Part of the book: Electric Vehicles
Part of the book: MATLAB for Engineers
In this chapter, power losses and mass of optimally designed Si- vs. SiC-based isolated DC-DC converters are compared in quantitative terms. To that end, an adapted version of a computer-aided design tool, previously published by the authors, is used. The database of the existing tool was completed with new wide band gap semiconductor devices currently available from manufacturers. The results are presented for two switch-mode power supplies, each constituted of an isolated DC-DC converter, operating at very different power levels: a 100 kW auxiliary railway power supply and a multiple output 33.5 W power supply intended for a space application. The gains in terms of power losses and mass from one technology to the other can advantageously be evaluated thanks to the developed tool.
Part of the book: Advanced Silicon Carbide Devices and Processing
This chapter addresses the power quality of grid-connected microgrids in steady state. Three different power quality issues are evaluated: the voltage drop, the harmonic distortion, and the phase unbalance. A formulation for an energy management algorithm for microgrids is proposed under the form of a mixed-integer linear optimization including harmonic load flows. It handles both the optimization of the scheduling of all the generation, storage, and load assets, and the resolution of power quality issues at the tertiary level of control by adjusting the levels of certain types of loads within the system. This algorithm is simulated for different scenarios on a conceptual test-case microgrid with residential, industrial, and commercial loads. The results show that the demand-side management mechanism inside the algorithm can adapt efficiently the consumption behavior of certain loads, so that the voltage drop, the voltage total harmonic distortion, and the voltage unbalance factor meet the required standards at every node of the microgrid during the day. It is also highlighted that the microgrid can gradually reduce the purchase of power from the utility grid to which it is connected if the electricity price on the spot market increases.
Part of the book: Micro-grids
In this chapter, we propose the analysis of the maximum power point (MPP) of photovoltaic panels (PV) in a renewable energy application. From the current–voltage characteristics, we deduced the MPP of a PV panel and specified the use of a power block (DC/DC converter) controlled by an MPPT control. In the case of an MPPT control of type perturb and observe, we realized the photovoltaic system that heats a photovoltaic solar cooker, taking into account this MPPT command. The experimentation of this application, during a sunny day, shows that the MPPT control carries out its role correctly, such as optimal operation of the PV panels and heating of the cooker by the maximum power supplied by the PV panels. The analysis of all the results shows an excellent agreement between the experiment and the simulation of the operation of the photovoltaic system which made it possible to operate the photovoltaic panels around their MPP, over the course of the sun. Under these conditions, the efficiency of the proposed DC/DC converter, with a power of 500 Wp, is of the order of 97%.
Part of the book: Solar PV Panels