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Although smart home has received wide attention in recent years, numerous scholars focus more on energy optimization strategy than energy dispatch hardware device (named energy router). Meanwhile, this energy router should have several features, i.e., high renewable energy utilization, energy multi-port and low volume. Thus, this paper designs a nine-port energy router regarding smart home and proposes a multimode hierarchical management strategy for this energy router. First, for the multi-port demand of wind, solar, storage and utilization, this paper presents a nine-port energy router to improve the renewable energy consumption and power supply flexibility. In addition, to reduce the volume of the energy router, a non-isolated AC/DC hybrid topology is constructed through embedding the integrated power electronic converters, which achieves the miniaturization of the energy router. In order to improve the renewable energy utilization rate, the decentralized module control is proposed for the components of energy router to provide the voltage and frequency support for system, and realizes the power sharing of distributed generations (DGs). Furthermore, the power exchange control with three-mode switching is proposed to guarantee the global energy flow balance under complex conditions. Eventually, the feasibility of the energy router is verified by the simulation and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the purpose of extending the speed range and reducing power electronics devices for the permanent-magnet linear motor drive system, a half-centralized open-end winding (OEW) topology is studied for rail transit applications in this paper. In this topology, compared with the traditional OEW topology, the number of voltage-source-inverters (VSIs) can be reduced from four to three to drive two OEW movers and all these VSIs share a common dc bus voltage. In order to improve the steady-state performances, a four-vector phase model predictive voltage control (FV-PMPVC) is proposed in this paper. Due to the spatial distribution of phase voltage vector (PVV), an orthometric synthesis principle (OSP) is proposed to calculated the duration time for the vector synthesis, which reduces the computation burden and enhances the robustness. Comparing the existing control method, FV-PMPVC can get similar dynamic performances but better steady-state performances. Additionally, the half-centralized topology using FV-PMPVC can have same speed range while less VSIs are required. The effectiveness of FV-PMPVC is verified by experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a reconfigurable dc–dc converter for maximum thermoelectric generator (TEG) energy harvesting in a battery-powered duty-cycling wireless sensor node. The proposed dc–dc converter adopts discontinuous energy harvesting, which operates in single-input dual-output (SIDO) boost, battery-TEG pile-up buck (BTPB), dual-phase buck–boost (DPBB), and battery supplied buck modes with a single shared inductor. Fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process, the converter adopts an adaptive dead-time controller for zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and an adaptive switch size (ASS) with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to maximize efficiency in a wide TEG voltage range. The SIDO boost mode achieves 88.5% and 81.1% peak end-to-end efficiency with maximum and no-load conditions (only charging the battery), respectively. The combination of BTPB and DPBB modes to maximize the TEG power extraction during the battery-powered operation results in up to 44% saving in battery power. The battery-supplied buck mode achieves 93.3% peak efficiency. [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]

Data integration from heterogeneous data sources in low-voltage (LV) power distribution grids will be valuable to distribution system operators (DSOs). The power measurements from customer premises need to be processed with other data such as grid topology, line parameters etc., to deploy smart grid applications (SGA) such as real-time grid monitoring and voltage regulation. The most challenging task for DSOs is to collect and integrate data from several sources as several entities are involved in the data management and access to databases are restricted. This paper presents an opEn common information ${M}$ odel (CIM) BAsed sma ${R}$ t grid application framewor ${K}$ (EMBARK) to address the above-mentioned challenge. EMBARK is developed to be an efficient, modular and scalable architecture for extracting relevant grid related information from various asset management databases. A novel data management functionality is a part of EMBARK that enables data-driven update of settings and parameters of the algorithms behind smart grid applications. The proposed approach is demonstrated and numerically validated using grid data from a medium-sized distribution grid operator in Denmark. The architecture developed and presented in this paper can support all the phases from planning to the actual smart grid operation, i.e., automatically building the models to perform load flows, grid impact studies, planning, asset management etc. [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 advancements in smart grid technologies had brought forth the prospect of self-healing distribution grid through intentional islanding, aided by the steadily rising penetration of inverter-based distributed generations (IBDGs). Adaptive protection is the key enabler for this resilient grid architecture. For cost-effectiveness, overcurrent relays (OCRs) with adaptive features had been proposed, often with the sensitivity problem due to low short-circuit current magnitude from the IBDG taken into consideration and largely addressed. However, apart from this widely discussed sensitivity problem, there is an underlying issue on selectivity of the OCR which is frequently disregarded when designing an adaptive overcurrent protection scheme for IBDG dominated microgrid. This selectivity problem is mainly caused by the current diversion to load during fault, which is often disregarded when performing OCR grading for a conventional grid. In this paper, this selectivity problem of the OCR is discussed in depth through a comparative study of conventional grid and a modern IBDG dominated grid. The coordination time interval margin violations problems are demonstrated through theoretical calculations and real-time hardware-in-the-loop experiments. This research aims to provide better insights into the selectivity problem as a step towards achieving a cost-effective yet reliable overcurrent-based adaptive protection for IBDG dominated