We investigate the use of optimal coordinated control techniques in large eddy simulations of wind farm boundary layer interaction with the aim of increasing the total energy extraction in wind farms. The individual wind turbines are considered as flow actuators, and their energy extraction is dynamically regulated in time, so as to optimally influence the flow field. We extend earlier work on wind farm optimal control in the fully-developed regime (Goit and Meyers 2015, J. Fluid Mech. 768, 5⁻50) to a ‘finite’ wind farm case, in which entrance effects play an important role. For the optimal control, a receding horizon framework is employed in which turbine thrust coefficients are optimized in time and per turbine. Optimization is performed with a conjugate gradient method, where gradients of the cost functional are obtained using adjoint large eddy simulations. Overall, the energy extraction is increased 7% by the optimal control. This increase in energy extraction is related to faster... [more]

A modularized positive temperature coefficient heating system has controller-integrated heater modules. Such a heating system that uses a high-voltage power of 330 V was developed in the present study for use in electric vehicles. Four heater modules and one controller with an input power of 5.6 kW were integrated in the modularized system, which was designed for improved heating power density and light weight compared to the conventional heating system, in which the controller is separated. We experimentally investigated the performance characteristics, namely, the heating capacity, energy efficiency, and pressure drop, of a prototype of the developed heating system and found it to have satisfactory performance. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of heating systems for electric vehicles.

Power converters are the basic unit for the transient voltage fault ride through capability for most renewable distributed generators (DGs). When a transient fault happens, the grid voltage will drop suddenly and probably will also suffer a phase-jump event as well. State-of-the-art voltage fault control techniques regulate the current injected during the grid fault. However, the beginning of the fault could be too fast for the inner current control loops of the inverter, and transient over-current would be expected. In order to avoid the excessive peak current of the methods presented in the literature, a new fast peak current control (FPCC) technique is proposed. Controlling the peak current magnitude avoids undesirable disconnection of the distributed generator in a fault state and improves the life expectancy of the converter. Experimental and simulation tests with high power converters provide the detailed behaviour of the method with excellent results.

The idea to reduce cycle time (𝑇), by controlling the side stream flow rate using a feedforward control model -- the ideal side draw recovery arrangement (ISR) -- was standard in most semicontinuous distillation studies. However, its effect, particularly on ‘𝑇’ and more broadly on the system dynamics, was not clearly understood. In the current study, we compare the performance of using a modified form of ISR model with the status quo, based on the criteria, 𝑇 and separating cost (SC) on different case studies. Results show that the modified control model performed better with a 10-20% reduction in SC while maintaining product purities. Furthermore, the side stream flow rate trajectory that minimizes SC was found by using dynamic optimization and it did not differ a lot from the trajectory generated by the modified control model. The improvement in SC was at most 2%.

Transformerless grid-connected inverters, due to their advantages of high efficiency, small volume and light weight, have been the subject of more research and interest in recent years. Due to the asymmetrical driving signal in pulse width modulation (PWM) caused by time-delay, zero-drift of the current sensors and imparities of the power transistors, output of the grid current contains dc component. As a result, power quality of the grid is degraded. In this paper, a dc (direct current) component suppression scheme with adaptive back-propagation (BP) neural network proportional-integral-differential (PID) control is proposed for dc component minimization. Moreover, sliding-window-double-iteration-method (SWDIM) is utilized for fast dc component extraction. Compared with the conventional method, the proposed scheme shows better performance, and the dc component can be attenuated to be within 0.5% of the rated current.

Voltage sags result in unwanted operation stops and large economical losses in industrial applications. A dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) is a power-electronics-based device conceived to protect high-power installations against these events. However, the design of a DVR control system is not straightforward and it has some peculiarities. First of all, a DVR includes a resonant (LC) connection filter with a lightly damped resonance. Secondly, the control system of a DVR should work properly regardless of the type of load, which can be linear or non-linear, to be protected. In this paper, a digital state-feedback (SF) controller for a DVR is proposed to address these issues. The design and features of the SF controller are studied in detail. Two pole-placement alternatives are discussed and the system robustness is tested under variations in the system parameters. Furthermore, implementation aspects such as discretization not commonly addressed in the literature are described. The control... [more]

This paper proposes a position control method for a low-cost exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve system for automotive applications. Generally, position control systems used in automotive applications have many restrictions, such as cost and space. The mechanical structure of the actuator causes high friction and large differences between static friction and coulomb friction. When this large friction difference occurs, the position control vibrates when the controller uses a conventional linear controller such as the P or PI controller. In this paper, we introduce an inexpensive position control method that can be applied under the high-difference-friction mechanical systems. The proposed method is verified through the use of experiments by comparing it with the results obtained when using a conventional control system.

