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The short-circuit response of inverter-interfaced distributed generators (IIDGs) is not adequately represented in many conventional protection studies. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of IIDG behavior during grid faults and proposes a more accurate reduced-order parameterized short-circuit current (RPSC) model of inverters. Typical inverter components are thoroughly investigated to identify those that play dominant roles during faults. The paper shows that the current limiter is the dominant factor for the steady-state fault-current of inverter; while the inverter filter along with the severity of the voltage disturbance largely determine the initial transient spike of inverter fault current. The proposed model is low-order and can be used in large scale simulations. The parameters of the proposed RPSC model can be extracted from laboratory experiments without requiring proprietary manufacturer information. The proposed fault-current model is analogous to the well-known synchronous machine model that segregates the inverter fault current into subtransient, transient, and steady-state fault currents. Experimental and simulation tests are presented to validate the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous power systems with a single power station and a high-voltage (HV) network may be susceptible to overvoltage instability, especially during light-load conditions. Moreover, in low inertia systems, considerable frequency excursions may be observed after disturbances. To deal with voltage and frequency stability problems in such isolated power systems, several measures should be taken, such as rules for adequate automatic voltage control of the synchronous generators and load-tap-changers (LTCs), and/or adequate design of actions applied during emergency system conditions such as reactors switching, and redesigning underfrequency load shedding taking into account overvoltage problems. The effectiveness of the proposed countermeasures against overvoltage instability in autonomous power systems is illustrated in this paper. In 2016, the autonomous power system of the Greek island of Rhodes experienced similar voltage/frequency problems leading to a blackout. This event has been accurately reconstructed in this paper. The application of the suggested countermeasures during the simulation of the 2016 blackout event in Rhodes, further highlighted the effectiveness of these measures, providing a guideline for similar cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetic launchers (EMLs) including railguns, helical guns, and coilguns have been proposed for numerous applications. However, the scaling characteristics of EMLs are unknown. This paper examines the nonlinear operating characteristics of EMLs and derives the operating voltage and current scaling relationships as determined by the mass and velocity of the projectile and the length of the launcher. The scaling relationship is derived using the kinetic power relationship common to all types of EMLs. The scaling relationship is expressed as a simple function of the projectile velocity, projectile mass, and launcher length. This paper also defines the impedance of an EML. The accuracy of the scaling relationship and the EML impedance are verified in a comparison with the experimental results of practical EMLs. The effects of resistive losses and inductive energy storage on the scaling relationship are included in the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With a step-out distance of 161 km and a design power of 55 MW, Martin Linge offshore gas field will be the longest ac submarine cable power supplying an entire offshore oil and gas platform from the shore. This field development comprises a platform with a jack-up rig and a floating storage offloading unit. This paper discusses the criteria that have been considered to select a power-from-shore concept instead of an offshore gas turbine power plant, which is the current practice in the offshore oil and gas industry. Since in a first approach, for such a long step-out distance, the choice of power from shore would be to select a dc transmission line, this paper discusses the design and the main technical challenges of this long step-out ac transmission development. Finally, the system approach that is required for the development of the onshore and offshore parts of the project is described. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new photovoltaic (PV) power systems laboratory module that was developed to experimentally reinforce students' understanding of design principles, operation, and control of photovoltaic power conversion systems. The laboratory module is project-based and is designed to support a renewable energy course. By using MATLAB real-time software tools in combination with digital signal processor (DSP) hardware tools, the module enables students to: 1) design and build dc–dc and dc–ac power converters; 2) design and implement control algorithms for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and voltage and current regulation; and 3) design and fabricate a printed circuit board for voltage and current sensing, isolation, and gate driving. In these hands-on experiments, by designing and building their hardware and software integrated systems themselves, students learn by doing and experience the engineering transformative process of building a product out of an idea. This paper is motivated by the dearth of literature on the application of project-based learning methodology to PV systems. The module description, the pedagogical and evaluation methodologies adopted, and reflections on the implementations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The presence of overvoltage can cause the insulation deterioration and excite the partial discharges (PD) in gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), and it is necessary to detect the overvoltage and PDs simultaneously to evaluate the insulation performance. A novel GIS internal composite sensor for PD detection and overvoltage measurement is proposed in this paper. The proposed sensor is mainly formed with a disc-type monopole UHF sensor and an overvoltage sensor. The effectiveness and sensitivity of the sensor are tested on a designed platform under power frequency voltage, switching impulse, lightning impulse, and oscillating lightning impulse, respectively. Experiment results show that the proposed sensor can be used to detect overvoltage and UHF signals effectively and is expected to help in the GIS condition evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical equipment of the floating nuclear power plant operates in a long-term vibration environment. Ground faults occur frequently and are often accompanied by arc, a reliable arc suppression algorithm for the generator stator winding is necessary. In this paper, an active arc suppression method is proposed by connecting a controllable voltage source to the generator neutral point. Through regulating the neutral point voltage to be equal in amplitude and opposite in phase to the fault potential, the fault point voltage can be clamped to a low level to achieve arc suppression. Since the generator's phase potential contains certain harmonic components, the controllable voltage source includes fundamental and third-order harmonic components. To accurately calculate the output voltage, online calculation methods for the