a simple but accurate mathematical model, has a better dynamic response to load and input voltage variations. With the MPC controller, the settling time of the output voltage is reduced by 85.7%, which indicates a particularly stable power supply to the load. Furthermore, MEET adopting the P&O method in the IPT system can promote the system efficiency by 1.85% on average when the output voltage is regulated by the MPC controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]