microgrid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing number of controllable devices in the grid, devices owned by different entities are supposed to cooperatively support the grid operation. To balance the various interests of the customers and the utility, this paper proposes a two-level scheduling algorithm to address voltage regulation by coordinating the customer-owned battery energy storage system (BESS) and utility-owned load tap changers (LTCs) in power distribution systems. The objective is to find the optimal operation scheduling for both BESSs and LTCs that simultaneously maximize the economic payback and satisfy system operation rules. For BESSs, a local optimization problem is formulated in a chance-constrained manner in major consideration of the economic performance. For the utility interest, a Markov decision process (MDP) and a computationally efficient reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm are utilized to solve the optimal tap setting problem. To coordinate BESSs and LTCs, a global voltage adjustment is applied. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is validated via simulations on the IEEE 13-node and 34-node distribution test feeders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DC grid has become an important application in power transmission. However, the exist works only have the method to obtain the droop coefficient in a radial topology. Also, this droop coefficient is for V-I droop control. There is no such like method to obtain the droop coefficient for the P-V droop control. This paper proposed a new method for a complex dc grid to obtain the droop coefficients. Firstly, based on the converter control strategies, the types of converter were classified. It will help to find out which kinds of converter can be participated into the dc-side voltage control. Secondly, a virtual node was defined, and the matrix of the dc grid was reshaped to fit the new added virtual node by using the proposed simplification method. An example was shown how this method worked. After that a new method of calculating the P-V droop coefficient was proposed. Finally, a simulation model was investigated to verify if the proposed method can operate in a real system. The results showed that the simplification method can ensure the mathematical relationships of the dc system. And simulations show good performances of the droop coefficient calculation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of distributed energy resources (DERs), located at the Distribution System Operator (DSO) level, bring new opportunities as well as new challenges to the operations within the grid, specifically, when it comes to the interaction with the Transmission System Operator (TSO). To enable interoperability, while ensuring higher flexibility and cost-efficiency, DSOs and the TSO need to be efficiently coordinated. Difficulties behind creating such TSO-DSO coordination include the combinatorial nature of the operational planning problem involved at the transmission level as well as the nonlinearity of AC power flow within both systems. These considerations significantly increase the complexity even under the deterministic setting. In this paper, a deterministic TSO-DSO operational planning coordination problem is considered and a novel decomposition and coordination approach is developed. Within the new method, the problem is decomposed into TSO and DSO subproblems, which are efficiently coordinated by updating Lagrangian multipliers. The nonlinearities at the TSO level caused by AC power flow constraints are resolved through a dynamic linearization while guaranteeing feasibility through “ $l_1-$ proximal” terms. Numerical results based on the coordination of the 118-bus TSO system with up to 32 DSO 34-bus systems indicate that the method efficiently overcomes the computational difficulties of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an isolated single-stage on-board electric vehicle charger without an intermediate DC-link. Based on an isolated current-source topology, the converter features soft-switching in semiconductors regardless of load variation for the full AC line voltage range. Moreover, it requires no external snubber or clamp circuits. The power factor correction and voltage regulation are provided by a relatively simple phase shift modulation, while the amount of circulating energy is kept at minimum. The charger is distinguished by its efficiency characteristic – the maximum is achieved in the constant power charging mode. The control method, component stresses, and design constraints of the topology are analyzed. The concept is verified using a 3 kW experimental SiC-based prototype, which reaches a peak efficiency of 96.4%. Moreover, the charger has demonstrated efficiencies above 95% with the THD of 4.1% when operating in constant power mode at the maximal power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distributed control of DC microgrid is becoming increasingly important in modern power systems. One important control objective is to ensure DC bus voltage stability and proper current sharing with a reduced communication burden. This paper presents a new event-triggered distributed secondary control strategy for single-bus DC microgrid. Through this strategy, both current sharing and bus voltage regulation can be guaranteed. Moreover, through the event-triggering mechanism, each converter can decide locally when to transmit signals to its neighbours. In this way, the communication burden among converters is significantly reduced. Compared to existing results, the proposed strategy also enables various types of loads, including both linear and nonlinear loads, to be connected to the DC microgrid. Simulation and experiment results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of power converters as solid state transformers is an attractive solution to modernize the power network, but this solution has not been fully addressed for MV and HV substations. This paper presents a customized and simple control for the Modular Multilevel Matrix Converter (M3C), specially conceived for its operation on synchronous ports, which is the case of AC substations. The control allows bidirectional power transfer, generation/absorption of reactive power and provisions of ancillary services. The converter is compared to the back-to-back Modular Multilevel Converter (B2B-MMC) where the key performance indicators to carry out the comparison are power efficiency, number of semiconductor devices, passive components required, footprint, voltage cell balance, fault blocking capability and stress of components. The simulation results show the features, performance and attractiveness of the M3C topology in a 33/11 kV, 16 MW substation under