fault location, fault potential and grounding capacitance are proposed. The accuracy of the fault location method is verified by simulation and dynamic test. And simulation results based on PSCAD/EMTDC software show that the proposed method can achieve effective arc suppression at different ground fault conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel converters (MLCs) are pioneers in the field of electrical energy conversion. From the classification of MLCs, modular multilevel converter (MMC) is top-rated due to its attractive structure and performance. The modular nature and no need for isolated DC resources are two significant advantages of this converter. However, the need for many sensors to control its performance is a considerable drawback. In addition, the internal circulating current in the MMC causes losses, decreases efficiency, and increases the voltage ripple of capacitors. This paper proposes combining a new capacitor voltage sorting method and an open-loop controller based on arms energy estimation to control the MMC using two voltage sensors in the arms and one current sensor at the output. The proposed method ensures continuous voltage balancing of the capacitors and removes multiple voltage sensors from sub-modules (SMs). The simulation and experimental results verify the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the conventional sliding mode control, the four-leg distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) currents are controlled based on a current error in each phase. However, the four currents in a four-wire system can not be independently controlled variables and hence one of the four controllers is redundant in conventional schemes. Further, the current dynamics of a DSTATCOM converter are coupled through converter pole voltages in the natural reference frame. This leads to cross-coupling in the sliding variable equations with respect to four manipulated input variables. Considering the above points, in this paper, the current due to Thevenin’s equivalent load neutral-point voltage is considered as a fourth independent controlled variable and the corresponding system dynamic equations are presented. To get a decoupled feature, a new sliding surface function is structured. The performance of a DSTATCOM with the proposed control scheme under various operating conditions is validated through a detailed simulation study and experimental results, obtained from a laboratory prototype of four-leg DSTATCOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative-sequence current is required to be intentionally injected to support the power grid or compensate the imbalanced load in asymmetrical faults utilizing STATCOM. However, the extreme compensation range of negative-sequence current injection becomes complicated when grid voltage becomes asymmetrical. This article presents a novel off-line strategy for negative-sequence current compensation under two typical kinds of asymmetrical grid faults — single-phase voltage drop and double-phase voltage drop, with the following two benefits simultaneously: maximizing negative current compensation capacity; avoiding iterations and reducing computation burdens. In this paper, the mechanism of DC voltage balancing among three phases in STATCOM is analyzed and a new identification method of negative-sequence current compensation range is explored out. To simplify the calculation, this paper takes the ratio of negative-sequence reactive (Iq-) and active (Id-) current as a variable (s). In this way, the relationship between the extreme compensation range, asymmetrical voltage sag depth of power grid h is drawn with MATLAB. Different from the previous iterative method, the off-line identification method is applied to avoid huge iterations. By fitting the curve, the precise ranges of negative-sequence current compensation under different asymmetrical grid faults are approximated as simple polynomials, thus significantly reducing the computation burdens. Simulation and experimental results verify the practicability of the proposed compensation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The series bridge converter (SBC) is a modular multilevel converter (MMC) recently developed to enhance power density in high-voltage high-power applications. The MMC is a well-established solution, widely researched, and exploited in practical HVdc connections, thanks to its high power quality and high efficiency. However, the main limitation of the MMC is the relatively large energy storage, also due to the fact that power ripples in the submodule capacitors include a component at the fundamental ac frequency. As a result, volume becomes critical in applications such as offshore or city center in-feeds, where space is restricted and expensive. The SBC offers a more compact footprint by exploiting a series connection on the dc side and by operating the submodules with rectified waveforms, thus moving the minimum component of the instantaneous power to twice the ac fundamental and reducing capacitors size. The drawback of the converter is a more complex energy control compared to the MMC. This paper proposes the first experimental validation of the SBC, using a 2-kW laboratory-scale prototype. Since the basic converter design has been discussed in previous papers, the focus of this paper is on converter control design and experimental validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the operation of the back-to-back neutral point clamped (BTBNPC) converters when the ac voltages on both ends are asynchronous. The zero-sequence injection (ZSI) technique has been used to extend the linear modulation range of the pulsewidth modulation operation. This paper investigates the ZSI of the BTBNPC to maximize the dc-bus voltage utilization while the ac voltages of both ends have different magnitudes and phases. This study further explores the reactive current injection to reduce the risk of overmodulation when grid voltages surge. The combination of these techniques can extend the operation range of the BTBNPC over varying ac voltages of both ends with the available dc-bus voltage. In addition, the issue of the neutral-point balance is also taken into consideration. Laboratory test results are provided to verify the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Truck-mounted mobile emergency resources (MERs) play a significant role in microgrid formation and regulation for power system resilience enhancement. This paper proposes a distributed fixed-time secondary control (DFSC) scheme to regulate the frequency and active power sharing in islanded microgrids with MERs. The proposed DFSC scheme is designed based on a general directed communication graph which considers MER characteristics (e.g., mobility, flexibility, and potential cyber threats). Each DER receives data from its neighbors through directional communication links. The proposed pinning control strategy selects only a small number of DERs for pinning, which have access to the reference frequency information and would guide the operation of remaining local DERs and MERs. In addition, the guaranteed convergence time is determined by control parameters and communication graph without applying the initial operation states. The paper demonstrates that the desired control performances (i.e., frequency restoration and accurate active power sharing) are realized in a timely fashion considering frequent operations of MERs. Case studies are tested and