PEBB based high-power hardware-in-loop simulation facility for electric power systems

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation has been used in the past primarily for testing system interactions of control systems. Extending the concept of HIL into the realm of real power equipment, such as motors and power electronic converters, results in the so-called power hardware-in-loop (PHIL) simulations. The Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS) at Florida State University is currently in the process of commissioning a dedicated 5 MW PEBB based variable voltage source (VVS) power converter system as part of its existing 5 MW (6.25 MVA) PHIL experimental facility. This system consists of a large-scale commercial digital power system simulator which can provide speed and torque signal references to variable speed drives of dynamometers as well as instantaneous voltage references to the VVS while receiving the appropriate feedbacks in real time for PHIL simulation. This setup will allow for the first time to connect MW class electric power apparatus to an experimental bus which can represent any desired characteristic by means of real-time simulations. In order to get familiar with the vendor specific controller architecture and possibly develop adequate compensation remedies (i.e. using the RTDS) CAPS has also installed a low power version of the VVS. Preliminary test results from a closed loop PHIL experiment with this low power VVS are presented