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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Performance Evaluation of a Novel Sequence-Based Directional Detection Strategy for Protection of Active Distribution Networks

Directional elements are relied on to achieve selectivity in fault detection in power systems. Although such elements have been deployed successfully for many years, there is an increased need for novel methods to deal with the unique challenges of directional protection in modern distribution networks. This article analyzes the impact of inverter-based resources (IBRs) on existing directional protection methods in distribution systems. It identifies parts of such elements that pose a risk of misoperation when IBRs are used in distribution networks. The authors have developed a new directional detection method for unbalanced faults in such networks using superimposed symmetrical sequence quantities. The phase angle of the superimposed negative sequence admittance is used to determine fault direction. The paper also presents a real-time co-simulation platform between a simulated distribution system and physical protection relay, using OPAL-RT. An SEL-411L relay is used to program the detection algorithm. This hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) setup is used to verify the performance of the method and the results are compared with existing directional methods

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Integration of Multiple Real-time Simulation Platforms with AIO for Scalability

This paper introduces a practical and scalable approach to extend interoperability of Controller Hardware in the Loop (CHIL) validations for large scale microgrids, networked microgrids, and power electronics-based feeders. The work focuses on integrating multiple real-time simulators using Analog Input/Output (AIO) interface techniques in heterogeneous CHIL environment. It explores interfacing methods, highlighting key challenges related to dynamic accuracy and maintaining bidirectional power balance. A comparative evaluation of the Ideal Transformer Method is presented, assessing its effectiveness in multi-CHIL integration scenarios. The feasibility of this setup is demonstrated through a real-time use case involving multiple Typhoon HIL and Opal-RT platforms, showcasing its applicability for distributed system studies.

Khalid, Mohammad [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000179208805)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Synchronverter-based Control of Multi-Port Autonomous Reconfigurable Solar Plants (MARS)

Control of integrated photovoltaic (PV) plants with energy storage systems (ESSs) has become an important research and development topic in recent times. In this context, a Multi-port Autonomous Reconfigurable Solar (MARS) plant that integrates PV and ESS to alternating current transmission grid and high-voltage direct current (HVdc) link is studied in this paper. With penetration of power electronic based resources in the grid, the grid’s capability to recover from frequency or voltage disturbances are reduced. Therefore, one of the vital objectives of any new grid integrated power electronic resource is to provide advanced control functions like voltage and frequency support to the grid during disturbances. In this research work, a detailed implementation of a synchronverter-based control algorithm of MARS is presented. The proposed control algorithm and the MARS control architecture are evaluated through simulations on PSCAD/EMTDC simulation platform to showcase the performance in different operating conditions. In addition, they are evaluated in Opal-RT offline simulation models which can also be used to perform control-hardware-in-the-loop (cHIL) tests.

Marthi, Phani Ratna Vanamali↗
DOE OSTI2022

Real-time Implementation of Grid Code Compliant Grid Edge Energy Management System

Integrated distributed energy resources (DER) in a distribution system need to follow grid codes to avoid violations that result in DER/circuit segment disconnection. To comply with grid code requirements at the grid edge level, network constrained grid edge energy management system (EMS) can be deployed. The objective of grid edge EMS is to provide economic solution for active and reactive power DER setpoints at each dispatch interval and ensure voltage regulation to support secure interconnection of the grid edge segment to the distribution system with multiple inverter based DER units. In this work, real-time simulation of grid code compliant grid edge EMS is deployed in a realistic feeder circuit segment. For real-time simulation, communication between the grid edge EMS and DERs is done exploiting IEC 61850-7-420. It enables interoperability among different DERs and grid edge EMS. No prior art has deployed IEC 61850-7-420 GOOSE communication protocol for grid edge EMS. Conversion of IEC 61850 GOOSE messages to Modbus communication protocol is also performed to communicate with grid edge EMS in commodity-off the shelf embedded boards in this work. The real-time simulation in OPAL-RT real-time digital simulator shows the out-performance of grid edge EMS by reducing the voltage violation in the distribution circuit.

