Engineering Commons^™

Improvements Of Hybrid Ac/Dc House Prototype, Arden Abude

Electrical Engineering

This is an iteration from previous designs of the Hybrid AC/DC House with a systematic addition of a portable AC power supply unit. This iteration for the Hybrid AC/DC House is an innovation of independence for sustainable housing solutions. It will serve as an alternative for rural communities needing power to rely on self-sustainable microgrids rather than large-scale AC electric grids. The addition of a portable AC power supply would allow the microgrid to remove its reliance on AC power from the larger grid and would elevate the system to complete energy independence. The microgrid has DC power generated from …

Hybrid Wall Outlet For Ac Or Dc Power Delivery, Garrett Knoller, Kerr Allan, Greg Perini

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to develop hybrid DC and AC wall outlets for an efficient, flexible power interface. A DC plug standard is also proposed to allow DC devices to be safely powered by the outlet with the correct DC voltage for each device. The primary objective is to create a power outlet compatible with the proposed DC plug as well as NEMA 5-15 AC plugs, enabling the same outlet to power both types of load as needed. The outlet is intended for buildings and systems transitioning to an isolated DC grid to encourage DC development and adoption. …

Dc To Ac Inverter For A Microgrid-Inspired Power Distribution Architecture For Electric Vehicles, Bryan A. Carrillo Martinez, Eli Blacklock, Paul A. Samson, William S. Holt-Hillis

Electrical Engineering

This project builds upon the prototyping of a microgrid-inspired power distribution architecture for electric vehicles (EVs). The efficacy of this prototype aims to inform a full-scale power distribution system that charges an EV battery, supports the electric grid with important ancillary services, performs peer-to-peer EV charging, and works in conjunction with other AC and DC sources and loads. The scope of this report focuses specifically on the design, construction, and testing of the DC/AC inverter. Future development of this distribution architecture will incorporate synchronous generators, a battery management system, and an Arduino/Raspberry Pi-based communication system to fully simulate an electric …

Cost Minimizing Energy Management Control Scheme For Microgrids Considering Dynamic Electricity Prices, Levi T. Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As countries develop and technology improves, the world is using more energy than ever before. This fact along with several other political, social, and economic factors has resulted in simultaneous energy and climate crises. A partial solution to both problems is bringing clean energy sources of electricity closer to the customers who use that energy. A microgrid is a smaller version of the national electric grid where smaller electricity generators are networked with local consumers and controlled independently of the main grid. Because control of electricity sources and loads are transferred to local controllers, the flexibility with which they can …

Integrated Dc Microgrid Testbed For Qos Evaluation, Yasin Emir Kutlu, Ruairí De Fréin, Malabika Basu, Ali Malik

Conference papers

This poster describes the development of an integrated Direct Current (DC) Microgrid (MG) testbed, consisting of power system and computer networking hardware, e.g. Cisco 4331 Integrated Services Routers (ISR) and 500W AC/DC power supplies, to test the Quality of Service (QoS) of MG control packets which are delivered over Layer-2 and Layer-3 networking topologies. It facilitates an examination of control packets between MG end-points, that enable real-time power load sharing, in the presence of background computer network traffic such as video streaming. The effects of difference levels of background traffic on the round trip time of control packets are demonstrated.

Design Of Hybrid Inverters Using Wideband Gap Semiconductors For Microgrid Application, Luca Gacy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the world becomes more reliant on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, the need for high efficiency high power inverters connected to homes is more relevant than ever. Connecting these renewable energy sources (RES) coupled with an energy storage system (ESS) to the grid through a hybrid inverter, with the highest efficiency and grid stability, is quickly becoming a necessity for the near future. This thesis explores the integration of wide band gap semiconductors for the power stage in these systems, along with the analysis of hybrid inverter topologies and structures. The goal of this thesis …

Paired Storage Distributed Energy System Design For A Local Community Farm, Neil Albert Collison, Lily Goldman