different operating conditions, including grid faults and dynamic operation. The M3C presents similar efficiency and performance than the B2B-MMC, but it uses fewer semiconductor devices, passive components and total cell capacitor energy than the B2B-MMC, reducing cost and footprint. The experimental results show the performance of the M3C under less ideal conditions including a substation transformer saturation and power step response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel dual input nine-level inverter (DINLI) topology which requires only seven controllable devices. The dual inputs are un-identical DC voltage sources in the ratio 1:3. A simple control scheme is derived by appropriately modifying the phase disposition pulse width modulation technique to generate high-quality 9-level output from the DINLI topology. At any given instant, a maximum of four switches conduct out of which only a maximum of two switches operate at high frequency, bringing down the switching and conduction losses significantly and improving the overall system efficiency. The bidirectional DINLI (BDINLI) topology with reactive power capability can be realized by replacing the unidirectional devices with the controlled switches (i.e., total nine switches). In addition, the proposed DINLI topology does not require extra voltage balancing circuits which further improves the efficiency. The DINLI operation is verified through MATLAB simulations for grid-connected applications and its extension to an n-level, 3-phase application is also investigated. Experiments performed on a 1KVA laboratory prototype to validate the theoretical claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to limitations of topology, the series architecture electric energy router (SA-EER) for low-voltage distribution network (LVDN) has the disadvantages that the energy transmission range is limited to 100% and reactive powers are unable to operate flexibly. For this reason, a new type of EER with series-parallel architecture (SPA-EER) is constructed in this paper, and it can break through the above disadvantages in SA-EER. In addition to series-parallel architecture, a two-degree-of-freedom power flow flexible control strategy (TDF-PFFCS) is proposed to further support the realization of these two breakthroughs. According to TDF, the operation states of SPA-EER can be discriminated into 6 modes, and then their operation mechanisms are analyzed. Considering the rated capacity limitations of LVDN ports and power electronic converters in SPA-EER, the operation ranges of TDF are discussed, and constraint relationships between TDF and these rated capacities are further established, so as to avoid the issue of over-limit rated capacities. Finally, the simulation results prove that the constructed SPA-EER and proposed TDF-PFFCS can achieve the transmission targets that the maximum allowable amounts of active and reactive powers are 200% and 120% respectively, which provides new design ideas and solutions for EERs to realize the high-power energy flexible transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the implementation of inverter-dominated dynamic microgrids (MGs) in hybrid AC/DC distribution systems is discussed. Compared to conventional networked MGs structure, dynamic MGs operate with varying electric boundaries, which enables more flexible system operating topologies and power flow options. A control framework is developed for hybrid AC/DC distribution systems. The entire feeder is sectionalized into multiple dynamic MGs that interact at varying points of interconnection (POIs). A set of distributed controllers is proposed to coordinate multiple inverter-interfaced distributed generators (DGs) and interlinking converters (ICs) across the hybrid AC/DC feeders under autonomous operation. Various control modes are developed for the system to operate under either static topology or reconfigure as requested. Secondary regulations over the system operating frequency and voltage are enabled in both AC and DC subgrids, along with proportional power sharing among DGs. Dedicated control efforts are developed to achieve seamless system topology transitions, and the operational stability of the proposed controllers is analyzed. The performance of the proposed work in augmenting the operation resiliency of a hybrid AC/DC test feeder is validated using comprehensive case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The single-phase-to-ground (SPG) fault at the valve side of the converter transformer is one of the most critical faults threatening the operation of bipolar half-bridge modular-multilevel-converter-based multi-terminal direct-current (HB-MMC MTDC) systems. Following a valve-side SPG fault, the upper-arm submodule (SM) capacitors in the faulty converter may suffer a serious overvoltage, and the grid-side fault currents may experience no zero-crossings. The existing protection methods generally rely on tripping the grid-side alternate-current circuit-breaker (ACCB), which cannot fully isolate the fault. The healthy poles and stations may encounter severe disturbance and be all blocked, which will lead to a power outage of the entire MTDC system. This paper proposes an ACCB-independent scheme based on thyristor-pairs and damping SMs to address these problems. Antiparallel thyristor-pairs are connected in series within the upper and lower arms in each phase. Serial damping SMs are connected within the lower arms to help the lower-arm thyristor pairs cut off the fault currents. Although the proposed additional devices inevitably cause conduction losses, they can effectively protect the faulty converter and healthy circuit in the MTDC system. Simulations in PSCAD/EMTDC have been conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a weak grid coupled single stage photovoltaic (PV) system. The system incorporates a battery energy storage (BES) via a bi-directional DC-DC converter (BDDC). The system does not allow the grid power quality to be deteriorated at nonlinear loading conditions, as well as when the grid voltages are unbalanced or distorted. Moreover, the control scheme is resilient to DC offset in the acquired grid voltage signals due to sensor circuit anomalies. The flexibility afforded by the BES is utilized for several benefits. The intermittent power injection associated with the PV system, is resolved by sustaining the defined grid power at fluctuating PV generation or local loads. The developed control makes use of the BES to adjust the grid power with the feed-in tariffs, adding the capability to act as a power sink at low tariff periods, thus increasing the economic returns. The control avoids overcurrent tripping at large voltage dips and enables fault ride through, whereas