discussed for load variations, different control parameters, communication link failures, and MER operations through time-domain simulations in PSCAD/EMTDC platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with control-oriented modeling of a class of wireless power transfer systems with a phase-shift-controlled inverter. Two methods are investigated: the analytical modeling method, which is based on physical laws, and the refined instrumental variable method, which is based on sampled data. It shows that the former provides physical insights into the system, and that the resulting models will be accurate if the true circuit component parameters are a priori known. Otherwise, the model accuracy may decline. By contrast, the latter provides a cheap solution for accurate modeling, based only on a set of sampled input–output data, and the resulting model can capture very well the dynamic behavior of the system within a defined operating range. In real applications, it is always hard to know the actual circuit component parameters, since they may drift from the nominal values, due to some reasons such as the aging of circuit components and the variation of coil placement, making the analytical modeling method not very accurate. Therefore, to preserve the virtues of both methods, it is suggested to use them as a combination, that is, using the analytical modeling method to determine the model structure while using the data-driven modeling method to estimate the model parameters. All results derived in this paper are verified by means of both numerical simulation and experimental validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an overload and short-circuit protection method is proposed for voltage source inverter-based uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. In order to achieve high reliability and availability of the UPS, short circuit and overload protection scheme are necessary. When overload or short circuit happens, using the proposed control method, the amplitude of the output current can be limited to a constant value, which can be set by the customer to avoid the destruction of the power converter, and to obtain a faster recovery performance as well. The detailed principle of the proposed protection method is discussed in this paper. It mainly contains three parts in the control diagram for current limit, first is the anti-windup in the voltage and current controllers, then the feedforward of the capacitor voltage to the current control loop, the last is the fast reset of the resonant part of the current controller when overcurrent happens. The procedure of developing the control method is also presented in the paper. Experimental results on a commercial UPS system are presented to verify the effectiveness of the control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) are playing a pivotal role in the power sector with potential applications, such as interfacing renewable energy sources with the grid and several industrial drive applications. MLIs with a smaller number of switching devices are more promising due to their compact size, reduced cost, and higher efficiency compared with their traditional counterparts. This paper, therefore, presents a new three-phase seven-level inverter. This topology is a combination of two cascade-connected two-level voltage-source inverters (VSIs) and H-bridge cells with flying capacitors (FCs). This paper presents the operating principle and the balancing technique for the dc-link capacitors and FCs. The generation of various output voltage levels and the limitation of the sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation control for FC voltage balancing is also presented. The number of components in the proposed circuit configuration and their voltage ratings are considerably lower compared with the recently proposed topologies. The behavior of the proposed circuit configuration is first assessed with simulation studies and is then tested with a laboratory prototype. The simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed topology and the voltage balancing technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy blockchain is a distributed Internet protocol for energy transactions between nodes of a power system. Recent applications of the energy blockchain in microgrids only consider the energy transactions between peers without considering the technical issues that can arise, especially when the system is islanded. One contribution of the paper is, thus, to depict a comprehensive framework of the technical and economic management of microgrids in the blockchain era, considering, for the first time, the provision of ancillary services and, in particular, of the voltage regulation service. When more PV nodes are operating in the grid, large reactive power flows may appear in the branches. In order to limit such flows, a reactive optimal power flow (R-OPF) is solved, setting the voltage at the PV buses as variables within prescribed limits. Each PV generator will thus contribute to voltage regulation, receiving a remuneration included in the transaction and certified by the blockchain technology. For showing how this system can work, a test microgrid, where some energy transactions take place, has been considered. For each transaction, the R-OPF assigns the reactive power to the PV buses. The R-OPF is solved by a glow-worm swarm optimizer. Finally, the paper proposes a method for remuneration of reactive power provision; this method, integrated into the blockchain, allows evaluating the contribution to voltage regulation and increases the transparency and cost traceability in the transactions. The application section shows the implementation of a Tendermint-based energy transaction platform integrating R-OPF and the earlier cited technical assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a neutral-point deviation and ripple compensating control method applied to a three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter. The neutral-point deviation and its harmonic components are analyzed with a focus on the average current flowing through the neutral-point of the dc link. This paper also proposes a control scheme compensating for the neutral-point deviation and dominant harmonic components under generalized unbalanced grid operating conditions. The positive and negative sequence components of the switching functions and ac input currents are employed to accurately explain the behavior of three-level NPC converter. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the validity of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a robust nonlinear decentralized control scheme for islanded dc microgrids, where the main control objectives are to achieve the desired voltage at the common dc bus and to maintain the power balance. The proposed control scheme uses the partial feedback linearization scheme to simplify the dynamical models of different components in dc microgrids. In this paper, the dc microgrid includes a solar photovoltaic unit, a fuel cell system, and a battery energy storage system along with dc loads. The robustness of the proposed controller against parametric uncertainties is ensured by the parameter, appearing in the control inputs as unknown, which is then estimated through adaptation laws. The inherent noise decoupling capability of the feedback linearization scheme is used to provide robustness against external disturbances in dc microgrids. The performance of the proposed controller is evaluated on a dc microgrid through simulation and experimental studies in order to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness under different operating conditions, while considering the effects of parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. Simulation results are also compared with an existing proportional-integral controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed electrical drives normally require converters capable of high-frequency operation. For this reason, converters based on SiC mosfets have been spreading in this field. Nevertheless, the problems caused by the high dv/dt imposed by SiC mosfets, like the premature failure of the motor winding insulation and the electromagnetic interference generation, are drawing more and more attention of the experts of this sector. In fact, these issues can deeply affect the system reliability and, hence, can represent a limiting factor for all those applications where the continuity of operation is the highest priority. To avoid the use of SiC mosfets in the most sensitive applications, this paper presents a solution, which consists of a Si-insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)-based inverter fed by a Si-IGBT-based dc/dc converter performing a suitable dc voltage regulation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to prove that a stable operation of a high-speed drive can be guaranteed through the proposed converter configuration. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution, experimental results on a laboratory setup have been presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing interest in solid-state transformers (SSTs) as a future replacement for conventional distribution transformers as it is able to provide ancillary services in addition to step-up/step-down of voltages. In SSTs, a common topology used in the ac–dc stage is the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) multilevel converter. This paper proposes a novel dual-model predictive control method for the CHB multilevel converter with faster dynamic response, improved harmonic performance, and voltage balancing of the CHB cells. The primary model enables conventional control over source current and output voltages, whereas the secondary model is able to generate the reference source current through power modeling, which eliminates the need for a proportion-integral (PI) controller, thus resulting in faster dynamic response. A Luenberger-based observer is also implemented to estimate the dc load current in each CHB cell. The second-order harmonic notch filter and the CHB cell dc voltage balancing cost function aim at improving the performance of the source current and CHB cell dc voltages, respectively. The proposed control techniques are then validated under steady-state and transient conditions through simulation and experiment with a laboratory prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive power injection in distributed generation inverters is an useful ancillary service for grid supporting purposes. For grid-feeding converters, the slope control method is the most common voltage regulation strategy used in local (communication-less) applications. Despite its simplicity, this method offers limited dynamic properties in scenarios with changing operation conditions. In this sense, this paper presents an adaptive slope voltage control that provides an improved transient performance against operating variations. To derive the control configuration, a control-oriented mathematical model is developed. The accuracy of the modeling and the performance of the proposed control are validated by selected experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes synchronous generator self-excitation during power system restoration, caused by a large capacitive load and the impact of generator voltage control on the voltage rise. The paper analyzes measurements from a recent self-excitation incident in the Finnish 400-kV transmission system, models the system using an electromagnetic transient model and a linear d-axis generator model, validates the models using the measurements and analyzes the impact of generator voltage control during self-excitation. Self-excitation is rare during a normal system operation but may occur in a weak system during system restoration after a blackout. Since high voltages caused by the self-excitation may delay the restoration or even damage the equipment, self-excitation should be taken into account in restoration planning. This paper shows that the voltage controller and especially the under-excitation limiter settings of the generator have significant impact on the voltage during self-excitation. This paper also shows that details in the excitation system response influence the simulations significantly and reference measurements from the specific generator are required for detailed modeling. However, all measured incidents with digital static excitation systems are important references for simulations. In addition, special attention should be given to protection relays during the restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droop control is a viable method for the operation of island DC microgrids in a decentralized architecture. This paper presents a mixed-integer conic optimization formulation for the design of generator droop control, comprising the parameters of a piecewise linear droop curve. The mixed-integer formulation originates from a stochastic optimization framework that considers several operating scenarios for finding the optimal design. The convexity of the mixed-integer problem continuous relaxation gives global optimality guarantees for the design problem. The paper presents computational results using a tight polyhedral approximation of the conic program, leading to a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem that is solved using a state-of-the-art commercial solver. The results from the proposed approach are contrasted with both a classic linear droop control design and a recent piecewise linear formulation. The Monte-Carlo simulation results quantify the extent to which the MILP solution is superior in reducing voltage violations and power loss, and the degree to which the loss is close to that from a conic optimal power flow solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery energy storage system (BESS) plays an important role in solving problems in which the intermittency has to be considered while operating distribution network (DN) penetrated with renewable energy. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes a global centralized dispatch model that applies BESS technology to DN with renewable energy source (RES). The method proposed in this paper aims to minimize the power purchase cost considering network active loss cost as well as voltage deviation penalty cost. Later, second-order cone programming (SOCP) method as well as big M method are applied to make the problem tractable. Last, the method illustrated in this paper is applied and validated on a modified IEEE 33-bus benchmark system to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheduling model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the low-frequency oscillation (LFO) phenomenon in high-speed railways, this paper proposes a feedback linearized virtual inertia control (VIC) strategy of the traction converter based on a sliding mode observer (SMO) to improve the robustness of the system and suppress the occurrence of LFO. First, to optimize the total harmonic distortion of the traction grid-side current, the inner loop controller is designed as the feedback linearization control. Then, the voltage outer loop is designed as a combination of the VIC designed in this paper and SMO, which enhances the system inertia and reduces the impact of external interference on the system, while reducing the controller's demand for electrical power on the DC-side. Furthermore, a small-signal model is established to analyze the stability of the single-phase vehicle-grid system under the proposed control. The influence of the control parameters on stability is discussed in detail. Finally, the comparison of software simulation and hardware-in-the-loop experimental results between traditional PI control, feedback linearization control, feedback+SMO, feedback+VIC and the proposed control method shows that the proposed control has better dynamic and static characteristics, and can effectively inhibit the occurrence of LFO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power flow (PF) flexibility in the multi-terminal HVDC (MT-HVDC) grids is a thought-provoking issue. It leads to employing the active DC power flow controller (DC-PFC)s. Hence, this paper examines the static average model (AM) and power injection model (PIM) of an interline DC-PFC (IDC-PFC). It is to provide a suitable base for DC PF studies and easy embedding of the DC-PFCs into MT-HVDC grids’ PF equations. In this regard, this paper proposes a new DC PF solver (DC-PFS) for the IDC-PFC compensated MT-HVDC grids within the well-accepted Newton-Raphson (NR) framework. It requires a few modifications in the main structure of the system's Jacobin (J) matrix compared to the uncompensated MT-HVDC grid. Also, the system's admittance matrix and its symmetry are preserved. In the proposed concept, the IDC-PFC cooperates with other MT-HVDC grid's state variables to satisfy the predetermined control objective(s). Furthermore, this paper proposes a new solution procedure (SP) to handle various system's limitations during the processes of solving the DC PF problem. Meanwhile, there is no need to modify the related J matrix. The effective and accurate performance of the IDC-PFC's models, as well as presented NR-based DC-PFS and SP, are verified by performing several simulations on the 8-bus CIGRE MT-HVDC grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simple pulse width modulation algorithm for control of an ultracapacitor based energy storage system used for source and load support applications. As opposed to dual loop control philosophy that is widely used for backup applications, this paper presents a simple single loop current control that is only useful for controlling the ultracapacitor based DC/DC converters used in source and load support applications. The proposed PWM blocking method necessitates the DC/DC converter to operate in five states and takes into consideration the essential operational limits associated with the ultracapacitors. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified experimentally using a 24 V laboratory prototype setup. Further, the shortcomings of dual loop control when applied to source and load support applications are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Switched Reluctnace Motors have many advantages, vibration is known as their most severe drawback acting as an impediment limiting their widespread use in industrial and domestic applications. Through electromechanical relationships, it is shown that the first-order time derivative of applied phase voltage and second-order time derivative of radial force directly affect the amplitude of generated vibration, especially at the beginning of demagnetization instance. Therefore, a set of criteria is stated in this paper meeting which ensures having low vibration intensity. In this paper, three types of demagnetization voltages are proposed which comprehensively meet the stated criteria. These voltages share the same characteristics contributing to the vibration reduction in Switched Reluctance Motor. Two vital parameters of Synchronous Counter and Coefficient are included in the proposed demagnetization voltages which must be meticulously chosen in order to be effective. Noticeable contribution of the proposed methods to the vibration alleviation is validated through simulation and experimental tests conducted under different working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decentralized improved I-V droop control strategy for battery-supercapacitor (SC) hybrid energy storage system (HESS) is proposed in this paper. The dynamic power sharing between battery and SC is realized by replacing the constant droop coefficient in I-V droop control with virtual impedance, i.e. virtual inductance for battery side converter and virtual resistance for SC side converter. Besides, by injecting the virtual inductance in the battery side converter, negligible DC bus voltage deviation can be achieved without extra voltage compensator. Moreover, the state-of-charge (SoC) recovery is also considered to extend the service life of the HESS. Furthermore, in the proposed regulated power system, since the power allocation, DC bus stability and SoC recovery are decoupled from each other, the design of control parameters is simple. The corresponding design guideline is demonstrated in this paper. Finally, to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the theoretical analyses, hardware in the loop simulations have been conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a revolutionary design for transmission lines was recently introduced by shifting phase configurations and sub-conductors into “unconventional” arrangements that were geometrically optimized to maximize natural power. The objective of this paper is to study the electromagnetic transients that result from the simultaneous and sequential line energization and re-energization of the previously developed unconventional high surge impedance loading (HSIL) lines. Statistical switching overvoltage (SSOV) studies are performed using a frequency domain method based on the inverse numerical Laplace transform. Compared to a conventional line, all unconventional HSIL line designs studied in this paper lead to very similar surges for long line lengths (400 km) and similar values for short line lengths (100 km), indicating additional advantages of these lines. The use of a frequency domain method for SSOV studies offers enhanced accuracy, simulation flexibility, and substantially lower computational burden compared with traditional time-domain methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-stage series model predictive control (MS-MPC) for PMSM drives in order to further improve the control performance of MPC. Firstly, the basic principle of conventional MPC is introduced. Then, the multi-stage series MPC is proposed in this paper, in which the cost functions of different prediction instant are adopted to form series control structure. In this method, the current prediction trajectory of one voltage vector is extrapolated to multiple control periods, and the control performances of every voltage vector during multiple control periods are evaluated by multi-stage series cost functions. Additionally, the implementation process of the proposed method is described. Finally, the comparison experiments between the conventional