Electrical Engineering

This project considers the design of a renewable energy microgrid for a 19-acre community farm in San Luis Obispo, CA as the farm seeks to increase the magnitude of its electrical loads, and gain back-up electrical capability. The microgrid design will enable lower carbon emissions, reduce demand on the utility grid while saving on energy costs, and provide improved reliability and resiliency to the operator of the community farm. The eventual implementation of the design by a professional engineering entity will allow the community farm to expand its education program to include renewable energy as well as gain notoriety in …

Poster: Integrated Dc Microgrid Testbed For Quality Of Service Evaluation, Yasin Emir Kutlu, Ruairí De Fréin, Malabika Basu, Ali Malik

Conference papers

This study demonstrates a testbed for evaluating the effects of background network traffic on the Round-Trip Times (RTTs) of community-based integrated Direct Current (DC) Microgrid (MG) testbed using real hardware and different networking topologies.

The effects of difference levels of background traffic on the RTT of control packets are demonstrated.

Towards Optimal Operation And Control Of Emerging Electric Distribution Networks, Jimiao Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

The growing integration of power-electronics converters enabled components causes low inertia in the evolving electric distribution networks, which also suffer from uncertainties due to renewable energy sources, electric demands, and anomalies caused by physical or cyber attacks, etc. These issues are addressed in this dissertation. First, a virtual synchronous generator (VSG) solution is provided for solar photovoltaics (PVs) to address the issues of low inertia and system uncertainties. Furthermore, for a campus AC microgrid, coordinated control of the PV-VSG and a combined heat and power (CHP) unit is proposed and validated. Second, for islanded AC microgrids composed of SGs and …

Virtual Synchronous Generator Control Using Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient Method, Oroghene Oboreh-Snapps, Buxin She, Shah Fahad, Haotian Chen, Jonathan W. Kimball, Fangxing Li, Hantao Cui, Rui Bo

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a data-driven approach that adaptively tunes the parameters of a virtual synchronous generator to achieve optimal frequency response against disturbances. In the proposed approach, the control variables, namely, the virtual moment of inertia and damping factor, are transformed into actions of a reinforcement learning agent. Different from the state-of-the-art methods, the proposed study introduces the settling time parameter as one of the observations in addition to the frequency and rate of change of frequency (RoCoF). In the reward function, preset indices are considered to simultaneously ensure bounded frequency deviation, low RoCoF, fast response, and quick settling time. …

Technical And Economic Feasibility Of A Microgrid For A Fire Station In Humboldt County, California., Nishaant Kumar Sinha

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Microgrids are emerging as a promising solution to unreliable grid energy. Today, California is not only witnessing grid resiliency challenges from natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, floods and heatwaves, but it is also seeking to green the grid and bring more renewables online. For example, Humboldt County, where this project is focused, has recently experienced an earthquake of 6.4M (on December 22nd, 2022), which shut down the regional grid for ~20 hours.

Microgrid adoption enables critical facilities to operate seamlessly. The Humboldt Bay Fire Station (HBFS) No.1 is one such example, where first responders work to protect citizens against …

Relative Rate Observer Self-Tuning Of Fuzzy Pid Virtual Inertia Control For An Islanded Microgrid, Ahmed H. Mohamed, Helmy M. El Zoghby, Mohiy Bahgat, A. M. Abdel Ghany

Future Engineering Journal

Expanding the usage of renewable energy in islanded microgrids leads to a reduction in its total inertia. Low inertia microgrids have difficulties in voltage and frequency control. That affected saving its stability and preventing a blackout. To improve low inertia islanded microgrids' dynamic response and save their stability, this paper presented relative rate observer self-tuning fuzzy PID (RROSTF-PID) based on virtual inertia control (VIC) for an islanded microgrid with a high renewable energy sources (RESs) contribution. RROSTF-PID based on VIC's success in showing remarkable improvement in the microgrid's dynamic response and enhancement of its stability. Moreover, it handles different contingency …