Energy management system↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Current Limiting Control Strategy for Single-Loop Droop-Controlled Grid-Forming Inverters Under Balanced and Unbalanced Faults

Existing studies reporting current limiting control strategies for grid-forming inverters primarily focus on grid-forming inverters that use a multi-loop control structure. This study reports a current limiting control for grid-forming inverters that uses a single-loop control structure. The proposed current limiting control was implemented at the pulse width modulation (PWM) control layer to guarantee a rapid response. Once an overcurrent caused by severe faults is detected, the proposed control strategy immediately blocks relevant insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) using a hysteresis loop, ensuring that the overcurrent is limited within a few PWM cycles. After the fault is cleared, the inverter seamlessly transfers back to droop control mode to maintain stability. The current limiting control has been tested in a microgrid environment operating in the OPAL-RT platform. Study results show that the control strategy can effectively limit the overcurrent under both balanced and unbalanced faults and can maintain system transient stability after the fault is cleared.

Du, Wei↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Medium Voltage Three-Stage Power Converter Topology for Distribution Grid Scale Energy Storage Systems

This work proposes a three-stage converter topology with a medium frequency isolation transformer for direct integration of energy storage systems into medium voltage distribution grids. The distributed architecture of the topology, using standard AC/DC converters, has been developed with the aim of plug-and-play capability and voltage and power scalability. The medium frequency transformer facilitates improved power density, while its 20:1 voltage translation capability enables the use of limited voltage level (500 Vdc) of the commercially available batteries. This paper presents the topology structure and details how it can be scaled to reach the full range of the distribution grid voltages and the required power levels. A transformer design for 500 Hz rated frequency is discussed. The control scheme of the converter equipped with voltage support, frequency support, and black start capabilities is also presented. Control hardware-in-the-loop results using OPAL-RT, with converter switching models connected to a weak IEEE-4 node test feeder modified for the aforementioned grid services, are provided to show the topology feasibility.

Chinthavali, Madhu Sudhan↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of Transverse Compression on the Dielectric Breakdown of Power Cable with Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation

Understanding of the failure mechanisms of submarine dynamic power cables (SDPC) is critical for innovative design to meet the 2035 cost reduction target of U.S. DOE Floating Offshore Wind Shot. This is important because the current design suffers a significant failure rate in the field. This project explored a multiphysics approach and conducted systematic electro-thermo-mechanical (ETM) experimental study on the power cores extracted from a 15 kV power cable. The power cable had three cores of copper conductor and ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) insulation. An ETM testing system with transverse compression capability was developed. Mechanical loading induced dielectric breakdown. Increasing temperature from room temperature (RT, 22 degrees Celsius) to 90 degrees Celsius resulted in the 67% decrease in the failure mechanical load as defined by the dielectric breakdown. With the same temperature rise, the creep mechanical load was reduced by 70% at a given dielectric breakdown time. The post-test measurement revealed an impressive recovery of electrical resistance, although the dielectric breakdown occurred in the ETM test that would not be captured without the use of ETM testing.

Wang, Hong [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000201730545)↗
DOE OSTI2024

DC Microgrid Reliability Enhancement with Adaptive Converter Thermal Management

Due to the different device selections, aging levels, and thermal dissipation performance, some converters may take additional thermal stress on switching devices than others in paralleled converter systems, which will reduce system reliability. To address this problem, this paper proposes a power-sharing strategy with adaptive thermal management. First, the temperature-based power loss model and electrical-thermal model are established. Based on that, a high-accuracy IGBT junction temperature estimate considering the power loss-temperature coupling can be achieved. Further, the thermal-sharing for all the switching devices in paralleled converters can be achieved with the proposed adaptive thermal management strategy. The proposed strategy can change the power-sharing ratio adaptively according to the system operation conditions, which will contribute to the system reliability enhancement. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified through PLECS thermal simulation and joint real-time simulation with Dspace and RT-box.