MPC and the proposed method show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the switching frequency under the same control frequency. In addition, the improvement of current control performance can be achieved by the proposed method under the condition of the same switching frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of now, the issue of High Frequency Resonance (HFR) in the Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) with the weak ac grid have been widely investigated. However, due to the influence of time delay in the control of VSC-HVSC, the HFR can occur in the interconnected system where the VSC-HVDC connects to the wind farm as well. Based on impedance model of DFIG system and the deduced impedance model of VSC-HVDC, this paper investigates the occurrence mechanism of the HFR when the VSC-HVDC connects to DFIG based wind farm, and analyzes the mechanism that the control delay influences the stability of VSC-HVDC system. Further, to avoid the HFR, this article proposes a damping control method based on an additional voltage controller, the damping controller can fully counteract the influence of time delay so that the HFR can be damped. Also, the performance of the controller can be maintained when control delay changes. Simulation results of the VSC-HVDC system connects to a wind farm are given in this paper to verify the correctness of the occurrence mechanism and the effectiveness of the proposed damping methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD) impacts a power system by causing the circulation of quasi-dc Geomagnetically-induced Currents (GICs) in transmission lines and high-voltage transformer windings leading to transformer saturation, increased reactive power losses, and voltage regulation problems. Utility planners use various analysis methods and simulation tools to analyze GMD system impacts. These techniques can be broadly categorized into load-flow-based (LF), transient stability type (TS), and electromagnetic transient type (EMT) methods. These methods are based on different modeling assumptions and solution techniques. There is a need for evaluation of these assumptions and cross-examination of results to ensure their accuracy. Such an evaluation is essential to ensure that planners performing required GMD vulnerability assessments have confidence in the results. This paper evaluates the LF, TS, and EMT methods through cross-examination of their results. The objective is to identify their limitations, assess the consistency of their results, and provide assumptions on their use for analysis of GMD system impacts. The study is conducted in consistence with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) GMD guidelines and standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many power systems, the increased penetration of inverter-based renewable generation will cause a decrease in kinetic energy storage, leading to higher frequency excursions after a power disturbance. This is the case of the future Nordic Power System (NPS). The look-ahead study reported in this paper shows that the chosen units participating in Frequency Containment Reserves (FCR) cannot keep the frequency above the prescribed threshold following the outage of the largest plant. This analysis relies on a detailed model of the Northern European grid. The latter is compared to the classical single-mass equivalent, and the impact of voltage-dependent loads is assessed in some detail. Next, the paper focuses on emergency power control of the HVDC links that connect the NPS to the rest of the European grid, which can supplement or even replace part of the FCR. The proper tuning of that control is discussed. Finally, the analysis is extended to the HVDC links connecting the future North Sea Wind Power Hub under two configurations, namely low and zero inertia. The impact of outages in the latter sub-system is also assessed. The material to simulate the system with industrial software is made publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unified power flow controller (UPFC) gains growing application in power systems due to its power flow regulation ability. However, there is still a dilemma in the incorporation of UPFC into security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED). The modeling of UPFC involves nonlinear and nonconvex operational constraints, which is difficult to solve efficiently and accurately. Conventional methods adopted Taylor expansion or sensitivity analysis to realize the convexification of UPFC models, which leads to a loop structure and is subject to initial point choice. In this paper, a novel three-terminal injected UPFC model is proposed. In the proposed model, the voltage source variables are eliminated completely. Instead, only power injection variables are introduced to equivalently describe physical characteristics and constraints of UPFC. The nonlinear and nonconvex operational constraints of UPFC are transformed into mixed integer second-order cone form. Moreover, compared with conventional UPFC models, the control characteristic of UPFC is considered in a more accurate and practical manner in the proposed SCED, which helps to prevent potential risks of power flow over-limit under N-1 contingencies. Simulation results show the effectiveness and efficiency of the established solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wide variety of inverter control settings for solar photovoltaics (PV) causes the accurate knowledge of these settings to be difficult to obtain in practice. This paper addresses the problem of determining inverter reactive power control settings from net load advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data. The estimation is first cast as fitting parameterized control curves. We argue for an intuitive and practical approach to preprocess the AMI data, which exposes the setting to be extracted. We then develop a more general approach with a data-driven reactive power disaggregation algorithm, reframing the problem as a maximum likelihood estimation for the native load reactive power. These methods form the first approach for reconstructing reactive power control settings of solar PV inverters from net load data. The constrained curve fitting algorithm is tested on 701 loads with behind-the-meter (BTM) PV systems with identical control settings. The settings are accurately reconstructed with mean absolute percentage errors between 0.425% and 2.870%. The disaggregation-based approach is then tested on 451 loads with variable BTM PV control settings. Different configurations of this algorithm reconstruct the PV inverter reactive power timeseries with root mean squared errors between 0.173 and 0.198 kVAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a small-signal dynamic model for a modular multilevel converter (MMC) based HVDC grid, and then systematically i) identifies the system dominant oscillatory modes, ii) quantifies their propensity to instability phenomena, and iii) devises appropriate countermeasures. Based on the developed model, the eigen structure of an HVDC grid is characterized and the impact of the system parameters, configuration, AC system strength and operating point on the damping ratios of the oscillatory modes, and consequently the HVDC grid stability, are investigated. The model is also applied to systematically determine the sensitive parameters and optimize them to mitigate oscillatory modes and prevent instability. The