Current Issue : January-March Volume : 2022 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
Hardware in the loop is a widely used technique in power electronics, allowing to test and debug in real time (RT) at a low cost. In this context, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) play an important role due to the high-speed requirements of RT simulations, in which area optimization is also crucial. Both characteristics, area and speed, are affected by the numerical formats (NFs) and their rounding modes. Regarding FPGAs, Xilinx is one of the largest manufacturers in the world, offering Vivado as its main design suite, but it was not until the release of Vivado 2020.2 that support for the IEEE NF libraries of VHDL-2008 was included. This work presents an exhaustive evaluation of the performance of Vivado 2020.2 in terms of area and speed using the native IEEE libraries of VHDL-2008 regarding NF. Results show that even though fixed-point NFs optimize area and speed, if a user prefers the use of floating-point NFs, with this new release, it can be synthesized—which could not be done in previous versions of Vivado. Although support for the native IEEE libraries of VHDL-2008 was included in Vivado 2020.2, it still lacks some issues regarding NF conversion during synthesis while support for simulation is not yet included....
In this work, the development of an energy recovery control unit to be incorporated in the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) lighting systems of heavy-duty vehicles is presented. This innovative industrial product adopts modern power electronics technology to improve existing trucks’ LED lighting system by eliminating the so far inevitable power consumption by the conventional central control unit of the majority of these vehicles, which is obligatory for the uninterruptable operation of their lighting system. The main idea of this innovative product is its capability to virtually increase the lighting system power consumption without actually consuming this amount of energy, thus facilitating the central control unit requirements regarding these vehicles in an energy-conscious way. Under this light, a mature power converter’s topology is employed to draw the proper amounts of power from the vehicle’s batteries supply, to the level that the central control unit recognizes, and return this energy back to the batteries. The tests results of the developed industrial product highlight the energy saving potential of the proposed energy recovery scheme, while the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) results confirm its techno-economical and environmental profit for the truck applications under study....
The modular multilevel converter–bidirectional DC–DC converter (MMC–BDC) has been proposed to be utilized in the vessel integrated power system to interconnect the medium voltage bus and the distributed energy storage elements. In the shipboard applications, MMC–BDC faces unbalanced sub-module power operation because of the inconsistent state-of-charge (SOC) of the energy storage elements. Researchers have investigated into the unbalanced operation principle of MMC–BDC and proposed some unbalanced operation control strategies, but these traditional strategies do not perform well in both aspects of operating range and efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel Lyapunov-function-based feedback linearization control strategy for the independent sub-module voltage control of MMC–BDC, which not only shows wide unbalanced operation range and high efficiency, but also realizes the decoupling and symmetrical control of the sub-module capacitor voltages....
In the science and engineering fields of study, a hands-on learning experience is as crucial a part of the learning process for the student as the theoretical aspect of a given subject. With the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, educational institutions were forced to migrate to digital platforms to ensure the continuity of the imparted lectures. The online approach can be challenging for engineering programs, especially in courses that employ practical laboratory methods as the primary teaching strategies. Laboratory courses that include specialized hardware and software cannot migrate to a virtual environment without compromising the advantages that a hands-on method provides to the engineering student. This work assesses different approaches in the virtualization process of a laboratory facility, diving these into key factors such as required communication infrastructure and available technologies; it opens a discussion on the trends and possible obstacles in the virtualization of a Real-Time (RT) laboratory intended for Microgrid education in a power electronics laboratory course, exposing the main simulation strategies that can be used in an RT environment and how these have different effects on the learning process of student, as well as addressing the main competencies an engineering student can strengthen through interaction with RT simulation technologies....
Today, there is a large increase in the demand for electricity. ,e transmission and distribution networks, however, cannot fulfill unbound demands due to the scarcity of resources. Power lines have losses which make the situation more unfavorable for maximum power transfer. Implementing a flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) is one of the best ways to reduce line losses. ,is paper proposes a FACTS-based method for minimizing the fault current in the system. Switchgear and protection equipment also perform better when this is done. Moreover, due to the reduced fault current of the switched system, a larger amount of power can be transmitted. Static synchronous series compensator (SSSC), static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), and unified power flow controller (UPFC) are evaluated in this case. With STATCOM and UPFC, fault currents are significantly reduced. Furthermore, STATCOM and UPFC can also reduce the fault currents in the power system in addition to voltage regulation and power flow control. A MATLAB/Simulink model is used to evaluate the model’s feasibility....
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