the conventional single stage system frequently trips and ceases operation. The system helps the utility at large voltage rise by stopping power flow to the grid while allowing power import from the grid. The BES is prevented from being excessively charged or discharged by the monitored transfer to a recovery mode. Moreover, the dual mode control of the DC link voltage allows peak power extraction from the PV array, while conserving grid power quality. The claimed benefits are evaluated at different operating scenarios using simulated and test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the variable speed applications of a recently developed generator named Brushless Induction Excited Synchronous Generator (BINSYG) for offshore wind power applications. The machine is basically a Synchronous generator (SG) with its excitation fed from a three-phase Induction Machine (IM). Both the machines are embedded in the same machine frame and share the same magnetic core. The SG feeds power to the dc grid via a five-level Unidirectional Dual Flying Capacitor Active Neutral Point Converter. The converter is controlled such that the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the current flowing through the stator of SG is below 5% and at unity power factor at SG terminal. The excitation developed by IM-type exciter is adjusted using a new control strategy that is proposed for Voltage Source Inverter, such that BINSYG can operate at wide speed range necessary for Wind Energy Systems (WES). The complete system is controlled without using ac voltage sensors and speed encoders. The proposed WES with its control algorithm is first modelled in MATLAB/Simulink. Further, rapid control prototyping verification in the form of real-time results using OPAL-RT is presented for a small scale (5.5 kVA) BINSYG feeding power to a 750 V dc grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft open points (SOPs) are power electronic devices that are usually placed at normally open points of electricity distribution networks to provide flexible power control to the networks. This paper gives a comprehensive overview of both academic research and industrial practice on SOPs in electricity distribution networks. The topologies of SOPs as multi-functional power electronic devices are identified and compared, which include back-to-back voltage source converters, multi-terminal voltage source converters, unified power flow controllers, and direct AC-to-AC modular multilevel converters. The academic research is reviewed in three aspects, i.e., benefit quantification, control, and optimal siting and sizing of SOPs. The benefit quantification indices are categorized into feeder load balancing, voltage profile improvement, power losses reduction, three-phase balancing and DG hosting capacity enhancement. The control of SOPs is summarized as a three-level control structure, where the system-level and converter-level control are further discussed. For optimal siting and sizing of SOPs, problem formulation and solution methods are analyzed. Besides the academic research, practical industrial projects of SOPs worldwide are also summarized. Finally, opportunities of research and industrial application of SOPs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To integrate large-scale islanded onshore wind power with different sizes, this paper proposes an integration system based on the cascaded hybrid HVDC transmission system, which consists of LCC and several MMCs in series connection at the DC side of the rectifier. A large-scale wind farm is connected with one LCC and one MMC while several small-scale wind farms are connected with MMCs directly. Owing to the hierarchical integration arrangement, the operating flexibility can be improved with reduced capacity and the number of step-up interfacing transformers. A resilient DC voltage control is proposed for the integration system to adaptively redistribute power among the converters during wind power fluctuations. Firstly, the topology and operating characteristics of the wind power integration system are introduced. Then, a resilient DC voltage control is proposed to ensure stable operation during wind power curtailments. Finally, a simulation model of the hybrid cascaded HVDC transmission system is built in PSCAD/EMTDC to verify the effectiveness. The research results show that the system provides a new option for long-distance transmission of large-scale islanded wind power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In islanded microgrids with complex feeder networks, distributed generation units (DGs) and loads can be freely connected to any node, leading to changes in the feeder impedance between nodes and the microgrid structure. However, traditional harmonic sharing control methods encounter difficulties with microgrids with complex topologies. Additionally, existing techniques essentially require constructing additional harmonic virtual impedance, possibly resulting in conflict between voltage quality and harmonic sharing effectiveness. To address this issue, this paper proposes an adaptive harmonic impedance reshaping method based on a consensus algorithm. The proposed method adaptively reshapes the inverter harmonic impedance by introducing harmonic current feedforward compensation control and impedance reshaping factor adaptive control, which can achieve accurate harmonic sharing while greatly improving the voltage quality of the microgrid. The proposed method avoids constructing additional harmonic virtual impedance and can be applied to microgrids with complex feeder networks and variable structures without acquiring prior microgrid configuration knowledge. Moreover, the proposed method is a fully distributed control, where the microgrid central controller (MGCC) is not required. Furthermore, the control parameter design method based on modeling and stability analysis is discussed in detail. Finally, simulations and experiments verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new single-source three-phase seven-level inverter with an inherent three-time voltage boosting capability for medium-voltage applications. The proposed topology is comprised of series connection of two switched-capacitor (SC) networks with an added half-bridge module per phase. Each of such integrated SC networks requires a single capacitor associated with three active power switches. The three-time voltage boosting feature of the proposed topology can reduce the dc-link voltage requirements by 50% in comparison to the traditional neutral point clamped (NPC), flying capacitors, active NPC (ANPC), hybrid clamped ANPC, and cascaded H-bridge topologies, and 75% to advanced ANPC topologies. It can also reduce the number of required