eigen analysis results are verified based on time-domain simulation studies in the PSCAD/EMTDC platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence of the hybrid multi-infeed high voltage direct current (HMIDC) system, there is complex dynamic interaction between the AC/DC system and converter stations, while the interaction mechanism of the HMIDC system is unclear. For this purpose, this paper establishes the HMIDC linearized model based on the motion equation concept. Then, after decoupling and reconstructing the interaction path of the HMIDC system, the damping coefficients are derived. The AC system strength and voltage source converter (VSC) terminal voltage controller parameters are selected to analyze the impacts on damping coefficients, and the interaction mechanism of the HMIDC system is analyzed. In order to solve the potential instability issue, an additional damping controller in the VSC terminal voltage loop is proposed to enhance the voltage stability of HMIDC system, which is realized by adjusting the reactive power/amplitude coupling damping coefficient. Finally, the RT-LAB-based hardware-in-the-loop experiments verify the accuracy of the interaction mechanism analysis of the HMIDC system and the effectiveness of the proposed controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In DC distribution networks, the uncertainties of renewable energies and loads cause frequent voltage fluctuations. In this paper, a voltage regulation strategy based on the combined coordination of centralized optimal control (COC) and adaptive droop control (ADC) is proposed for droop-controlled DC distribution networks. In the COC strategy, the operation reference power of voltage source converters (VSCs) is optimized using the bus injection power measurements to improve the voltage profile and balance the power loading rates of different VSCs. The VSC capacity margin constraint is established to ensure that the capacity margin of each VSC is sufficient to cope with the unexpected fluctuation of loads and renewable energies. Then, an ADC strategy is adopted to handle voltage fluctuation between adjacent two COCs. In the ADC strategy, the operation reference power of the VSCs is further adjusted to recover the voltages. The voltage regulation is achieved based on the relationship among the VSC voltages and the minimum/maximum voltages of the whole network, which does not depend on the information of each nodal voltage and thus real-time network communication is avoided. The simulation results show that the proposed voltage regulation strategies can effectively improve the voltage profile under various uncertain environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault response of an inverter based resource (IBR) is dictated by its control scheme, making it markedly different from the response of a synchronous source. This has led to misoperation of distance relays when fed by IBRs. Published literature is mostly focused on changing the control design of inverters, but this approach is not practical, as these controls are proprietary and beyond the reach of utilities. To resolve this issue, this paper proposes a method for a source-agnostic distance relay that works in time-domain. Using only single ended measurements, the relay detects, classifies and locates any fault on the line it monitors. The method does not require any polarization technique. It is shown to work for unbalanced lines of any length, for transmission or distribution system with any number (even 100%) of IBRs, is immune to load encroachment, decaying dc offset and prefault currents. With very limited communication, it is also shown to be immune to fault resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stability problem of low-voltage multi-terminal DC (MTDC) systems has drawn much interest. This paper focuses on the oscillation instability phenomenon of low-voltage MTDC systems and analyzes the interaction behavior between each voltage-source converter and the DC network oscillation mode. The typical structure and control strategy of a low-voltage MTDC system under master-slave control is first described, and its equivalent circuit is established. Then, an interaction behavior analytical model is proposed, and the source-network and network-load interaction characteristics are studied. Furthermore, a system stability analysis method is built based on the modularized modeling, which can solve the problem of how to address the complexity of high-order low-voltage MTDC systems. The transfer function of the whole system is conveniently established, revealing the system instability mechanism. The proposed method can provide effective stability assessment for low-voltage MTDC systems. Finally, the results are verified using electromagnetic transient simulation and experimentally validated using a low-voltage three-terminal DC system test platform with AC 0.4 kV/DC 800 V. This research can be flexibly extended to high-order systems for controller design and performance optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the waveform characteristics and parameters of the overvoltage at the terminal of a 1.5 km 10 kV distribution line by direct triggered lightning. The three-phase overvoltage exhibited three kinds of waveforms, all including the initial rising process of the negative peak, the transition from negative peak to the positive peak or the residual voltage, and the subsequent oscillation process. It is observed that the negative peak value of the three-phase overvoltage is between −8.2 kV and −96.1 kV and the rise time of negative peak is between 3.2 μs and 31.7 μs, while the corresponding peak value of the return stroke current is between 3.3 kA and 32.9 kA. When the return stroke current is relatively small, the negative peak value of the direct struck phase overvoltage is twice or more than that of the indirect struck phase. When it is larger, the negative peak value of the indirect struck phase overvoltage is much closer to that of direct struck phase. There is good linear relation between the negative peak value of the indirect struck phase overvoltage and the peak value of the lightning return stroke current, with correlation coefficient being 0.98 and 0.90. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite-control-set model predictive current control (FCS-MPCC) always has large steady-state fluctuation and computational burden. In this paper, a novel FCS-MPCC without a modulator to drive permanent magnet synchronous hub motors (PMSHMs), which combines virtual vectors expansion scheme and duty cycle control was proposed. The lack of a modulator reduces the complexity of the control system. The virtual vectors are synthesized by using active vectors, which improve the accuracy of voltage selection, and further improve PMSHM's steady-state performance and reduce current harmonics. The duty cycle control uses a zero vector to obtain better steady-state performance. However, the duty cycle of the virtual vectors is limited by the synthesis method, and further analysis is needed. A new calculation process is proposed to reduce the amount of calculation. The deadbeat principle is used to get reference voltage which determines sectors. Then, the best voltage vector in the selected sector is determined by the predetermined cost function. The traditional MPCC and the duty cycle MPCC (DCMPCC) are used as a comparison item to compare with the proposed method to illustrate its