Modeling, analysis and voltage balancing for DC distribution networks

Abstract

With the technological advancement in power electronics, DC LED lightings, distributed energy sources, DC energy storage systems, and the increasing use of end-user electronics, DC distribution system re-emerge as a potential system for energy savings such as in the case of DC LED lighting system for a built environment. This dissertation examines the DC distribution power flow model using the iterative and nodal analysis based approach. The iterative based approach is used to evaluate the steady-state power losses and determine the system performances for variations of DC LED lighting system. The developed power flow model using nodal based analysis is then analyzed with variations in network operations such as grid islanding, grid-connected and single phase integration. With the developed power flow model, network optimization such as voltage balancing for multi-pole bipolar DC network is carried out. The power flow model established for this dissertation is validated and verified against an actual mock-up DC LED lighting system and a simulated system using Matlab Simulink.