SmartMicro Grid Energy System Management Based on Optimum Running Cost for Rural Communities in Rwanda

The governmental electric utility and the private sector are joining hands to meet the target of electrifying all households by 2024.However,the aforementioned goal is challenged by households that are scattered in remote areas.So far,Solar Home Systems(SHS)have mostly been applied to increase electricity access in rural areas.SHSs have continuous constraints to meet electricity demands and cannot run income-generating activities.The current research presents the feasibility study of electrifying Remera village with the smart microgrid as a case study.The renewable energy resources available in Remera are the key sources of electricity in that village.The generation capacity is estimated based on the load profile.The microgrid configurations are simulated with HOMER,and the genetic algorithm is used to analyze the optimum cost.By analyzing the impact of operation and maintenance costs,the results show that the absence of subsidies increases the levelized cost of electricity(COE)five times greater than the electricity price from the public utility.The microgrid made up of PV,diesel generator,and batteries proved to be the most viable solution and ensured continuous power supply to customers.By considering the subsidies,COE reaches 0.186$/kWh,a competitive price with electricity from public utilities in Rwanda.

TCP/IP Based Intelligent Load Management System in Micro-Grids Network Using MATLAB/Simulink

Computerized power management system with fast and optimal communication network overcomes all major dicrepencies of undue or inadequate load relief that were present in old conventional systems. This paper presents the basic perception and methodology of modern and true intelligent load management scheme in micro grids topology by employing TCP/IP protocol for fast and intelligent switching. The network understudy performs load management and power distribution intelligently in a unified network. Generated power is efficiently distributed among local loads through fast communication system of server in the form of source and clients in the form of loads through TCP/IP. The efficient use of information between server and clients enables to astutely control the load management in a power system of micro grids system. The processing time of above stated system comes out to be 10ms faster than others which ensure very less delay as compared to conventional methods. The Micro Grids system operating through TCP/IP control has been implemented in MATLAB/Simulink and results have been verified.

Study of Micro Grid Safety &Protection Strategies with Control System Infrastructures

Microgrids have been proposed in order to improve reliability and stability of electrical system and to ensure power quality of grid. Microgrid consists of low voltage distribution systems with distributed energy resources, such as wind turbine and photovoltaic power systems, together with storage devices. It is essential to protect a micro grid in both the grid-connected and the islanded mode of operation against all different types of faults. This paper describes micro grid protection and safety concept with central control and monitoring unit where multifunctional intelligent digital relay could be used. This central control & monitoring infrastructure is used for adaptive relay settings strategy for micro grid protection. Also operational safety design concept and fault mitigation technique is proposed to ensure confidence in protection system.

Comparison the Performances of Three Earthing Systems for Micro-Grid Protection during the Grid Connected Mode

This paper presents, tests and compares three earthing systems (TT, TN and IT) for Micro-Grid (MG) protection against various fault types during the connected mode. The main contribution of this work is including the models of all the micro sources which interfaced to the MG by power electronic inverters. Inverters in turns are provided with current limiters and this also included in the inverter models to exactly simulate the real situation in the MG during fault times. Results proved that the most suitable earthing system for MG protection during the connecting mode is the TN earthing system. That system leads to a suitable amount of fault current sufficient to activate over current protection relays. With using TN system, Touch voltages at the faulted bus and all other consumer’s buses are less than the safety limited value if current limiter is included with the transformer of the main grid which connects MG. For the two others earthing systems (TT and IT), fault current is small and nearly equal to the over load current which make over current protection relay can not differentiate between fault current and overload current. All models of micro sources, earthing systems, inverters, main grid and control schemes are built using Matlab?/Simulink? environment.

Design and Testing of Three Earthing Systems for Micro-Grid Protection during the Islanding Mode

This paper presents and tests three earthing systems (TT, TN and IT) for Micro-Grid (MG) protection against various fault types when the MG transferred to the islanding mode. The main contribution of this work is including the models of all micro sources which interfaced to the MG by power electronic inverters. Inverters in turns are provided with current limiters and this also included with the inverter models to exactly simulate the real situation in the MG during fault times. Results proved that the most suitable earthing system for MG protection during the islanding mode is the TN earthing system. That system leads to a suitable amount of fault current sufficient to activate over current pro-tection relays. With using TN earthing system, touch voltages at the faulted bus and all other consumer’s buses are less than the safety limited values during islanding mode. For the two others earthing systems (TT and IT), fault currents are small and nearly equal to the over load currents which make over current protection relay can not differentiate between fault currents and overload currents. All models of micro sources, earthing systems, inverters and control schemes are built using Matlab?/Simulink? environment.