switches and capacitors as well as their voltage stresses compared to those state-of-the-art topologies reported in the literature. By integrating “n” number of added SC networks in the proposed seven-level basic topology, the number of output voltage levels can be extended to 2n+3 per phase. A finite control set model predictive control algorithm is also derived to control the converter in both the active and reactive power exchanges modes without distorting the generated grid current quality. The capacitor voltage balancing is inherent in the proposed topology, and thus, there is no need for any additional voltage balancing circuit, which further reduces the control complexity. The performance of the proposed topology and its control algorithm are validated by several measurement results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy management in modular type converters constitutes a key aspect of their operational stability. This paper introduces a full energy management structure for the Extended Overlap-Alternate Arm Converter (EO-AAC) ensuring both equal energy distribution across all six stacks and the maintaining of ripple-free DC current during steady state. The performance of the control structure against active power step events is validated by detailed simulations using EMTP-RV software. Moreover, the full energy management allows the EO-AAC to have an equivalent controllability to Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) through only two conducting stacks in overlap mode ensuring the power balance. From this observation, it is demonstrated that the use of control strategy like the virtual capacitor to support HVDC system, originally designed for MMC, is possible. Gathering all these controllers leads to a general conclusion which is the dynamic equivalence between EO-AAC and MMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulation of active power flowing through one or multiple DC lines plays an important role to guarantee secure and economic operations of high voltage direct current (HVDC) grids. This paper proposes a new method to regulate DC line power flow based on the adaptive DC voltage droop control strategy in which the voltage references of the voltage droop controllers vary autonomously at post-contingencies. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it can avoid installation of extra equipment and thus the associated losses and costs in the power-converter-based power flow control methods. The proposed control approach does not require to solve online global AC-DC power flow equations, leading to autonomous control. Furthermore, the adaptive droop control does not influence the stability of the HVDC grid since only the droop voltage references vary, but not the droop coefficients. Static analysis and dynamic simulations of a five-terminal HVDC grid are implemented using MATLAB/Simulink Simscape Blockset and OPAL-RT RT-LAB libraries to validate the effectiveness of the proposed autonomous control method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventionally, the converter of switched reluctance motor (SRM) is fed by the uncontrollable diode bridge rectifier (DBR), which leads to a low grid-side power factor (PF) and high current total harmonic distortion (THD). In this paper, an alternative solution for the grid-connected high-speed SRM drive system with improved PF is proposed. In the proposed drive system, the three-level active front end (AFE) is connected in cascade with the midpoint converter for SRM operation. A centralized strategy, which controls the AFE and SRM together, is proposed to govern the motor speed and grid-side PF by regulating the real power and reactive power of the system, respectively. Specifically, the real power, reactive power, and the voltage balancing of split capacitors are controlled by the model predictive directed power control (MP-DPC) algorithm, which significantly reduces the control complexity and guarantees the fast dynamic response. Consequently, satisfying speed regulation, high PF, low current THD, and bi-directional power-transfer capability are achieved. An idea-proofed testbench is constructed in laboratory, and the applicability of the proposed drive system is verified by a series of experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a topology-cognizant optimal power flow (OPF) paradigm with additional safety constraints for multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) grids. The resulting formulation is concerned with the optimization of controller set-points, i.e., voltage and power levels at each bus, and the switching status of transmission lines that collectively referred to as grid topology. A pair of additional safety constraints are integrated into the problem formulation to prevent voltage violations caused by power fluctuations in between two controller set-point updates. Searching for a grid topology that offers more efficient operation leads to a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) which is computationally challenging due to: i) Non-convex power flow equations, (ii) Non-convex converter loss equations, and iii) Binary variables accounting for the operational status of transmission lines. Non-convexities of power flows and converter loss equations are tackled by means of a mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MISOCP) relaxation, while the optimal switching status of transmission lines are determined via a branch-and-bound search. Numerical results for the modified IEEE 14, 30, and 57-bus systems are used to verify the merits of the proposed method. Furthermore, this method is experimentally validated using the CIGRE B4 DC grid benchmark in a real-time hardware-in-the-loop platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing penetration of dc distributed energy resources (DERs) and dc loads has motivated the utilization of dc microgrids (MGs). In this paper, a new two-level control scheme is proposed for accurate power sharing and appropriate voltage regulation in dc MGs during islanded operation mode. In the primary control level, a P − V droop method is proposed to eliminate the dependency of power sharing among DERs on line resistances. Since the P − V droop deviates the voltage derivative to a nonzero value, a voltage derivative restoration mechanism is adopted in the secondary control level to provide voltage stability. The secondary control level also compensates the voltage deviations by cascading an outer voltage control loop with the inner voltage derivative restoration loop. The secondary control signal is broadcasted to each DER via a unidirectional low-bandwidth communication link. Small signal stability of the proposed scheme is analyzed by studying the locus of the