effectiveness. Results confirm that improved MPCC has good steady-state performance while maintaining a fast dynamic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the principles of distribution locational marginal pricing (DLMP) to unbalanced three-phase distribution networks. We first propose a linear model for AC optimal power flow derived through a series of approximation and reformulation techniques. Then a scenario-generation algorithm is proposed to properly model the uncertain parameters in the linear model. Through a proposed No U-Turn sampler (NUTS) based algorithm, probability density functions (PDFs) of DLMPs are calculated. These PDFs provide statistical information about the locational and temporal price risks. By means of applications to two IEEE unbalanced test networks, the numerical results show promising performance for the proposed linear model and the NUTS-based algorithm in creating PDFs of DLMPs. DLMP price densities will be increasingly useful as distribution system operators seek flexible, low risk solutions from embedded generators and aggregators of distributed energy resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage regulation and proper load-sharing are two main control objectives of DC microgrids which the consensus-based secondary control can be regarded as a feasible approach to achieve them. Using this approach, in addition to the stable voltage regulation, the load is shared according to the nominal potential of the distributed generation units. Nevertheless, the conventional consensus-based secondary control uses the time-triggered communication paradigm that leads to a high communication burden due to transmitting and receiving unnecessary data. In this paper, to prevent excessive data-exchanging, the mentioned approach is upgraded with a novel event-triggered scheme. The system stability analysis under the suggested event-triggered secondary controller is assessed using the Lyapunov theorem. Furthermore, the Zeno-freeness feature of the proposed solution is mathematically proved after assessing uniformly ultimately bounded stability and extracting the current per-unit and voltage derivatives dynamic as the consensus algorithm’s external inputs. The proposed approach is applied to a DC microgrid, and its performance is validated under different scenarios using Simulink/MATLAB environment. Moreover, the experimental tests prove the merits of the suggested method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the dynamic voltage support (DVS) from inverter-based resources (IBRs) under voltage sags to enhance the low-voltage ride-through performance. The DVS problem is formulated as a nonconvex optimization program that maximizes the positive-sequence voltage magnitude at the point of common coupling (PCC) subject to the current, active power, and synchronization stability constraints. Then, we perform the optimality analysis to explore the global optimum analytically. It is found that the unique global optimum has three scenarios/stages (S1–S3), which depends on the specific relationship among grid voltage, grid strength, and physical limits of IBRs. The explicit closed-form solutions in S1 and S3 are derived, and the optimality conditions (an implicit solution) of S2 are provided, which guarantees the global optimality and enables the compatibility with fast real-time control. Finally, we implement the optimum with a grid-connected single-stage photovoltaic (PV) power plant by integrating a DVS controller. Dynamic simulations are carried out under different scenarios to test our proposal. The robustness against model errors is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric distribution grid operations typically rely on both centralized optimization and local non-optimal control techniques. As an alternative, distribution system operational practices can consider distributed optimization techniques that leverage communications among various neighboring agents to achieve optimal operation. With the rapidly increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), distributed optimization algorithms are growing in importance due to their potential advantages in scalability, flexibility, privacy, and robustness relative to centralized optimization. Implementation of distributed optimization offers multiple challenges and also opportunities. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent advancements in distributed optimization for electric distribution systems and classifications using key attributes. Problem formulations and distributed optimization algorithms are provided for example use cases, including volt/var control, market clearing process, loss minimization, and conservation voltage reduction. Finally, this paper also presents future research needs for the applicability of distributed optimization algorithms in the distribution system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel hierarchical cooperative control strategy to solve the problems of unbalanced State of Charge (SoC), unreasonable load current sharing, and unstable bus voltage for battery storage system (BSS) in islanded DC microgrid. In the communication layer, a neighbor-to-neighbor communication network architecture is constructed in which each battery storage unit (BSU) only communicates information with neighboring nodes, and a multi-agent consensus algorithm is used to iteratively estimate the relevant average global variables. In the main control layer, the droop coefficient is dynamically adjusted by constructing a fast SoC convergence function to ensure that the load current is reasonably distributed based on the rated capacity of each BSU. In the secondary control layer, a virtual voltage drop equalization controller and an average bus voltage compensation controller are designed to eliminate the impact of line impedance mismatch and compensate the average bus voltage. Furthermore, an optimized factor is designed to accelerate the later stage of SoC convergence. Finally, a DC microgrid experimental platform based on StarSim HIL is built, and the results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can achieve the control objectives of fast SoC balance, proportional load current sharing, and bus voltage stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an idea to integrate more renewable energy into the existing China power grid and to provide remote islands with a reliable power supply. The idea is to expand the existing point-to-point line-commutated converter (LCC) HVDC transmission link into a hybrid multiterminal HVDC (hybrid MTDC) system, which contains LCC stations and voltage-source converter (VSC) stations. Accordingly, this paper proposes a novel control strategy for this system called active voltage feedback control, which does not need any high-speed communication system under various disturbances, such as wind speed variations, load fluctuations, faults, etc. This paper also adds secondary frequency regulation to the synchronverter, which is one way of combining the VSC converter with synchronous machine behavior. Then, this paper applies an approach to limit its current under fault conditions. Finally, the entire hybrid MTDC system is modeled in PSCAD/EMTDC. Simulation results show that the improved synchronverter is able to achieve secondary frequency control, and the presented active voltage feedback control works very well when exposed to various disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]