ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- Creators: Ayyanar, Raja
Description
Distributed energy resources have experienced dramatic growth and are beginning to support a significant amount of customer loads. Power electronic converters are the primary interface between the grid and the distributed energy resources/storage and offer several advantages including fast control, flexibility and high efficiency. The efficiency and the power density by volume are important performance metrics of a power converter. Compact and high efficiency power converter is beneficial to the cost-effectiveness of the converter interfaced generations. In this thesis, a soft-switching technique is proposed to reduce the size of passive components in a grid-connected converter while maintaining a high power conversion efficiency. The dynamic impact of the grid-connected converters on the power system is causing concerns as the penetration level of the converter interfaced generation increases, necessitating a detailed dynamic analysis. The unbalanced nature of distribution systems makes the conventional transient stability simulation based on positive sequence components unsuitable for this purpose. Methods suitable for the dynamic simulation of grid-connected converters in large scale unbalanced and single-phase systems are presented in this thesis to provide an effective way to study the dynamic interactions between the grid and the converters. Dynamic-link library (DLL) of converter dynamic models are developed by which converter dynamic simulations can be easily conducted in OpenDSS. To extend the converter controls testing beyond pure simulation, real-time simulation can be utilized where partial realistic scenarios can be created by including realistic components in the simulation loop. In this work, a multi-platform, real-time simulation testbed including actual digital controller platforms, communication networks and inverters has been developed for validating the microgrid concepts and implementations. A hierarchical converted based microgrid control scheme is proposed which enables the islanded microgrid operation with 100% penetration level of converter interfaced generation. Impact of the load side dynamic modeling on the converter response is also discussed in this thesis.
ContributorsYu, Ziwei (Author) / Ayyanar, Raja (Thesis advisor) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Qin, Jiangchao (Committee member) / Weng, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) is an integral component that converts DC voltage to AC voltage suitable for driving the electric motor in Electric Vehicles/Hybrid Electric Vehicles (EVs/HEVs) and integration with electric grid in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) converter. Performance of VSI is significantly impacted by the type of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) method used.In this work, a new PWM method called 240° Clamped Space Vector PWM (240CPWM) is studied extensively. 240CPWM method has the major advantages of clamping a phase to the positive or negative rail for 240° in a fundamental period, clamping of two phases simultaneously at any given instant, and use of only active states, completely eliminating the zero states. These characteristics lead to a significant reduction in switching losses of the inverter and lower DC link capacitor current stress as compared to Conventional Space Vector PWM. A unique six pulse dynamically varying DC link voltage is required for 240CPWM instead of constant DC link voltage to maintain sinusoidal output voltage. Voltage mode control of DC-DC stage with Smith predictor is developed for shaping the dynamic DC link voltage that meets the requirements for fast control.
Experimental results from a 10 kW hardware prototype with 10 kHz switching frequency validate the superior performance of 240CPWM in EV/HEV traction inverters focusing on loss reduction and DC link capacitor currents. Full load efficiency with the proposed 240CPWM for the DC-AC stage even with conventional Silicon devices exceeds 99%.
Performance of 240CPWM is evaluated in three phase grid-connected PV converter. It is verified experimentally that 240CPWM performs well under adverse grid conditions like sag/swell and unbalance in grid voltages, and under a wide range of power factor. Undesired low frequency harmonics in inverter currents are minimized using the Harmonic Compensator that results in Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of 3.5% with 240CPWM in compliance with grid interconnection standards. A new, combined performance index is proposed to compare the performance of different PWM schemes in terms of switching loss, THD, DC link current stress, Common Mode Voltage and leakage current. 240CPWM achieves the best value for this index among the PWM methods studied.