Micro-arc oxidation coatings on Mg-Li alloys

Micro-arc oxidation (MAO) method was used for the surface modification of an Mg-5wt.%Li alloy. Ceramic coatings were in-situ fabricated on the Mg-Li alloy. The morphology feature,phase composition,and corrosion-resistance of the formed ceramic coatings were studied by SEM,XRD,and electrochemical methods,respectively. The results showed that the coatings produced in a sodium silicate solution system were composed of MgO and Mg2SiO4. The ceramic coating became thicker and the content of Mg2SiO4 phase increase...

Effects of Zn content on the microstructure and the mechanical and corrosion properties of as-cast low-alloyed Mg–Zn–Ca alloys

The effects of Zn content on the microstxucture and the mechanical and corrosion properties of as-cast low-alloyed Mg-xZn~.2Ca alloys （x = 0.6wt%, 2.0wt%, 2.5wt%, hereafter denoted as 0.6Zn, 2.0Zn, and 2.5Zn alloys, respectively） axe investigated. The results show that the Zn content not only influences grain refinement but also induces different phase precipitation behaviors. The as-cast microstxucture of the 0.6Zn alloy is composed of ct-Mg, Mg2Ca, and Ca2Mg6Zn3 phases, whereas 2.0Zn and 2.5Zn alloys only contain ct-Mg and Ca2Mg6Zn3 phases, as revealed by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and txonsmission electron microscopy （TEM） analyses. Moreover, with in- creasing Zn content, both the ultimate tensile strength （UTS） and the elongation to fracture first increase and then decrease. Among the three investigated alloys, the largest UTS （178 MPa） and the highest elongation to fracture （6.5%） are obtained for the 2.0Zn alloy. In addition, the corrosion rate increases with increasing Zn content. This paper provides on updated investigation of the alloy composi- tion-microstxucture-property relationships of different Zn-containing Mg-Zn-Ca alloys.

Micro-source Inverters With Capacitive Equivalent Output Impedance for Improving Micro-grid Voltages

将分布式电源逆变器等效输出阻抗设计成容性可使其体现对系统无功电压调整过程相逆的电源特性,这种特性使得分布式电源逆变器更容易参与公共连接点处的电压调整。对比等效输出阻抗成感性、阻性和容性的3类逆变器下垂控制特性,对容性等效输出阻抗逆变器电压电流控制环进行数学建模;针对容性等效输出阻抗逆变器设计具备下垂调节和克服电压偏离功能的鲁棒功率外环控制器。对比仿真和实验证明,容性输出阻抗分布式电源逆变器控制器能够快速抑制系统功率变化带来的电压波动,能有效地参与系统电压调整。

Optoelectronic characterisation of an individual ZnO nanowire in contact with a micro-grid template

Optoelectronic characterisation of an individual ZnO nanowire in contact with a micro-grid template has been studied. The low-cost micro-grid template made by photolithography is used to fabricate the ohmic contact metal electrodes. The current increases linearly with the bias, indicating good ohmic contacts between the nanowire and the electrodes. The resistivity of the ZnO nanowire is calculated to be 3.8 Ω·cm. We investigate the photoresponses of an individual ZnO nanowire under different light illumination using light emitting diodes （λ= 505 nm, 460 nm, 375 nm） as excitation sources in atmosphere. When individual ZnO nanowire is exposured to different light irradiation, we find that it is extremely sensitive to UV illumination; the conductance is much larger upon UV illumination than that in the dark at room temperature. This phenomenon may be related to the surface oxygen molecule adsorbtion, which indicates their potential application to the optoelectronic switching device.

Effects of micro-alloying with Sc and Mn on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Mg based alloys

An extensive investigation was made on the effects of micro-alloying with small amounts of Sc and Mn on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Al-Mg based alloys. It is found that the micro-alloying can significantly enhance the tensile strength of the alloys, and eliminate the dendritic cast structure in it. Many fine, spherical and dispersive Al3Sc particles are found in the annealed Al-Mg-Mn-Sc alloys, which can strongly pin up dislocations and subgrain boundaries, thus strongly retarding the recrystallization of the alloys. The strengthening of the micro-alloyed Al-Mg alloys is attributed to the precipitation strengthening by the Al3Sc particles and to the substructure strengthening.

Microstructures and properties of rapidly solidified Mg-Zn-Ca alloys

Ternary alloys based on the Mg-Zn-Ca system were produced by twin-roll rapid solidification.The alloys were characterized by OM,SEM,HRTEM,XRD,EDS and Micro-hardness.The results show that the rapidly solidified flakes are of fine dendritic cell structures with the cell size ranging from 1 to 5μm.The Mg-6Zn-5Ca alloy in RS and annealing(200℃for 1 h) states are mainly composed ofα-Mg,Mg_2Ca,Ca_2Mg_6Zn_3 and a small quantity of Mg_(51)Zn_(20),MgZn_2 and Mg_2Zn_3.Micro-hardness increases with the increment of Ca content and age hardening occurs after aging at 200℃in the flakes probably due to the precipitation strengthening of the fine precipitates Mg_2Ca and Ca_2Mg_6Zn_3.Some phases at the grain boundary in Mg-6Zn-5Ca alloy are identified by means of HRTEM,which may be beneficial to the improvement in thermal stability of the alloy.

