Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Renewable energy sources
Description
This research work describes the design of a fault current limiter (FCL) using digital logic and a microcontroller based data acquisition system for an ultra fast pilot protection system. These systems have been designed according to the requirements of the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) system (or loop), a 1 MW green energy hub. The FREEDM loop merges advanced power electronics technology with information tech-nology to form an efficient power grid that can be integrated with the existing power system. With the addition of loads to the FREEDM system, the level of fault current rises because of increased energy flow to supply the loads, and this requires the design of a limiter which can limit this current to a level which the existing switchgear can interrupt. The FCL limits the fault current to around three times the rated current. Fast switching Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) with its gate control logic implements a switching strategy which enables this operation. A complete simulation of the system was built on Simulink and it was verified that the FCL limits the fault current to 1000 A compared to more than 3000 A fault current in the non-existence of a FCL. This setting is made user-defined. In FREEDM system, there is a need to interrupt a fault faster or make intelligent deci-sions relating to fault events, to ensure maximum availability of power to the loads connected to the system. This necessitates fast acquisition of data which is performed by the designed data acquisition system. The microcontroller acquires the data from a current transformer (CT). Mea-surements are made at different points in the FREEDM system and merged together, to input it to the intelligent protection algorithm that has been developed by another student on the project. The algorithm will generate a tripping signal in the event of a fault. The developed hardware and the programmed software to accomplish data acquisition and transmission are presented here. The designed FCL ensures that the existing switchgear equipments need not be replaced thus aiding future power system expansion. The developed data acquisition system enables fast fault sensing in protection schemes improving its reliability.
ContributorsThirumalai, Arvind (Author) / Karady, George G. (Thesis advisor) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Hedman, Kory (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This thesis provides a cost to benefit assessment of the proposed next generation distribution system, the Future Renewable Electric Energy Distribution Management (FREEDM) system. In this thesis, a probabilistic study is conducted to determine the payback period for an investment made in the FREEDM distribution system. The stochastic study will help in performing a detailed analysis in estimating the probability density function and statistics associated with the payback period.
This thesis also identifies several parameters associated with the FREEDM system, which are used in the cost benefit study to evaluate the investment and several direct and indirect benefits. Different topologies are selected to represent the FREEDM test bed. Considering the cost of high speed fault isolation devices, the topology design is selected based on the minimum number of fault isolation devices constrained by enhanced reliability. A case study is also performed to assess the economic impact of energy storage devices in the solid state transformers so that the fault isolation devices may be replaced by conventional circuit breakers.
A reliability study is conducted on the FREEDM distribution system to examine the customer centric reliability index, System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). It is observed that the SAIFI was close to 0.125 for the FREEDM distribution system. In addition, a comparison study is performed based on the SAIFI for a representative U.S. distribution system and the FREEDM distribution system.
The payback period is also determined by adopting a theoretical approach and the results are compared with the Monte Carlo simulation outcomes to understand the variation in the payback period. It is observed that the payback period is close to 60 years but if an annual rebate is considered, the payback period reduces to 20 years. This shows that the FREEDM system has a significant potential which cannot be overlooked. Several direct and indirect benefits arising from the FREEDM system have also been discussed in this thesis.
This thesis also identifies several parameters associated with the FREEDM system, which are used in the cost benefit study to evaluate the investment and several direct and indirect benefits. Different topologies are selected to represent the FREEDM test bed. Considering the cost of high speed fault isolation devices, the topology design is selected based on the minimum number of fault isolation devices constrained by enhanced reliability. A case study is also performed to assess the economic impact of energy storage devices in the solid state transformers so that the fault isolation devices may be replaced by conventional circuit breakers.
A reliability study is conducted on the FREEDM distribution system to examine the customer centric reliability index, System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). It is observed that the SAIFI was close to 0.125 for the FREEDM distribution system. In addition, a comparison study is performed based on the SAIFI for a representative U.S. distribution system and the FREEDM distribution system.
The payback period is also determined by adopting a theoretical approach and the results are compared with the Monte Carlo simulation outcomes to understand the variation in the payback period. It is observed that the payback period is close to 60 years but if an annual rebate is considered, the payback period reduces to 20 years. This shows that the FREEDM system has a significant potential which cannot be overlooked. Several direct and indirect benefits arising from the FREEDM system have also been discussed in this thesis.
ContributorsDinakar, Abhishek (Author) / Heydt, Gerald T (Thesis advisor) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The development of new policies favoring integration of renewable energy into the grid has created a need to relook at our existing infrastructure resources and at the way the power system is currently operated. Also, the needs of electric energy markets and transmission/generation expansion planning has created a niche for development of new computationally efficient and yet reliable, simple and robust power flow tools for such studies. The so called dc power flow algorithm is an important power flow tool currently in use. However, the accuracy and performance of dc power flow results is highly variable due to the various formulations which are in use. This has thus intensified the interest of researchers in coming up with better equivalent dc models that can closely match the performance of ac power flow solution.
This thesis involves the development of novel hot start dc model using a power transfer distribution factors (PTDFs) approach. This document also discusses the problems of ill-conditioning / rank deficiency encountered while deriving this model. This model is then compared to several dc power flow models using the IEEE 118-bus system and ERCOT interconnection both as the base case ac solution and during single-line outage contingency analysis. The proposed model matches the base case ac solution better than contemporary dc power flow models used in the industry.
This thesis involves the development of novel hot start dc model using a power transfer distribution factors (PTDFs) approach. This document also discusses the problems of ill-conditioning / rank deficiency encountered while deriving this model. This model is then compared to several dc power flow models using the IEEE 118-bus system and ERCOT interconnection both as the base case ac solution and during single-line outage contingency analysis. The proposed model matches the base case ac solution better than contemporary dc power flow models used in the industry.
ContributorsSood, Puneet (Author) / Tylavsky, Daniel J (Thesis advisor) / Vittal, Vijay (Committee member) / Ayyanar, Raja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014