Balancing loads of rotating generators utilizing VSC direct power controllers in a ship AC/DC smartgrid

F. Hardan*, Rosemary Norman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper considers the case of a ship AC/DC smartgrid configured in the docked mode, where a 1 MW diesel-generator is in operation to supply the AC-side of the grid in addition to a battery-bank connected to the DC-side, and a 0.5MVA Voltage Source Converter (VSC) for bridging the two sides of the grid. In this configuration, three-phase power imbalance can easily occur due to unpredictable per-phase consumer-loads, causing generator torque, power-angle and voltage oscillations that lead to increased fuel consumption and potentially to premature failure. To overcome such a condition, the paper proposes a control method for the VSC which implements three power-controllers for re-balancing the loads on the rotating-generator. Firstly, it presents a fourth-order power-model for the VSC microgrid-connection and the DC-link, including a diesel-generator's electromechanical model. Then the model is expanded to allow the design and implementation of the power-controllers based on an inverse-model technique. This process also includes the analysis and design of integrated DC-link voltage and frequency-droop controllers, and a synthetic-inertia provider. Finally, the paper demonstrates the performance of the complete VSC control system and its parts through a detailed system simulation of the microgrid, which covers performance tests and analysis, demonstrating the elimination of generator torque oscillation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106200
JournalElectric Power Systems Research
Volume182
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
F. Hardan gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship granted by Newcastle University for his academic fellowship, and the award of this fellowship through CARA programme in London, UK.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • Power control
  • Ship power system
  • Smartgrid/Microgrid
  • Synthetic inertia
  • Unbalanced load
  • Voltage source converter (VSC)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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