system eigenvalues. To verify the efficacy of the proposed method and compare it with the conventional scheme, real-time simulations in OPAL-RT lab setup are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under grid distortions, Modular Multilevel Converters (MMC) must adopt proper control strategies to fulfill the power system requirements and ensure a stable operation. An inappropriate control under such conditions may lead to energy unbalances between the MMC legs, inaccurate current injection, and failure in the synchronization process. In this context, sequence extraction methods play a critical role in enhancing the performance of the control, firstly, by aiding the Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) to maintain the synchronization with the AC grid by following the positive sequence fundamental component of the voltage, secondly, by allowing accurate active and reactive currents injection via the decoupled Voltage Oriented Control (dVOC), thirdly, by properly managing the internal energy of the MMC through the circulating current control. In prior researches, some sequence extraction methods have been used for MMC STATCOM. However, the sequence extraction was not the core of the performed studies and their impact on the system behavior has not been highlighted or tested in several grid conditions. This work fills this gap by first assessing the performance of a Single Delta Bridge Cell MMC (SDBC-MMC) STATCOM with four well-known sequence extraction methods (i.e., Decoupled Double Synchronous Reference Frame (DDSRF), Dual Second Order Generalized Integrator (DSOGI), Improved DSOGI, and Fortescue matrix-based (FMB) filter under normal and abnormal grid conditions, then, finding the most suitable one in terms of stability, dynamics, and functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed secondary control stands out for its flexibility and expandability in microgrids (MGs) control, in where communication network plays a fundamental and critical role. The communication topology and link-weights have significant impact on the attack-resilience and dynamic performance of MGs, which should be appropriately designed. However, the joint optimization problem of communication topology and link-weights in the existing literature of consensus-based secondary voltage control of MGs is usually neglected. To bridge this gap, we propose a novel two-stage optimization approach for the communication network design, which jointly optimizes the topological structure to enhance the structural survivability and link weights to improve the dynamic performance (including the speed of convergence and robustness to time-delay). The first stage problem is formulated into a mixed-integer semi-define programming (MISDP) model based on convex relaxation technique, which is then converted equivalently into an integer quadratic programming (IQP) problem and then a MISDP feasibility problem to facilitate the solution. The second stage problem is formulated into a bi-objective SDP model to compromise between the convergence performance and robustness to time-delay. Simulations based on a microgrid with 10 distributed generation (DG) units under different scenarios are implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents low-frequency ripple power steering control strategies for a power conversion topology that comprises a high frequency linked three-port converter (HFL-TPC) and a voltage source inverter (VSI) for PV-BESS/EV applications. The proposed topology has three interfaces, which can be connected with a photovoltaic (PV) port, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and/or electric vehicles (EVs) port, and a four-quadrant ac port. The proposed topology inherently exhibits double line frequency (DLF) power fluctuation that needs to be decoupled and steered away from the PV port. In this article, we have developed and demonstrated two control strategies to deal with the DLF ripple. The first control strategy utilizes loop gain of the closed loop control system to decouple the DLF power, however, a residual DLF power still exists at the ac port. To completely decouple the DLF fluctuations, an improved sequence-based control strategy is proposed where the DLF voltage components are converted into positive and negative sequence components and controlled separately on their respective synchronous reference frames. To verify the practical feasibility of the proposed low-frequency ripple power steering control strategies, a 40 V, 400 W HFL-TPC is built and tested. Experimental results show that the proposed methods decouple the DLF power fluctuation and selectively steer it to the BESS/EV port. Comparative results reveal that the sequence-based control strategy shows a higher degree of DLF ripple suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a 6.78-MHz single-stage dual-output regulating rectifier for miniaturizing the true wireless devices. The proposed rectifier topology realizes ac–dc power conversion and dual-output voltage regulation simultaneously in one single stage, using only four on-chip power transistors, thereby reducing chip area and off-chip components and improving the system power conversion efficiency. We integrate high voltage (HV) and low voltage (LV) transistors in the proposed dual-output rectifier for HV and LV output voltages, respectively. The proposed two independent three-level current-wave modulation (CWM) controllers realize voltage conversion and regulation for each output independently, with the instant transient response and no cross-regulation problem. The proposed dual-output regulating rectifier, fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS using 1.8−/3.3-V devices, can deliver a total maximum power of 1.02 W at the dual-output voltages of 1.8 and 3.3 V. The circuit achieves a measured peak efficiency of 91.9% with an instant load-transient response for a load current step between 20 and 200 mA. The cross-regulation between the dual-output voltages is unnoticeable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modular converters such as the multilevel cascaded H-bridge (CHB) are an attractive option for multiple applications mainly because of inherent modularity and fault-tolerant operation. This article is focused on the CHB converter operating with unbalanced conditions (different dc voltages and/or modulation indexes). Under these circumstances, applying the conventional control and modulation strategies, the output voltage harmonic spectrum is degraded. In this article, a generalized variable-angle phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation (PS-PWM) technique for CHB converters with a large number of power modules (> 3) is presented. The method considers all possible