Compounded Surface Modification of ZK60 Mg Alloy by High Current Pulsed Electron Beam+Micro-plasma Oxidation

In this study, compounded surface modification technology-high current pulsed electron beam （HCPEB） ＋ micro-plasma oxidation （MPO） was applied to treat ZK60 Mg alloys. The characteristics of the microstructure of ZK60 Mg alloy after single MPO and HCPEB＋MPO compounded treatment were investigated by SEM. The results showed that the density of the ceramic layer of HCPEB＋MPO-treated ZK60 Mg alloy was improved and defects were reduced compared to that under MPO treatment alone. Surface modified layer of ZK60 Mg alloys treated by HCPEB＋MPO was divided into three zones, namely the top loose ceramic zone, middle compact zone and inside HCPEB-induced melted zone. Corrosion resistance of ZK60 Mg alloy before and after the compounded surface modification was measured in a solution of 3.5% NaCl by potentiodynamic polarization curves. It was found that the corrosion current density of ZK60 Mg alloys could be reduced by about three orders of magnitude, from 311μA/cm^2 of the original sample to 0.2μA/cm^2 of the HCPEB＋MPO-treated sample. This indicates the great application potential of the HCPEB＋MPO compounded surface modification technology in improving the corrosion resistance of ZK60 Mg alloys in the future.

Voltage Stabilization of Hybrid Micro-Grid Using Super Capacitors

Scarcity of fossil fuel resources has motivated the researchers to develop renewable energy based power projects. Instead of using a single or independent renewable energy source, it is preferable to use the combination of such energy sources in a distributed way to compensate the power fluctuations of the system and this leads to the concept of hybrid micro-grid energy. Voltage stability is an important parameter for the secure operation of the hybrid-micro grid, and IEEE 1547 Standard defines the limit of the voltage for the successful operation of the micro-grid. Although Vanadium Redox Batteries (VRBs) can help the system to stabilize the voltage when voltage sag occurs when a heavy load is suddenly connected to the system, this stabilization process takes some time. This paper discusses the application of super capacitors to the hybrid micro-grid system, as a higher energy density element, to help the system quickly recover its transient voltage.

Design of a Monitoring System of Micro-Grid

This paper describes a micro-grid system and its monitoring system. This micro-grid system consists of generation systems, consumer electrical equipments, auxiliary equipments and the monitoring system. All the equipments have 485 communication interfaces. In order to monitor and manage this micro-grid system, we built a monitoring system, which contains modular instrument system and industrial personal computer. In order to keep real time, we adopt some measures in software and hardware. We adopt LABVIEW and its program modules in software and adopt modular instrument system in hardware. Supporting by the software and hardware, the micro-grid system can be safe and stable.

Energy Management for a Residential Microgrid Using Wavelet Transform and Fuzzy Control Including a Vehicle-to-Grid System

This paper presents the design and implementation of an energy management system （EMS） with wavelet transform and fuzzy control for a residential micro-grid. The hybrid system in this paper consists of a wind turbine generator, photovoltaic （PV） panels, an electric vehicle （EV）, and a super capacitor （SC）, which is able to connect or disconnect to the main grid. The control strategy is responsible for compensating the difference between the generated power by the wind and solar generators and the demanded power by the loads. Wavelet transform decomposes the power difference into a smoothed component and a fast fluctuated component. The command approach used for fuzzy logic rules considers the state of charging （SOC） of EV, renewable production, and the load demand as parameters. Furthermore, the command rules are developed in order to ensure a reliable grid when taking into account the EV battery protection to decide the output power of the EV. The model of the hybrid system is developed in detail under Matlab/Simulink software environment.

Harmonic Suppression Method Based on Immune Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm in Micro-Grid

Distributed generation has attracted great attention in recent years, thanks to the progress in new-generation technologies and advanced power electronics. And micro-grid can make full use of distributed generation, so it has been widespread concern. On the other hand due to the extensive use of power electronic devices and many of the loads within micro-grid are nonlinear in nature, Micro-grid generate a large number of harmonics, so harmonics pollution needs to be addressed. Usually we use passive filter to filter out harmonic, in this paper, we propose a new method to optimize the filter parameters, so passive filter can filter out harmonic better. This method utilizes immune particle swarm optimization algorithm to optimize filter parameters. It can be shown from the simulation results that the proposed method is effective for micro-grid voltage harmonics compensation.