Configuration And Sizing Of Small Modular Reactor With Thermal Energy Storage Within A Microgrid For Off-Grid Communities, Michael W. C. Davis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Many off-grid communities in Canada rely on diesel generators for their electricity needs. This is not only expensive but also produces significant greenhouse gas emissions. Small modular reactors (SMRs) have been proposed to replace diesel generators and can be combined with photovoltaic (PV) sources to form a microgrid. However, fluctuations in loads and PV create challenges for SMRs. Integrating a thermal energy storage (TES) system with the SMR can increase the flexibility of the power system to operate more effectively. This thesis first examines methodologies to determine suitable configurations of such a microgrid. Through analysis of the system components and …

Seamless Transition Of A Microgrid Between Grid-Connected And Islanded Mode, Julie B. Matarweh

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on improving the behavior of inverters during transition periods from islanded mode to grid-connected mode (GC) and vice-versa. A systematic approach is presented to add smart features to inverters to enhance their capability to cope with sudden changes in the power system.

The importance of microgrids lies in their ability to provide a stable and reliable source of power for critical loads in the presence of faults. For this purpose, a design is proposed consisting of a distributed energy resource (DER), battery energy storage system (BESS) and a load connected through a bypass switch with the main …

Protection Of Microgrids: A Scalable And Topology Agnostic Scheme With Self-Healing Dynamic Reconfiguration, Phani Harsha Gadde

All Dissertations

Momentum towards realizing the smart grid will continue to result in high penetration of renewable fed Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in the Electric Power System (EPS). These DERs will most likely be Inverter Based Resources(IBRs) and will be an integral part of the distribution system in the near future. The drive towards resiliency with these IBRs will enable a modular topology where several microgrids are tied together, operating synchronously to form the future EPS at the distribution level.

Since the microgrids can evolve from existing distribution feeders, they will be unbalanced in load, phases, and feeder impedances. A typical control …

Microgrid Laboratory Wind Energy Integration, Vincent Liang

Master's Theses

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Electrical Engineering Department and the Power Energy Institute have developed a microgrid laboratory with various generators, loads, and protection systems over the past several years. To improve and make the Cal Poly microgrid laboratory more realistic, this thesis outlines the process of improving the EE microgrid setup by adding a wind energy generation system via an induction generator, excitation capacitors, and a protection relay. By adding an induction generator, the microgrid system becomes more resilient to sudden power fluctuations by maintaining a stable voltage and frequency when the microgrid is islanded. To test this, a …

Microgrid Energy Storage Branch, Evan Luu, Jeffrey Shieh

Electrical Engineering

The microgrid is the future for the electrical utility system. Because of this, future power engineers need to be well-versed in this topic when they go into industry. Cal Poly has created a microgrid laboratory for this very purpose. However, it is missing its battery based energy storage branch. Due to safety concerns, a traditional chemical battery is not suitable for student use. In order to maintain Cal Poly’s learn-by-doing approach, an alternative solution must be implemented. A regenerative power supply meets the criteria for student use. It is capable of simulating the sinking and sourcing capabilities of a battery …

Dc Microgrid Fault Detection Using Multiresolution Analysis Of Traveling Waves, Rudy Montoya

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Fast detection and isolation of faults in a DC microgrid is of particular importance. Fast tripping protection (i) increases the lifetime of power electronics (PE) switches by avoiding high fault current magnitudes and (ii) enhances the controllability of PE converters. This thesis proposes a traveling wave (TW) based scheme for fast tripping protection of DC microgrids. The proposed scheme utilizes a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to calculate the high-frequency components of DC fault currents. Multiresolution analysis (MRA) using DWT is utilized to detect TW components for different frequency ranges. The Parseval energy calculated from the MRA coefficients are then used …

Dc Microgrid Fault Detection Using Multiresolution Analysis Of Traveling Waves, Rudy Montoya

