Power distribution facilities all over the world have been committed towards making the grids smarter in order to reduce the risks of grid failures and provide an affordable, reliable, and sustainable supply of electricity to the end consumers. The smart grid concept involves incorporation of monitoring, analysis and control functions into the existing power distribution infrastructure. One of the foremost steps in realizing the smart grid concept is the integration of information and communication technologies with power system engineering. Various communication technologies are available, out of which Powerline Communication (PLC) has been found to be most suitable owing to its least intensiveness on additional infrastructure. Existing methods use PLC as a separate communication physical layer to establish com- munication between components in a micro/sub-micro grid. However, these methods poses the problems of a separate physical layer requirement to establish communication between inverters, attenuation of the information signal by the EMI filters present in various loads and equipments connected to the micro grid, requirement of signal repeaters at regular distance intervals and requirement of a separate server for monitoring and control. In order to simultaneously utilize the incorporation of front end inverters into the grid and achieve inter-inverter communication, a PLC method for the grid connected inverters based on a harmonic injection into the grid current is proposed in this thesis. The harmonic injection is accomplished by considering the grid current as a composite vector with components rotating at different speeds. The lower harmonic spectrum space can be chosen to avoid the attenuation problems associated with the EMI filters. In the proposed method, as the choice of the harmonic space is flexible, it is possible to even adopt a dynamically changing harmonic space to optimize THD. The advantage of the method is that it simultaneously achieves communication along with grid interfacing of DGs without any requirement of extra hardware. Also, since the principle of information exchange amongst inverters is the same as that of the power transfer, there is no added complexity involved in the inverter control system due to the proposed PLC method. The principle of the Composite Space Vector on which the proposed PLC method is based upon has been explained in detail along with the frame transformation equations. The control scheme to achieve the power transfer and the information exchange for the grid connected inverters is explained. The design procedure for various circuit elements and the control loop parameters has been explained. The thesis also discusses the various factors affecting the choice of the modulating signal and the speed of communication achievable in the proposed PLC method. For both the three phase and single phase systems, simulation results have been presented for the proposed PLC method under different grid conditions and different harmonics as the modulating signals. The simulations have been performed using the MATLAB SIMULINK SimPowerSystems toolbox. The simulation results have been experimentally verified through a laboratory prototype. The laboratory prototype consists of individual IGBT based inverters controlled through the Texas Instruments TMS320F2812 DSP based digital controller.

Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-03-27T15:05:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dalmocardosodasilvajunior.pdf: 7879052 bytes, checksum: 389a4104e77ceeccf54e988e08d73109 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-03-27T17:57:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dalmocardosodasilvajunior.pdf: 7879052 bytes, checksum: 389a4104e77ceeccf54e988e08d73109 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-27T17:57:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dalmocardosodasilvajunior.pdf: 7879052 bytes, checksum: 389a4104e77ceeccf54e988e08d73109 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-11 / As tecnologias de Geração Distribuída (GD), geralmente, consistem em geradores modulares (em grande maioria renováveis) que oferecem uma série de benefícios poten-ciais, além de estarem mais próximos dos consumidores finais. Embora a GD possa ter colaborações como comentado, a inserção de energias renováveis na rede elétrica pode afetar a proteção e também a estabilidade da mesma, implicando em desvios na tensão e na frequência do sistema. Um dos principais problemas enfrentados é a falta de inér-cia das energias renováveis e também o aparecimento de correntes harmônicas devido às cargas não lineares. Baseado nesse cenário, e como forma de solução dos problemas comentados, surge a pesquisa de inversores multifuncionais, capazes de não só conectar tais energias renováveis à rede elétrica, mas também oferecer suporte a ela. Os serviços ancilares incluem auxílio à estabilidade de tensão e frequência, mitigação de conteúdo harmônico, equilíbrio de geração e demanda de energia, entre outros aspectos. Dessa forma, metodologias baseadas nas implementações alternativas de controle, tais como a Máquina Síncrona Virtual e o Filtro Ativo de Potência (FAP) podem ser adotadas como soluções para esses problemas. Nessa vertente, simulações em tempo real com Hardware In the Loop (HIL) no simulador digital de tempo real (Real Time Digital Simulator) (RTDS) e processamento digital de sinal e engenharia de controle (digi-tal Signal Processing and Control Engineering) (dSPACE), são ferramentas poderosas que podem auxiliar o processo de simulação das funções ancilares analisadas. Assim, nesse trabalho, simulou-se o inversor multifuncional como forma de mostrar a efetiva regulação de tensão, frequência e diminuição do conteúdo harmônico em sistemas de potência, especialmente em microrredes de corrente alternada (CA). Por fim, os resul-tados demonstram o funcionamento do sistema e podem ser usados como validação das estratégias de controle propostas. / Distributed Generation technologies generally consist of modular (mostly renewa-ble) generators that offer a number of potential benefits, while being closer to the end consumers. Although the DG present features as commented, the insertion of renewa-ble energies in the electrical network can affect the protection and also the stability of the network, implying in voltage and frequency deviations. One of the main problems faced is the lack of inertia of renewable energies and also the appearance of harmonic currents due to non-linear loads. Based on this scenario, and as a way of solving these problems, the research of smart inverters, capable of not only connecting such renewable energies to the electric grid but also supporting it, emerges. Some ancillary services as voltage and frequency stability, mitigation of harmonic content, balance of generation and energy demand, among other aspects, can be fullfilled. Thus, methodologies based on sophisticated control implementations such as the Virtual Synchronous Machine and the Active Power Filter, can be adopted as solutions to these problems. In this aspect, real-time simulations with Control Hardware In The Loop HIL in Real Time Digital Simulator RTDS and dSPACE, are a powerfulls tool can aid the simulation process of the analyzed ancillary functions. Thus, in this work, the multifunctional inverter was simulated as a way to show the effective regulation of voltage, frequency, and harmonic content mitigation in power systems, especially in AC microgrids. Finally, the results demonstrate the operation of the system and can be used as validation of the proposed control strategies.