Energy used for lighting is one of the major components of total energy consumption in buildings. Nowadays, buildings have a great potential to reduce their energy consumption, but to achieve this purpose additional efforts are indispensable. In this study, the need for energy savings evaluation before the implementation of lighting control algorithms for a specified building is highlighted. Therefore, experimental tests have been carried out in a university building with laboratories and other rooms, equipped with KNX building automation system. A dimmable control strategy has been investigated, dependent on daylight illuminance. Moreover, a relationship between external and internal daylight illuminance levels has been evaluated as well. Based on the experimental results, the authors proposed a method for the rough estimation of electrical energy savings. Since, according to the EN 15232 standard, Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) play an important role in buildings’ ene... [more]

This paper deals with the energy management control of a PV-Diesel-ESS-based microgrid in a stand-alone context. In terms of control, an Isolated Mode Control (IMC) strategy based on a resonant regulator is proposed. In Parallel Mode Control (PMC) conditions, the diesel generator (DG) is controlled to operate at its nominal power. In this context, a supervisory algorithm optimizing the power flow between the microgrid’s various components ensures switching between the two modes for different possible scenarios. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies, the energy management control (EMC) is tested first using a standard state of charge (SOC) profile emulating the microgrid different states. Then real data are used to simulate the load and solar radiations. An experimental validation on a reduced scale test bench is carried out to prove the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed energy management control strategies.

This work presents the design and application of two control techniques—a model predictive control (MPC) and a proportional integral derivative control (PID), both in combination with a multilayer perceptron neural network—to produce hydrogen gas on-demand, in order to use it as an additive in a spark ignition internal combustion engine. For the design of the controllers, a control-oriented model, identified with the Hammerstein technique, was used. For the implementation of both controllers, only 1% of the overall air entering through the throttle valve reacted with hydrogen gas, allowing maintenance of the hydrogen⁻air stoichiometric ratio at 34.3 and the air⁻gasoline ratio at 14.6. Experimental results showed that the average settling time of the MPC controller was 1 s faster than the settling time of the PID controller. Additionally, MPC presented better reference tracking, error rates and standard deviation of 1.03 × 10 − 7 and 1.06 × 10 − 14 , and had a gre... [more]

Grid-connected inverters are widely used to interface renewable energy and energy storage resources into the grid. Voltage-controlled inverters have attracted more and more attention due to their grid-friendly characteristics. The mathematical models of the voltage and current loops are developed in this paper, considering especially the discrete control delay caused by calculation and modulation. In order to suppress the resonance peak in the current loop, the frequency characteristics of the current loop are analyzed in detail. The optimum design flow of the current controller and voltage controller parameters are presented based on numerical analysis, and the stability, dynamic performance and the resonance peak suppression in voltage loop are also considered. Finally, the validity of the mathematical model and the effectiveness of the controller parameters design method are verified by simulation and experimental results.

A scientific and effective coordinated control strategy is crucial to the safe and economic operation of a microgrid (MG). With the continuous improvement of the renewable energy source (RES) penetration rate in MG, the randomness and intermittency of its output lead to the increasing regulation pressure of the conventional controllable units, the increase of the operating risk of MG and the difficulty in improving the operational economy. To solve the mentioned problems and take advantage of hybrid energy storage system (HESS), this study proposes a multi-time scale coordinated control scheme of “day-ahead optimization (DAO) + intraday rolling (IDR) + quasi-real-time correction (QRTC) + real-time coordinated control (RTCC).„ Considering the shortcomings of existing low prediction accuracy of distributed RES and loads, the soft constraints such as unit commitment scheduling errors and load switching scheduling errors are introduced in the intraday rolling model, allowing the correction... [more]

Due to the increasing penetration of distributed generations (DGS) and non-negligible grid impedance, the instability problem of the multi-inverter system operating in current source mode (CSM) is becoming serious. In this paper, a closed-loop transfer function model of such a multi-inverter system is established, by which it is concluded that output current resonance will occur with the increase in the grid impedance. In order to address this problem, this paper presents a novel dual-mode control scheme of multiple inverters: one inverter operating in CSM will be alternated into voltage source mode (VSM) if the grid impedance is high. It is theoretically proved that the coupling between the inverters and the resonance in the output current can be suppressed effectively with the proposed scheme. Finally, the validity of the proposed theory is demonstrated by extensive simulations and experiments.