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Fast detection and isolation of faults in a DC microgrid is of particular importance. Fast tripping protection (i) increases the lifetime of power electronics (PE) switches by avoiding high fault current magnitudes and (ii) enhances the controllability of PE converters. This thesis proposes a traveling wave (TW) based scheme for fast tripping protection of DC microgrids. The proposed scheme utilizes a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to calculate the high-frequency components of DC fault currents. Multiresolution analysis (MRA) using DWT is utilized to detect TW components for different frequency ranges. The Parseval energy calculated from the MRA coefficients are then used …

Improving Virtual Synchronous Generator Control In Microgrids Using Fuzzy Logic Control, Oroghene Oboreh-Snapps, Rui Bo, Buxin She, Fangxing Fran Li, Hantao Cui

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Virtual synchronous generators (VSG) are designed to mimic the inertia and damping characteristics of synchronous generators (SG), which can improve the frequency response of a microgrid. Unlike synchronous generators whose inertia and damping are restricted by the physical characteristics of the SG, VSG parameters can be more flexibly controlled to adapt to different disturbances. This paper therefore proposes a fuzzy logic controller designed to adaptively set the parameters of the VSG during a frequency event to ensure an improved frequency nadir and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) response. The proposed control method is implemented and tested on the power …

Power Management In Hybrid Anfis Pid Based Ac–Dc Microgrids With Eho Based Cost Optimized Droop Control Strategy, T. Narasimha Prasad, S. Devakirubakaran, S. Muthubalaji, S. Srinivasan, B. Karthikeyan, R. Palanisamy, Mohit Bajaj, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

One of the most critical operations aspects is power management strategies for hybrid AC/DC microgrids. This work presented power management in hybrid AC–DC microgrids with a droop control strategy. At first, photovoltaic, Wind, and battery are used as the power sources, which supply the power with uncertainties. The AC and DC microgrids are controlled by an Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) controller and Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller. Simultaneously we calculate the running cost for photovoltaic, Wind, and Battery. Moreover, an optimizer based on the elephant herding optimization algorithm is formulated to reduce the cost price. This method utilizes two …

Modeling Of Inverter-Based Microgrid For Small-Signal And Large-Signal Stability Analysis, Vishal Verma

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) such as solar photovoltaic, wind, and battery storage, is both a boon and a bane for electric power systems. On one hand, IBRs have helped in making electrical energy a clean (carbon-free) source of energy. On other hand, the dynamics of IBRs have changed the way power system studies have been carried out. With the advantages IBRs offer over conventional resources, it is assumed that a small distribution power system (microgrid) will have a 100% IBRs penetration in the future. Such a microgrid can operate in grid-connected mode or in an islanded mode. Both modes …

Split-Horizon Dual-Stage Dispatch Scheme For A Standalone Microgrid, Aslam Amir

Theses

The advent of microgrids has prompted plenty of studies into its design, control, protection, and implementation, with several operational as well as pilot systems being commissioned worldwide. This necessitates the development of hardware and software for the Energy Management System, the supervisory controller in a microgrid. Hence, this thesis provides a novel dual-stage dispatch scheme for the Energy Management System of a Standalone microgrid by “splitting” the dispatch time horizon into four equal quarters to facilitate better usage of power forecast accuracies. The two stages include Unit Commitment/Scheduling and Economic Dispatch for the dispatchable Distributed Energy Resources based on renewable …

Modeling And Evaluation Of Utility-Scale Microgrid Investment For Distribution System Planning, Ian Schomer

Masters Theses

The electrical distribution network faces two great challenges for the immediate future. First, increased affordability of distributed energy resources (DERs)—and advancing control technologies of inverters that interface them to the grid—have driven a shift from a passive to an active distribution network (ADN), which heightens the complexity of system management. Second, the increased frequency of severe weather events and increased potential for a cybersecurity attack necessitate the need for a resilient infrastructure that can respond adaptively to shutdowns within the system. Microgrids (MGs) present a promising framework both to provide hierarchal control of DERs and to increase resiliency with grid-forming …