Trends and Overview Regarding the Involvement of Micro-Grids in Modern Power Systems

Customer satisfaction and participation in utility supply packages is the first and foremost factor in the success of any supplying agency whether wholesale or retail dealer. The paper presents the concept of major prospects of non- autonomous micro-grids installed in a certain locality. The article shows the basic background that is required for the installment of micro grid in a particular area and discusses the primary factors or pre-requisites that are required for the existence and operation of micro-grids. It elaborate the major profitable applications and benefits that developing and developed states get by using micro-grids in an area where utility grid is already functioning .It also explains the basic improvement in the quality of supply from micro grid after its installment. It also throws light on afterwards impact on society with this system, such impacts include reliability, tariff rates, economics etc. The article discusses micro-grids as the future of modern power systems. This paper shows significance of modernization by latest topologies in power systems and its effect that will come afterwards.

Al−Cu−Li−Mg合金纳米相之间溶质配分行为的第一性原理研究

采用一性原理计算考察25种合金化元素在大多数商业牌号Al−Cu−Li−Mg合金中主要纳米相(δʹ-Al3Li、θʹ-Al2Cu、T1-Al6Cu4Li3和S-Al2CuMg)之间的溶质配分能和配分行为。计算结果表明,主合金化元素Li不能直接影响θʹ和S相,Cu不能直接影响δʹ相,Mg不能直接影响θʹ和δʹ相,但可以较弱地固溶于T1相。对于微合金化元素,Si是唯一一种可以固溶于4种纳米相的元素。Au能固溶于δʹ、θʹ和S相,Cd能固溶于δʹ、T1和S相,Zr能固溶于δʹ和T1相,Ni仅有微弱的趋势固溶于θʹ和S相。Ti、V、Zn、Ag和Mo只能固溶于δʹ相,而Cr、Mn、Fe和Co对这4种纳米相均没有直接影响。几乎所有的稀土元素均能强烈固溶于T1、δʹ和S相,但无法固溶于θʹ相。仅Sc略显特殊,对S相没有明显的固溶趋势。计算预测的溶质配分能构成了一个原型数据库,有利于指导和加速Al−Li合金及其他相关Al合金的设计。

微弧氧化后Mg-8Li合金表面MgLiAlY-LDHs@GO膜层的生长及耐蚀性能

目的提高Mg-8Li合金的耐蚀性能。方法首先在Mg-8Li合金表面制备微弧氧化膜(MAO),然后使用原位水热法在微弧氧化膜表面原位生长掺杂氧化石墨烯(GO)的四元(MgLiAlY)层状双羟基金属氧化物(LDHs)智能自修复膜层。采用SEM、XRD、FT-IR、EDS、ICP等手段研究MgLiAlY-LDHs@GO膜层的形貌、结构以及成分。通过EIS、Tafel以及浸泡试验等研究膜层的耐蚀性能,分析膜层的腐蚀行为,阐释其耐蚀机理。结果GO的掺杂可以促使LDHs纳米片生长得更加致密,主体层板中具有缓蚀作用的Y3+可以提高涂层的耐蚀性,四元LDHs的生长所需要的Mg^(2+)、Li^(+)、Al^(3+)等离子来源于镁锂合金基体以及微弧氧化膜的溶解,其中Li+也可以促进LDHs纳米片生长得更为均匀细密。膜层的腐蚀电流密度为6.03×10^(–7)A/cm^(2),比MAO膜层降低了1个数量级,提高了镁锂合金的耐蚀性能。结论GO的负载使LDHs的耐蚀性能和膜层稳定性均有一定程度的提升,引入稀土元素Y会改变LDHs的骨架,造成晶格畸变,使得LDHs微观形貌呈现褶皱状,剩下部分以Y(OH)3形式存在于涂层表面,可进一步提高膜层的耐蚀性能和稳定性。

Control System Development and Test for the Operation of a Micro-Grid System—PART I

This paper presents design, analysis and simulation performance of an active power controller for stable and reliable operation of a micro-grid system. Power balance between generation and consumer is a critical issue for stable and reliable operation of the micro-grid systems. This issue becomes more critical when a micro-grid system contains stochastic nature distributed generations such as wind and solar because their output power changes non-uniformly. In order to achieve accurate and fast power balance in such a micro-grid system, power in the system has to be regulated continuously. Such an objective can be achieved using droop based alternating current control technique. Because the droop characteristic employed into the developed controller initiates determining the power deviation in the system which is continuously regulated by controlling the current flow into dump power resistors. The designed controller is simulated for the operation of a micro-grid system in stand-alone mode under various operating conditions. The simulated results show the ability of the developed controller for stable and reliable operation of the micro-grid that contains renewable sources. The experimental development of the micro-grid system and the testing of the developed active power controller are presented in PART II of this paper.