In this paper, the data-driven predictive control method is applied to the clutch speed tracking control for the inertial phase of the shift process. While the clutch speed difference changes according to the predetermined trajectory, the purpose of improving the shift quality is achieved. The data-driven predictive control is implemented by combining the subspace identification with the model predictive control. Firstly, the predictive factors are constructed from the input and output data of the shift process via subspace identification, and then the factors are applied to a prediction equation. Secondly, an optimization function is deduced by taking the tracking error and the increments of inputs into accounts. Finally, the optimal solutions are solved through quadratic programming algorithm in Matlab software, and the future inputs of the system are obtained. The control algorithm is applied to the upshift process of an automatic transmission, the simulation results show that the a... [more]

The optimal P-Q control issue of the active and reactive power for a microgrid in the grid-connected mode has attracted increasing interests recently. In this paper, an optimal active and reactive power control is developed for a three-phase grid-connected inverter in a microgrid by using an adaptive population-based extremal optimization algorithm (APEO). Firstly, the optimal P-Q control issue of grid-connected inverters in a microgrid is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, where six parameters of three decoupled PI controllers are real-coded as the decision variables, and the integral time absolute error (ITAE) between the output and referenced active power and the ITAE between the output and referenced reactive power are weighted as the objective function. Then, an effective and efficient APEO algorithm with an adaptive mutation operation is proposed for solving this constrained optimization problem. The simulation and experiments for a 3 kW three-phase grid-connected... [more]

Most PV systems are usually controlled by a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm to maximize the generated electrical power. However, the maximum power is often unstable and depends on the solar irradiance and temperature. This makes it difficult to control the power grid supply-demand balance due to fluctuations caused by the increase of renewable and variable PV systems. This paper proposes a new control algorithm for a PV-connected inverter called Specified Power Point Tracking (SPPT) control in addition to the conventional Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control. The PV system is controlled to generate the maximum power or a specified power depending on the electricity transactions comes from the electricity trading system. A high-speed FPGA-based digital adaptive hysteresis current control method, which has fast and stable response and simple structure comparing with the popular Sine-triangle Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) method, is proposed to implement the MPPT and... [more]

The paper presents optimal operating point tracking algorithm for wireless charging system using identical coupling coils providing us to meet simultaneously high efficiency and high transmitted power under varied load and detuning conditions. The proposed method is suitable either for purely resistive load or battery load and it is based on phase-shift control between the primary and the secondary voltage. The paper also gives an intuitive mathematical description of the key control idea and demonstrates its operational abilities. The proposed algorithm is finally implemented into digital signal processor (DSP) and tested on 4 kW laboratory prototype of shielded wireless power transfer system.

In order to alleviate the negative impacts of harmonically distorted grid conditions on inverters, this paper presents a linear quadratic regulator (LQR)-based current control design for an inductive-capacitive-inductive (LCL)-filtered grid-connected inverter. The proposed control scheme is constructed based on the internal model (IM) principle in which a full-state feedback controller is used for the purpose of stabilization and the integral terms as well as resonant terms are augmented into a control structure for the reference tracking and harmonic compensation, respectively. Additionally, the proposed scheme is implemented in the synchronous reference frame (SRF) to take advantage of the simultaneous compensation for both the negative and positive sequence harmonics by one resonant term. Since this leads to the decrease of necessary resonant terms by half, the computation effort of the controller can be reduced. With regard to the full-state feedback control approach for the LCL-fi... [more]

In this paper, a Fractional Order Power System controller (FOPSS) is designed, and its performance and robustness are experimentally evaluated by tests in a 10 kVA laboratory scale power system. The FOPSS design methodology is based on the tuning of an additional design variable, namely the fractional order of the controller transfer function. This design variable is tuned aiming to obtain a tradeoff between satisfactory damping of dominant oscillating mode and improved closed-loop system robustness. For controller synthesis, transfer function models were estimated from data collected at selected operating points and subsequently applied for the controller design and for obtaining upper bounds estimates on the operating-point depends on plant uncertainties. The experimental results show that the FOPPS was able to obtain a robust performance for the considered set of the power system operating conditions.