cells’ combinations to form groups and assigns the role of each cell in the group. This cell role defines the identifier of the cell in the variable-angle PS-PWM technique. In the steady state, in each group of cells, the harmonic distortion of the CHB output voltage located at twice the carrier frequency ƒc is eliminated, while the distortion at 4ƒc is also diminished. Experimental results show how the proposed technique achieves superior harmonic performance without introducing any significant disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief proposes a highly-integrated 3-phase ($3\boldsymbol{\Phi }$) 4:1 resonant switched-capacitor (ReSC) converter with parasitic capacitor soft charging for Internet-of-Things devices, reducing the current stress at the point of load. Both the $3\boldsymbol{\Phi }$ resonant operation and the parasitic loss reduction schemes improve the power conversion efficiency. Also, this $3\boldsymbol{\Phi }$ -ReSC converter implements a flying capacitor pre-charge scheme to guarantee a safe startup. The chip, fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process, occupies a silicon area of 1.39 mm2. We achieve a peak efficiency of 85.5% and a maximum output current of 130mA, in a mm-sized solution, with an input range of 2.3 V – 2.5 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cascaded dc–dc converter is a popular topology for large-scale medium-voltage photovoltaic (PV) system with the advantages of high voltage conversion ratio, high efficiency, great flexibility, and independent control capability. However, the absence of optimal string maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation under power mismatch is a big issue in common centralized control. Furthermore, the cost and time delay are unacceptable resulting from the distance among PV strings in the large-scale PV station and the cascaded dc–dc converter needs to adopt the distributed control method without real-time communication. To this end, by introducing other necessary constraints including voltage constraints, power constraints, and gain constraints on the basis of the distributed MPPT control strategy, a distributed multimode control scheme is proposed in this article. Each submodule (SM) can be switched flexibly between multiple operation modes to maximize the extracted solar energy. Individual string MPPT and autonomous distribution of output voltage are achieved without communication under the proposed distributed control strategy. In this way, optimal operation range is wider, mode switching is simpler, and applicability and robustness are improved. A downscaled prototype and a 35-kV/6-MW simulation system are constructed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless power transfer system has played an important role in rail transit, industrial production, and daily life. This article proposes a wireless power transfer permanent-magnet synchronous motor (WPT-PMSM) drive system based on the matrix converter (MC). The direct conversion of low-frequency ac and high-frequency ac is realized without dc link by using MC. The dual LCC compensation network is designed for better performance. In addition, a new control method has been proposed for the proposed WPT-PMSM drive to operate stably. In particular, the bidirectional power flow is achieved with the proposed WTP-PMSM drive and related control scheme. Through the mathematical modeling, the coordinated control of power converters on both sides of the coupling coil is achieved and the reactive power of the LCC compensation network is eliminated. The experiments on a 1 kW and 85 kHz laboratory prototype of the WPT-PMSM drive are presented to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel inverters (MLIs) featuring reactive power ability and common ground (CG) have become much popular in transformerless grid-tied photovoltaic applications. A switched-capacitor (SC) based five-level transformerless inverter configuration is thus proposed in this article, which requires only six switches, one diode, three capacitors, and one input dc voltage supply. Notably, only four power switches are operated in high frequency, thus, the switching losses are reduced. Moreover, the presented topology can effectively tackle the leakage current problem using a CG architecture. A multicarrier phase disposition pulsewidth modulation strategy is employed to achieve reactive power regulation and SC voltage self-balancing. To achieve the neutral point voltage balance of the presented five-level inverter, a simple closed-loop voltage-balancing control method is proposed. The operation principles with modulation strategy and voltage self-balancing of SC are discussed in depth. Comparisons between the proposed and the state-of-the-art MLIs are presented in detail. Finally, experimental tests on a single-phase 1.1-kW prototype validate the appropriate performance of the proposed inverter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unbalanced ac voltages drastically deteriorate the performance of five-level flying capacitor (FC) rectifiers. Without introducing an extra buffering circuit to absorb the second-order oscillating power, it is an incompatible contradiction for realizing both negative-sequence current reduction and second-order voltage ripple suppression. In this article, based on the idea of using FCs in the rectifier to absorb the oscillating power, a second-order voltage ripple suppression strategy for unbalanced ac voltage conditions is proposed. Reducing the negative-sequence currents and suppressing the dc voltage ripples can be simultaneously realized. Simulations and experimental results verified the effectiveness and performance of the proposed scheme well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dual-transformer-based hybrid dual active bridge (DAB) converter for plug-in electric vehicle charging to cope with wide load voltages is introduced in this article. The control degrees of freedom are extended by splitting the leg and transformer of the conventional DAB converter (CDABC) in two parts. Based on the numerical analysis, the full-domain four-variable closed-form optimal trajectories targeting at the minimum root mean square value of the leakage inductor current is attainted, and the unified-segmental control strategy is proposed to handle the working modes shifting without the current inrush. As a result, the conduction losses and switching losses can be significantly reduced in boost mode compared to CDABC. The discussed converter and control strategy are verified by a 1.0-kW prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates a decoupled vector current control strategy for grid-tied single-phase nine-level Packed E-Cell (PEC) inverters for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies. The control design is based on a loop shaping approach, where performance specifications such as desired closed-loop bandwidth, closed-loop stability, robustness to pure time-delays in control loops/process, and decoupling between direct ($d$) and quadrature ($q$) axis of control signals are specified in the frequency domain. The control design problem is formulated as a convex optimization problem whose solution results in a multivariable controller in the $dq$ framework. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy in terms of robust stability, current tracking, and improved total harmonic distortion is evaluated by experimental and simulation results under several case studies. The results also show that the designed controller provides the desired transient response as well as decoupling between the $dq$ output currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LLC resonant converter is widely used due to its soft switching, high power density, and high efficiency. To incorporate the merits of the LLC resonant tank into a three-phase single-stage ac/dc converter, this article proposes a three-phase single-stage ac/dc converter based on Swiss rectifier and three-level LLC topology. It takes advantage of the high-efficiency Swiss rectifier to convert three-phase ac voltages into three variable dc voltages and interface a three-level LLC resonant circuit. With help of the LLC resonant tank, all the high-frequency three-level switches achieve soft switching. To both regulate the output voltage and achieve three-phase power factor correction, the frequency modulation in combination with the duty cycle control strategy is employed by splitting the resonant current into three parts and then forming three phase sinusoidal currents. The proposed converter's detailed operation principles, steady-state characteristics, and design considerations are given. Finally, a 10 kW experimental prototype with three-phase 220 Vac inputs and 500 Vdc output is built to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed topology and its control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medium voltage dc system has fast rise rate in the event of a short-circuit fault. To avoid high-peak fault current, it is necessary to configure dc circuit breaker with fast operation. Solid-state dc circuit breaker has short breaking time and high reliability, which is suitable for Dc system. In this letter, a novel oscillating-commutation solid-state dc circuit breaker based on compound integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs) is proposed. By combining IGCTs with different advantages, such as high current breaking and high withstand-voltage capability, the proposed dc breaker has the advantages at less breaking time, high performance, low cost, and small volume. The working principle of the proposed scheme is described in detail, and an 8 kV prototype with 7 kA current breaking ability is built to verify its feasibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a 6.78-MHz wireless power transfer system with transmission power control. The proposed receiver (RX) with a simplified 0X/1X structure can achieve single-stage regulation in series–series resonant tank, where the charge and discharge cycle are only dependent on the hysteresis comparator. Asymmetric pulsewidth modulation is adopted in the proposed transmitter (TX), where the duty ratio (${D}_{\text{TX}}$) is switched based on the charge or discharge cycle of RX. With the proposed single-cycle-based ${D}_{\text{TX}}$ control, the ${D}_{\text{TX}}$ will be switched to 0.25 in the discharge cycle, while it is 0.5 in the charge cycle for maximum power transmission. Therefore, the end-to-end (E2E) efficiency especially at light-load conditions can be improved, and the recovery time is nearly instant when loading changes suddenly, i.e., neglectable voltage droop can be achieved. The RX is implemented by a printed circuit board and the TX is fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. In the measurement, an output power range from 10 to 1000 mW is achieved with 60.6% peak E2E efficiency. The significant E2E efficiency improvement is observed over 10–255 mW and the maximum improvement is 16.1%. The measured load transient response verifies that the proposed design has instant response and neglectable voltage droop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data centers require high efficiency and high power-density dc–dc converter with wide input range and galvanic isolation. To overcome the drawbacks of traditional single-stage LLC and two-stage solutions, a novel partial power regulation topology with wide input range is proposed in this article. The proposed topology delivers the load power through a three-ports LLC-based dc transformer regulated DCX (DCX). A pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter is cascaded with one of the input ports of the DCX and then in series with the other input port to regulate the output voltage. Since a single transformer and a partial power PWM converter are employed, high power density can be achieved. Furthermore, only a portion of the load power is transferred by the PWM converter, the efficiency sacrifice is reduced. By introducing an appropriate negative current, the zero voltage switching of the PWM is also achieved. Furthermore, when the input voltage approaches the lower or the upper limit, the switching frequency of the PWM regulator can be ultralow. As a result, switching losses and core losses are further reduced. Finally, a prototype with 190—475 V input and 12 V/500 W output is demonstrated, which achieves a peak efficiency of up to 97.2% and a power density of 153 W/in3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an improved virtual space vector modulation scheme for the reduced switch count three-level inverter with balanced and unbalanced neutral-point voltage (NPV) conditions. By analyzing the effects of unbalanced NPV conditions on basic voltage vectors, the new virtual vectors are constructed by considering the dc unbalancing coefficient and distribution factor for small vectors simultaneously. To facilitate the calculation of duty cycles, the nonorthogonal coordinate system is employed. In addition, an optimized control scheme is developed to obtain the optimized distribution factor, and the relative durations of P-type and N-type small vectors are adjusted to control the voltages across two dc-link capacitors separately. The satisfactory quality of output currents is maintained with both balanced and unbalanced NPV conditions. The feasibility of the proposed scheme is verified by simulated and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]