Hybrid Energy Storage Module Utilizing Hardware-in-the-Loop Emulated Distributed Generation

Abstract

Future electrical power systems will integrate a significant number of distributed generation sources that are all intelligently monitored and controlled. It is not always possible to have each potential type of generation source present for laboratory evaluation, and thus hardware-in-the-loop has emerged to utilize hardware validated models as hardware emulated sources in laboratory testbeds. At the University of Texas at Arlington, a low power testbed has been setup on which real and emulated generation sources can be seamlessly integrated and studied under load profiles representative of an end user's application. In the work presented here, a hybrid power system that integrates batteries, ultracapacitors, and an AC generator is being studied. The AC generator is implemented using hardware and then emulated using an OPAL-RT hardware-in-the-loop platform. The validity of using hardware-in-the-loop to emulate these types of sources as well as the ability of the hardware energy storage to buffer the generator is being studied. A description of the hardware setup will be presented along with results collected to date.