Finite-control-set model predictive current control (FCS-MPCC) has been widely investigated in the field of motor control. When the discrete motor prediction model is not obtained accurately, prediction error often occurs, which can result in improper determinations of optimal voltage vectors and can further affect the control performance of motor systems. However, papers evaluating the motor control performance employing FCS-MPCC rarely consider prediction error and its utilization to weaken the influence of inaccurate prediction model. This paper investigates in depth the prediction error caused by three influencing factors from the perspective of model accuracy—discretization method, prediction stepsize, and parameter mismatch. Firstly, the evaluation index, prediction error, is defined and its formulas considering the above three factors are derived based on interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM). Then, the theoretical analysis of prediction error is provided. Finally,... [more]

The Switched Reluctance Generator (SRG) is suitable for wind power generation due to its good reliability and robustness. However, The SRG system adopting the conventional control algorithm with Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) method has a drawback, low response speed. The pulse train (PT) control has been widely used in dc/dc power converters operating in the discontinuous conduction mode due to its advantages of simple implementation and fast response. In this paper, for the first time, the PT control method is modified and adopted for controlling the output voltage of SRG system in order to achieve fast response. The capacitor current on the output side is sampled and combined with the output voltage to select the pulse trains and the low frequency oscillation cased by PT can be suppressed by tuning the feedback coefficient of the capacitor current. Also, good performance can be guaranteed with a wide range of voltage regulations, fast response, and no overshoot. The experimental platf... [more]

The demands of remarkable reliability and high power density of traction systems are becoming more and more rigorous. The conflicting requirements imposed on the control strategy are higher accuracy and higher efficiency over the whole speed range. However, parameter variations caused by the cross coupling and magnetic saturation effect (omitted from the cross saturation effects in the following) are usually neglected in conventional control strategies, which could reduce the control precision. In order to fully consider the influence of parameter changes on the motor control and derive an approach that could realize the maximum efficiency during the whole speed range, this paper proposes a dynamic DC-link voltage adjustment strategy considering the cross coupling and magnetic saturation effects. The strategy can be categorized into three parts. Firstly, the torque request is transformed to the optimal current reference signal. Secondly, the differences between the setpoint and the rea... [more]

This paper presents a comprehensive approach to analyze and design the voltage and current loops of switching DC-DC converters by using sliding-mode control theory. The approach is interchangeably applied to switching converters under current-programmed control with both fixed and variable frequency modulation. An ideal sliding-mode dynamics model is then obtained together with its circuit schematic representation that can be used for designing the output voltage compensator, as well as to predict the large signal behavior such as during start-up and under large disturbances. Simulations and experimental measurements illustrate the theoretical approach for two different examples of switching converters.

Adaptive proportional resonant (PR) controllers, whose resonant frequencies are obtained by the phase-locked loop (PLL), are employed in grid connected voltage source converters (VSCs) to improve the control performance in the case of grid frequency variations. The resonant frequencies can be estimated by either synchronous reference frame PLL (SRF-PLL) or dual second order generalized integrator frequency locked loop (DSOGI-FLL), and there are three different implementations of the PR controllers based on two integrators. Hence, in this paper, system stabilities of the VSC with different implementations of PR controllers and different PLLs under weak grid conditions are analyzed and compared by applying the impedance-based method. First, the αβ-domain admittance matrixes of the VSC are derived using the harmonic linearization method. Then, the admittance matrixes are compared with each other, and the influences of their differences on system stability are revealed. It is demonstrated... [more]

A distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM) is proposed in this study to improve the power quality, which includes the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid current and power factor (PF), of a mini grid with nonlinear and linear inductive loads. Moreover, the DC-link voltage regulation control of the DSTATCOM is essential especially under load variation conditions. Therefore, to improve the power quality and keep the DC-link voltage of the DSTATCOM constant under the variation of nonlinear and linear loads effectively, the traditional proportional-integral (PI) controller is substituted with a new online trained compensatory fuzzy neural network with an asymmetric membership function (CFNN-AMF) controller. In the proposed CFNN-AMF, the compensatory parameter to integrate pessimistic and optimistic operations of fuzzy systems is embedded in the CFNN. Furthermore, the dimensions of the Gaussian membership functions are directly extended to AMFs for the optimization of the fuzzy ru... [more]