Dynamic Analysis Of A Microgrid Powered With An Inverter And Machine-Based Distributed Resources, Brandon William Blackstone

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The proliferation of renewable distributed energy resources, particularly photovoltaic (PV) power systems, and the increasing need for a reliable power supply has led to the concept of microgrids, a mini-grid that consists of locally connected power generation units and needs, able to operate connected or disconnected from the utility grid, using controlled and coordinated methods to provide for the users of the microgrid the best possible conditions for their needs. The main technical issues facing microgrids include some of the following, seamless transition from stand-alone to utility grid connected operation, how to preserve frequency and voltage stability, and provide the …

Development Of A Converter-Based Testing Platform And Battery Energy Storage System (Bess) Emulator For Microgrid Controller Function Evaluation, Dingrui Li

Masters Theses

The microgrid has attracted increasing research attention in the last two decades. Due to the development of renewable energy resources and power electronics technologies, the future microgrid will trend to be smarter and more complicated. The microgrid controller performs a critical role in the microgrid operation, which will also become more and more sophisticated to support the future microgrid. Before final field deployment and test, the evaluation and testing of the controller is an indispensable step in the controller development, which requires a proper testing platform.

However, existing simulation-based platforms have issues with potential numerical oscillation and may require huge …

Automation, Annunciation, And Emergency Safety Shutdown Of A Laboratory Microgrid Using A Real-Time Automation Controller (Rtac), Do Vo

Master's Theses

Over the last decade, microgrid deployments throughout the world have increased. In 2019, a record number of 546 microgrids were installed in the United States [1]. This trend continues upward to combat extreme weather conditions and power shortages throughout the country. To better equip students with the necessary skillsets and knowledge to advance in the microgrid field, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Electrical Engineering Department and the Power Energy Institute have invested resources to develop a laboratory microgrid.

This thesis sets to improve the laboratory microgrid's existing automation using the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory SEL-3530 Real-time Automation Controller (RTAC). The improved …

Digital Twin-Based Cooperative Control Techniques For Secure And Intelligent Operation Of Distributed Microgrids, Ahmed Aly Saad Ahmed

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Networked microgrids play a key role in constructing future active distribution networks for providing the power system with resiliency and reliability against catastrophic physical and cyber incidents. Motivated by the increasing penetration of renewable resources and energy storage systems in the distribution grids, utility companies are encouraged to unleash the capabilities of the distributed microgrid to work as virtual power plants that can support the power systems. The microgrids nature is transforming the grid and their control systems from centralized architecture into distributed architectures. The distributed networked microgrids introduced many benefits to the future smart grids, it created many challenges …

Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading For Networked Microgrids, Jonathan David Warner

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Considering the limitations of the existing centralized power infrastructure, research interests have been directed to decentralized smart power systems constructed as networks of interconnected microgrids. Therefore, it has become critical to develop secure and efficient energy trading mechanisms among networked microgrids for reliability and economic mutual benefits. Furthermore, integrating blockchain technologies into the energy sector has gained significant interest among researchers and industry professionals. Considering these trends, the work in this thesis focuses on developing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading models to facilitate transactions among microgrids in a multiagent network. Price negotiation mechanisms are proposed for both islanded and grid-connected microgrid …

Real Time Adaptive Relay Settings For Microgrid Protection Verified Using Hardware In Loop, Aadam Harnekar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Microgrids with penetration of renewables is imposing new challenges for system protection. Renewables are characterized with high source impedance which limit the short circuit current. The value of short-circuit current is limited due to converters used which limit the current to a maximum of 1.1 to 1.5 times maximum rated load current. This can result in faults during the islanded mode of microgrid to go unnoticed if the relay settings are not adapted to account for it. The presence of such uncleared faults in the microgrid can result in exposing it to overcurrent for a long time which can damage …