DC microgrid↗
DOE OSTI2022

Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Distributed Energy Resources System Testbed using IEEE 2030.5 Standard

IEEE 2030.5 standard is drawing special attention among communication protocols for smart inverters and distributed energy resources (DER). Moreover, California Rule 21 mandates new DER must be ready to communicate to a host utility using the IEEE 2030.5 standard. Therefore, development of an effective real-time simulation method for managing DER using IEEE 2030.5 network is crucial. This paper presents a real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) DER system testbed using the IEEE 2030.5 standard. The proposed real-time co-simulation testbed consists of a DER physical system simulation using OP AL-RT real-time simulator and a cyber system simulation including DER gateways and a DER management system (DERMS) cloud server. Custom-built client and server programs are developed to meet the compliant with IEEE 2030.5-2018 standard and implemented in the DER gateways and a DERMS server, respectively. Furthermore, the feasibility of the proposed testbed for DER systems is validated by experiments.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Analysis of Transformer Magnetizing Reactance Using Describing Function in Direct Power Control of Back-to-Back Modular Multilevel Converter with Advanced Grid Support

This paper presents a Port Controlled Hamiltonian based direct power control architecture for a back-to-back modular multilevel converter system connecting two ac sources at different frequencies. The system features advanced grid support functionalities based on IEEE 1547-2018, implemented on the inverter side. The rectifier side controller ensures reference following for active and/or reactive powers and maintains the commanded dc bus voltage. The inverter side controller ensures power command following for active and reactive powers.The proposed control architecture is designed to suppress second harmonic oscillations in powers during unbalanced grid voltage sags by dynamically adjusting the currents on each ac side. This also ensures effective elimination of any second harmonic oscillations in the equivalent dc bus voltage. Validation is performed on an OPAL-RT real-time platform with case studies on unbalanced and balanced sags, demonstrating the controller's effectiveness during real time implementation. A reduced-scale laboratory prototype further verifies these case studies, with experimental results for balanced sags due to grid simulator limitations. The results confirm the robustness and efficiency of the proposed control strategy in ensuring stable and reliable operation under various grid conditions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Practical Start-Up Process of Multiple Grid-Tied Voltage-Sourced Inverters in Laboratory

Starting up inverter-based resources (IBRs) and integrating them into a grid are important in real-world engineering and there are many challenges to be tackled. Using a laboratory-scale hardware test bed (50 Watt and 20 V), this paper demonstrates the challenges and provides a practical start-up process that can smoothly energize two grid-tied voltage-sourced inverters (VSI) and synchronize the VSIs into a 60-Hz grid. The hardware test bed consists of two SiC VSIs and a 45-kW Chroma grid simulator to act as the grid. The inverter controls are implemented in OPAL-RT OP5600, which has the measurements sensed, control algorithms processed, and gate signals generated and sent to the VSI switches. This research focuses on examining how to energize VSIs and how to synchronize the VSIs into the grid. The best energizing approach is summarized based on comparison and analysis of the experiment results. The presented approach can prevent large transients during the start-up process.

Wang, Zhengyu↗
DOE OSTI2020

Reconfigurable Real-Time Power Grid Emulator for Systems With High Penetration of Renewables

Novel power system control and new utility devices need to be tested before their actual deployment to the power grid. To assist with such a testing need, real-time digital emulators such as RTDS and Opal-RT can be used to connect to the physical world and form a hardware in the loop (HIL) emulation. However, due to the limitations of today's computational resources, the accuracy and fidelity suffer from different levels of model reductions in purely digital simulations. CURENT has developed a reconfigurable electric grid hardware testbed (HTB) to overcome the limitations of digital emulators. The HTB has been used to develop measurement, control, modeling, and actuation techniques for a national grid with a high penetration of renewables. The power electronic-based system includes emulators for synchronous generators; photovoltaics with grid-interfacing inverter; wind turbines; induction motor loads, ZIP loads, power electronic loads; batteries; ac and dc transmission lines; short circuit faults and grid relay protection; and a multiterminal HVDC overlay including power electronics interfaces. The system contains real elements of power flow, measurement, communication, protection, and control that mimic what would be seen in an actual electric grid. This paper presents an overview of the HTB and several scenarios that have been run to determine control and actions needed for the future power grid.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microgrid Power Flow Control with Integrated Battery Management Functions

This paper presents a microgrid power flow control for islanded microgrids consisting of photovoltaic (PV) system, battery energy storage system (BESS) and diesel generator. The proposed control ensures automatic coordination among the microgrid units. To achieve the coordination, the local control of PV system and BESS are configured to regulate power flow without relying on communications. The generator is controlled as the back-up source and its connection depends on battery state of charge (SOC). A state machine with hysteresis settings is used to trigger smooth transition among operation modes. Not only does the proposed controller consider battery SOC and power limits, but also integrates three-stage charging control as battery charging mechanism, which is not considered in the existing literature. The proposed control is validated for an islanded hybrid microgrid using an OPAL-RT real-time simulator.

