Research

Engineering Sciences

Title :

Development of Fault-tolerant Reconfigured Power converter for Enhancing Resilience of DC Microgrid.

Area of research :

Engineering Sciences

Principal Investigator :

Dr. Divya Navamani, SRM Institute of Science & Technology, Andhra Pradesh

Timeline Start Year :

2022

Timeline End Year :

2025

Contact info :

Details

Executive Summary :

India's 2.4% of households lack access to electricity, and a renewable DC system is recommended for rural dwellings. Power conditioning units are essential in rugged terrains, where replacing failed components is difficult and time-consuming. A reliable power supply system is crucial, and fault-tolerant techniques can be used to control power components. The proposed configuration includes a high gain topology with coupled inductor and a fault-tolerant structure with restructuring for failures without altering voltage gain. Fault diagnosis will be performed using a signal processing-based algorithm, with a comparator, combinational, and sequential circuits. Experimental validation will be conducted, and the effectiveness of the methodology will be validated for various levels of redundancy. The reliability assessment will be carried out using the Markov chain. The proposed reconfigured converter will be validated with a DC microgrid architecture, consisting of a hybrid PV/Wind source, battery, ultracapacitor, and fault-tolerant converters. The 1-kW PV/wind/battery is planned, and the fault-tolerant converter has a 1-kW rating. The DC programmable power supply with branch resistor load will be used as the DC main grid. Energy management is mandatory in microgrids for reliable operation during disturbances and contingencies. An energy management strategy will be proposed to prioritize the source according to environmental conditions and load requirements. Four different voltage levels (320-380 V) will be predefined for power management with various modes of operation. This robust power balancing strategy will smooth out solar PV/wind/battery output.

Total Budget (INR):

18,30,000

Organizations involved