Analysis of various partitioning strategies for multi-agent system-based real-time load management for NG IPs ships

The real-time load management techniques for next generation integrated power systems (NG IPS) for ships are being developed to balance the load demand and the power generation while satisfying the operating constraints of the system in real-time. To solve the real-time load management problem using a multi-agent system cooperative control protocol, the NG IPS must be partitioned into smaller subsystems that are modeled using dynamical agents. In this paper, three potential partitioning strategies are discussed along with their advantages and disadvantages. Unlike the first partitioning strategy modeling half a zone as an agent which aggregates a group of loads together, the last partitioning strategy models an agent for each electrical component and includes more system dynamics, which significantly increases the agent model accuracy. The results of the studies of the partitioning strategies can be utilized during the cooperative controller design to achieve real-time load management for NG IPS ships.