ContributorsQamar, Haleema (Author) / Ayyanar, Raja (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Lei, Qin (Committee member) / Weng, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The past few years have witnessed a significant growth of distributed energy resources (DERs) in power systems at the customer level. Such growth challenges the traditional centralized model of conventional synchronous generation, making a transition to a decentralized network with a significant increase of DERs. This decentralized network requires a paradigm change in modeling distribution systems in more detail to maintain the reliability and efficiency while accommodating a high level of DERs. Accurate models of distribution feeders, including the secondary network, loads, and DER components must be developed and validated for system planning and operation and to examine the distribution system performance. In this work, a detailed model of an actual feeder with high penetration of DERs from an electrical utility in Arizona is developed. For the primary circuit, distribution transformers, and cables are modeled. For the secondary circuit, actual conductors to each house, as well as loads and photovoltaic (PV) units at each premise are represented. An automated tool for secondary network topology construction for load feeder topology assignation is developed. The automated tool provides a more accurate feeder topology for power flow calculation purposes. The input data for this tool consists of parcel geographic information system (GIS) delimitation data, and utility secondary feeder topology database. Additionally, a highly automated, novel method to enhance the accuracy of utility distribution feeder models to capture their performance by matching simulation results with corresponding field measurements is presented. The method proposed uses advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) voltage and derived active power measurements at the customer level, data acquisition systems (DAS) measurements at the feeder-head, in conjunction with an AC optimal power flow (ACOPF) to estimate customer active and reactive power consumption over a time horizon, while accounting for unmetered loads. The method proposed estimates both voltage magnitude and angle for each phase at the unbalanced distribution substation. The accuracy of the method developed by comparing the time-series power flow results obtained from the enhancement algorithm with OpenDSS results and with the field measurements available. The proposed approach seamlessly manages the data available from the optimization procedure through the final model verification.
ContributorsMontano-Martinez, Karen Vanessa (Author) / Vittal, Vijay (Thesis advisor) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Weng, Yang (Committee member) / Pal, Anamitra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The performance of voltage source inverter (VSI) in terms of output waveform quality, conversion efficiency and common mode noise depends greatly on the pulse width modulation (PWM) method. In this work, a low-loss space vector PWM i.e., 240°-clamped space vector PWM (240CPWM) is proposed to improve the performance of VSIs in electric/hybrid electric vehicles (EV/HEVs) and grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. The salient features of 240CPWM include 240° clamping of each phase pole to positive or negative DC bus in a fundamental cycle ensuring that switching losses are reduced by a factor of seven as compared to conventional space vector PWM (CSVPWM) at unity power factor. Zero states are completely eliminated and only two nearest active states are used ensuring that there is no penalty in terms of total harmonic distortion (THD) in line current. The THD of the line current is analyzed using the notion of stator flux ripple and compared with conventional and discontinuous PWM method. Discontinuous PWM methods achieve switching loss reduction at the expense of higher THD while 240CPWM achieves a much greater loss reduction without impacting the THD. The analysis and performance of 240CPWM are validated on a 10 kW two-stage experimental prototype.
Common mode voltage (CMV) and leakage current characteristics of 240CPWM are analyzed in detail. It is shown analytically that 240CPWM reduces the CMV and leakage current as compared to other PWM methods while simultaneously reducing the switching loss and THD. Experimental results from a 10-kW hardware prototype conform to the analytical discussions and validate the superior performance of 240CPWM.
240CPWM requires a six-pulse dynamic DC link voltage that introduces low frequency harmonics in DC input current and/or AC line currents that can affect maximum power point tracking, battery life or THD in line current. Four topologies have been proposed to minimize the low frequency harmonics in input and line currents in grid-connected PV system with 240CPWM.
In order to achieve further benefits in terms of THD and device stress reduction, 240CPWM is extended to three-level inverters. The performance metrics such as THD and switching loss for 240CPWM are analyzed in three-level inverter.
ContributorsQamar, Hafsa (Author) / Ayyanar, Raja (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Lei, Qin (Committee member) / Weng, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) have become an attractive technology for high power applications. One of the main challenges associated with control and operation of the MMC-based systems is to smoothly precharge submodule (SM) capacitors to the nominal voltage during the startup process. The existing closed-loop methods require additional effort to analyze the small-signal model of MMC and tune control parameters. The existing open-loop methods require auxiliary voltage sources to charge SM capacitors, which add to the system complexity and cost. A generalized precharging strategy is proposed in this thesis.
For large-scale MMC-embedded power systems, it is required to investigate dynamic performance, fault characteristics, and stability. Modeling of the MMC is one of the challenges associated with the study of large-scale MMC-based power systems. The existing models of MMC did not consider the various configurations of SMs and different operating conditions. An improved equivalent circuit model is proposed in this thesis.
