Experimental Validation of a Novel Control Strategy for an Off-Grid Hybrid Stirling Engine/Supercapacitor Power Generation System

International audience; In this paper a novel optimal control strategy for energy management of an off-grid hybrid Stirling engine/Supercapacitor power plant is presented based on preliminary results proposed in \cite{Rahmani2013}. An implementation of the control strategy is performed on a real time target that drives a dedicated testbed with a DC machine reproducing the functioning of the thermodynamic Stirling Engine. The DC machine is linked to a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) connected to an AC load through an appropriate controlled Power electronics and an energy storage device which is a supercapacitor. The performances of the developed control Strategy are then assessed through experimental results on the testbed.