Long, Qian↗
DOE OSTI2021

Maximum Power Reference Tracking Algorithm for Power Curtailment of Photovoltaic Systems

This paper presents an algorithm for power curtailment of photovoltaic (PV) systems under fast solar irradiance intermittency. Based on the Perturb and Observe (P&O) technique, the method contains an adaptive gain that is compensated in real-time to account for moments of lower power availability. In addition, an accumulator is added to the calculation of the step size to reduce the overshoot caused by large irradiance swings. A testbed of a three-phase single-stage, 500 kVA PV system is developed on the OPAL-RT eMEGAsim real-time simulator. Field irradiance data and a regulation signal from PJM (RTO) are used to compare the performance of the proposed method with other techniques found in the literature. Results indicate an operation with smaller overshoot, less dc-link voltage oscillations, and improved power reference tracking capability.

Paduani, Victor↗
DOE OSTI2021

Challenges and Solutions for Real-Time Phasor Modeling of Large-scale Distribution Network with High PV Penetration

The conversion process of a practical large-scale feeder data from a quasi-static time series (OpenDSS) model into a real-time phasor model (ePHASORSIM in Opal-RT) is discussed in the paper. The process is implemented using an open source Python software. Previous reported implementations for the conversion process lead to several errors when applied to a larger-scale system such as the one considered here. Hence in this work, we describe the common issues in this conversion and propose a customized solution to enhance the efficiency of the conversion and reduce the complexity in the process. A quantitative validation of the enhanced conversion process is presented in this work using an actual high PV penetration feeder model that consists of 2230 buses, and using actual load and PV profile data. After a detailed analysis, this customized conversion software will be made available as an open source tool and is expected to be helpful for researchers who want to pursue a similar conversion. Solutions to various observed issues such as identifying the lines due to islanded network, representation of full impedance model of transformer/lines as sequential models, complexity in the representation of single phase buses/lines as three phase buses/lines to make it compatible with the simulator platform are discussed. Comparison of power flow and time series simulation results obtained from both OpenDSS and ePHASORsim models show very low errors, validating the accuracy of the proposed conversion process.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Spatio-Temporal Deep Graph Network for Event Detection, Localization, and Classification in Cyber-Physical Electric Distribution System

This work proposes a deep graph learning framework to identify, locate, and classify power, cyber, and cyber power events at the distribution system level. The proposed algorithm jointly exploits spatial, temporal, and node-level cyber and physical data features. The developed graph neural network, together with a deep autoencoder, utilizes physical measurements from distribution level phasor measurement units and cyber data from communication network logs. The spatial structure of the synchrophasor measurements and network is incorporated through a weighted adjacency matrix. The temporal structure is incorporated by defining a spatial operation in the gated recurrent unit. This spatio-temporal learning element resides inside a power event detection, localization, and classification module that provides the degree of confidence for an event label. To accurately pinpoint the location of an event to the nearest bus equipped with a measurement unit, a combination of squared error and proximity score is utilized. Also included is a cyber event detection module that employs heteroskedasticity to analyze the significance of various cyber features during different types of attacks. Finally, a dual-bit cyber-power decision table determines the nature of the event. The proposed method is validated on two distribution systems modeled in OPAL-RT/Hypersim with limited phasor measurement units for different possible physical and cyber events. Further analyses include comparison with other state-of-the-art methods and validation in the presence of measurement noise. As a result, our method outperforms existing approaches and achieves an average detection accuracy of 97.97%, F1-score of 96.88%, precision of 96.53%, and recall of 98.57%.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