The solid state transformer (SST) has been investigated for the distribution systems to reduce the volume and weight of power transformer. Recently, the MMC is employed into the SST due to its salient features. For design and control of the MMC-based SST, its operational principles are comprehensively analyzed. Based on the analysis, its mathematical model is developed for evaluating steady-state performances. For optimal design of the MMC-based SST, the mathematical model is modified by considering circuit parameters.
One of the challenges of the MMC-based SST is the balancing of capacitor voltages. The performances of various voltage balancing algorithms and different modulation methods have not been comprehensively evaluated. In this thesis, the performances of different voltage-balancing algorithms and modulation methods are analyzed and evaluated. Based on the analysis, two improved voltage-balancing algorithms are proposed in this thesis.
For design of the MMC-based SST, existing references only focus on optimal design of medium-frequency transformer (MFT). In this thesis, an optimal design procedure is developed for the MMC under medium-frequency operation based on the mathematical model of the MMC-based SST. The design performance of MMC is comprehensively evaluated based on free system parameters.
For large-scale MMC-embedded power systems, it is required to investigate dynamic performance, fault characteristics, and stability. Modeling of the MMC is one of the challenges associated with the study of large-scale MMC-based power systems. The existing models of MMC did not consider the various configurations of SMs and different operating conditions. An improved equivalent circuit model is proposed in this thesis.
The solid state transformer (SST) has been investigated for the distribution systems to reduce the volume and weight of power transformer. Recently, the MMC is employed into the SST due to its salient features. For design and control of the MMC-based SST, its operational principles are comprehensively analyzed. Based on the analysis, its mathematical model is developed for evaluating steady-state performances. For optimal design of the MMC-based SST, the mathematical model is modified by considering circuit parameters.
One of the challenges of the MMC-based SST is the balancing of capacitor voltages. The performances of various voltage balancing algorithms and different modulation methods have not been comprehensively evaluated. In this thesis, the performances of different voltage-balancing algorithms and modulation methods are analyzed and evaluated. Based on the analysis, two improved voltage-balancing algorithms are proposed in this thesis.
For design of the MMC-based SST, existing references only focus on optimal design of medium-frequency transformer (MFT). In this thesis, an optimal design procedure is developed for the MMC under medium-frequency operation based on the mathematical model of the MMC-based SST. The design performance of MMC is comprehensively evaluated based on free system parameters.
ContributorsZhang, Lei (Author) / Qin, Jiangchao (Thesis advisor) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Weng, Yang (Committee member) / Wu, Meng (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The power-flow problem has been solved using the Newton-Raphson and Gauss-Seidel methods. Recently the holomorphic embedding method (HEM), a recursive (non-iterative) method applied to solving nonlinear algebraic systems, was applied to the power-flow problem. HEM has been claimed to have superior properties when compared to the Newton-Raphson and other iterative methods in the sense that if the power-flow solution exists, it is guaranteed that a properly configured HEM can find the high voltage solution and, if no solution exists, HEM will signal that unequivocally. Provided a solution exists, convergence of HEM in the extremal domain is claimed to be theoretically guaranteed by Stahl’s convergence-in-capacity theorem, another advantage over other iterative nonlinear solver.In this work it is shown that the poles and zeros of the rational function from fitting the local PMU measurements can be used theoretically to predict the voltage-collapse point. Different numerical methods were applied to improve prediction accuracy when measurement noise is present.
It is also shown in this work that the dc optimal power flow (DCOPF) problem can be formulated as a properly embedded set of algebraic equations. Consequently, HEM may also be used to advantage on the DCOPF problem. For the systems examined, the HEM-based interior-point approach can be used to solve the DCOPF problem.
While the ultimate goal of this line of research is to solve the ac OPF; tackled in this work, is a precursor and well-known problem with Padé approximants: spurious poles that are generated when calculating the Padé approximant may, at times, prevent convergence within the functions domain. A new method for calculating the Padé approximant, called the Padé Matrix Pencil Method was developed to solve the spurious pole problem. The Padé Matrix Pencil Method can achieve accuracy equal to that of the so-called direct method for calculating Padé approximants of the voltage-functions tested while both using a reduced order approximant and eliminating any spurious poles within the portion of the function’s domain of interest: the real axis of the complex plane up to the saddle-node bifurcation point.
ContributorsLi, Songyan (Author) / Tylavsky, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Weng, Yang (Committee member) / Wu, Meng (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021