Machine Learning Accelerated Real-Time Model Predictive Control for Power Systems

This paper presents a machine-learning-based speedup strategy for real-time implementation of model-predictive-control(MPC)in emergency voltage stabilization of power systems.Despite success in various applications,real-time implementation of MPC in power systems has not been successful due to the online control computation time required for large-sized complex systems,and in power systems,the computation time exceeds the available decision time used in practice by a large extent.This long-standing problem is addressed here by developing a novel MPC-based framework that i)computes an optimal strategy for nominal loads in an offline setting and adapts it for real-time scenarios by successive online control corrections at each control instant utilizing the latest measurements,and ii)employs a machine-learning based approach for the prediction of voltage trajectory and its sensitivity to control inputs,thereby accelerating the overall control computation by multiple times.Additionally,a realistic control coordination scheme among static var compensators(SVC),load-shedding(LS),and load tap-changers(LTC)is presented that incorporates the practical delayed actions of the LTCs.The performance of the proposed scheme is validated for IEEE 9-bus and 39-bus systems,with±20%variations in nominal loading conditions together with contingencies.We show that our proposed methodology speeds up the online computation by 20-fold,bringing it down to a practically feasible value(fraction of a second),making the MPC real-time and feasible for power system control for the first time.

Physics design of 14 MeV neutron generator facility at the Institute for Plasma Research

A high energy and high yield neutron source is a prime requirement for technological studies related to fusion reactor development. It provides a high-energy neutron environment for small-scale fusion reactor components research and testing such as tritium breeding, shielding, plasmafacing materials, reaction cross-section data study for fusion materials, etc. Along with ITER participation, the Institute of Plasma Research, India is developing an accelerator-based 14 MeV neutron source with a yield of 10^(12)n s^(-1). The design of the source is based on the deuterium–tritium fusion reaction. The deuterium beam is accelerated and delivered to the tritium target to generate 14 MeV neutrons. The deuterium beam energy and tritium availability in the tritium target are the base parameters of the accelerator-based neutron source design. The paper gives the physics design of the neutron generator facility of the Institute for Plasma Research. It covers the requirements, design basis, and physics parameters of the neutron generator. As per the analytical results generator can produce more than 1 × 10^(12)n s^(-1)with a 110 keV D^(+) ion beam of 10 mA and a minimum 5 Ci tritium target. However, the detailed simulation with the more realistic conditions of deuteron ion interaction with the tritium titanium target shows that the desired results cannot be achieved with 110 keV. The safe limit of the ion energy should be 300 keV as per the simulation. At 300 keV ion energy and 20 mA current, it reaches 1.6 × 10^(12)n s^(-1). Moreover, it was found that to ensure sufficiently long operation time a tritium target of more than 20 Ci should be used. The scope of the neutron source is not limited to the fusion reactor research studies, it is extended to other areas such as medical radioisotopes research, semiconductor devices irradiations, and many more.

Control of Non-Deterministic Systems With μ-Calculus Specifications Using Quotienting

The supervisory control problem for discrete event system(DES) under control involves identifying the supervisor, if one exists, which, when synchronously composed with the DES,results in a system that conforms to the control specification. In this context, we consider a non-deterministic DES under complete observation and control specification expressed in action-based propositional μ-calculus. The key to our solution is the process of quotienting the control specification against the plan resulting in a new μ-calculus formula such that a model for the formula is the supervisor. Thus the task of control synthesis is reduced a problem of μ-calculus satisfiability. In contrast to the existing μ-calculus quotienting-based techniques that are developed in deterministic setting, our quotienting rules can handle nondeterminism in the plant models. Another distinguishing feature of our technique is that while existing techniques use a separate μ-calculus formula to describe the controllability constraint(that uncontrollable events of plants are never disabled by a supervisor), we absorb this constraint as part of quotienting which allows us to directly capture more general state-dependent controllability constraints. Finally, we develop a tableau-based technique for verifying satisfiability of quotiented formula and model generation. The runtime for the technique is exponential in terms of the size of the plan and the control specification. A better complexity result that is polynomial to plant size and exponential to specification size is obtained when the controllability property is state-independent. A prototype implementation in a tabled logic programming language as well as some experimental results are presented.

Estimation of drift limits for different seismic damage states of RC frame staging in elevated water tanks using Park and Ang damage index

Damage to elevated water tanks in past earthquakes can be attributed to the poor performance of their supporting frame staging. In order to ascertain the performance of these elevated water tanks, it is crucial to categorize the damage in quantifiable damage states. Among various parameters to quantify the damage states, the top drift of frame staging can be conveniently correlated to the different damage levels. In literature, drift limits corresponding to different damage states of the frame staging of the elevated water tank are not available. In the present study, drift limits for RC frame staging in elevated water tanks corresponding to different seismic damage states have been proposed. Various damage states of the elevated water tank have been determined using the Park and Ang damage index. The Park and Ang damage index utilizes results of both pushover analysis and incremental dynamic analysis. Twelve models of elevated water tanks have been developed considering variation in staging height and tank capacity. Incremental dynamic analysis has been performed using the suite of twelve actual earthquake ground motions. Based on the regression analysis between damage indexes and drift, limiting drift values for each damage state are proposed.