Denna rapport behandlar behovet av lokalkraft i Vattenfalls transformatorstationer. Tre vanligt förekommande transformatorstationer - stamstation, regionstation och fördelningsstation - har studerats. Alla transformatorstationer behöver lokalkraft för att fungera. Begreppet lokalkraft syftar till den matning som förser en transformatorstations utrustning med el. Apparater som försörjs av lokalkraften är bland annat motorer för brytare, transformatorkylning, kontrollutrustning, värme och belysning. Ok-lindning är ett exempel på en lokalkraftslösning, vilket är det alternativ som Vattenfall vanligtvis använder. Denna lindning är placerad i huvudtransformatorn och består av ett fåtal varv runt järnkärnan. Spänningen från ok-lindningen är aldrig exakt 400 V och därför krävs en matchningstransformator. Rapporten beskriver även kort några andra lokalkraftslösningar samt några tillfälliga effektuttag. Studien undersöker hur stort det teoretiska lokalkraftsbehovet är och vad det är för utrustning som har störst effektförbrukning i de tre stationstyperna. Effekterna delas upp i tre kategorier: ställverk, kontrollanläggning och lokal. Det beräknade lokalkraftsbehovet är i stamstationen 140 kVA, i regionstationen 54 kVA och i fördelningsstationen 25 kVA. Resultaten visar att det teoretiska lokalkraftsbehovet i samtliga studerade stationer är lägre än de standardstorlekar Vattenfall tillämpar som är på 400 kVA, 250 kVA och 100 kVA. / This thesis studies the auxiliary power requirement in Vattenfall's substations. Three common substations - national grid substation, regional grid substation and distribution grid substation - have been studied. All substations need auxiliary power to function properly. Auxiliary power is what powers the substation equipment, for example motor drives, transformer cooling, control equipment, heating and lighting. Auxiliary winding is one solution to supply auxiliary power, which is the option that Vattenfall commonly uses. The winding is placed in the main transformer and consists of a few turns around the iron core. The voltage from an auxiliary winding is never exactly 400 V and a matching transformer is therefore required. The report also briefly describes a few other auxiliary power solutions and a few temporary power consumptions. The study examines the theoretical auxiliary power requirements and what kind of equipment that has the highest power consumption in each of the three types of substations. The power consumption is divided into three categories, switchgear, control equipment and premises. The calculated auxiliary power requirement is 140 kVA for the national substation, 54 kVA for the region substation and 25 kVA for the distribution substation. The results show that the theoretical auxiliary power requirement in all of the studied substations is lower than the standard auxiliary winding sizes used by Vattenfall, which is 400 kVA, 250 kVA and 100 kVA.

Until today the offshore wind power has grown in a steady pace and many new wind farms are being constructed around the globe. An important factor that is investigated today in the industry are the security of power supply to the equipment needed for controlling the offshore system during emergency situations. When a offshore wind farm is disconnected from the external grid and an emergency case occur the wind turbine generators lose their ability to transfer power and they are forced to be taken out of operation. As there are a number of loads in the wind turbines (navigation lights, sensor- and communication-apparatus, ventilation- and heating equipment etc.) they have a load demand which must be supplied in emergency mode. The German Transmission System operator (TSO) TenneT GmbH has set a requirement that the wind turbines is to be supplied by an auxiliary power supply (APS) in 12 hours and therefore there is need for a long-term auxiliary power supply system. This master thesis was assigned to investigate the most feasible APS-system. From the study of a number of different APS's one concept was chosen. This was the diesel gen-set solution placed on an offshore substation at sea. The system was modeled in the software DIgSILENT PowerFactory where a load flow analysis validated the calculated data and a study of the impact of  transients in the system was performed.

A numerical study was carried out to improve the design of an autothermal reformer for the onboard production of hydrogen to be used in fuel-cell- powered auxiliary power units (APU) to provide heating and electricity in long haul trucks when they are at rest. The development of these auxiliary power units is based upon the use of power generated by solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system, instead of from a conventional gasoline engine. The present work was undertaken to improve the design of a prototype autothermal fuel reformer that had been developed by the Fuel Cell Research Centre (FCRC) at Queen’s University to convert liquid hydrocarbon truck fuel to a hydrogen rich product gas. In this development work and in the previous work iso-octane (C8H18) has been used as a surrogate fuel. Using this surrogate of gasoline, the reformer was simulated using various inlet steam/carbon (H2O/C), oxygen/carbon (O/C) molar ratios and gas-hourly-space-velocity (GHSV). In the reformer considered the reforming process is carried out in a compact tubular reactor with a centerline thermocouple tube using a 2% Pt-ZrCe based catalyst with a local porosity of 0.6. During the initial simulations, it was observed that near the start of the catalyst region there were large temperature gradients due to an exothermic partial oxidation reaction. In order to reduce the temperature gradients and facilitate heat transfer by conduction along the reformer, the central thermocouple tube was replaced with a central solid rod. The effects of variations in the thermal conductivity of central solid rod, of the reactor wall, of the catalyst bed, of the inert porous material near the inlet and the outlet of the catalyst bed, of the gas hourly space velocity, of the effectiveness factor of the chemical reaction mechanism on the performance of the reactor were studied. The results so obtained were analyzed to determine potential design improvements that would increase the hydrogen output. The results were compared with the previous numerical and experimental results obtained in the previous studies of the reformer and found to be in good agreement with the general trends of the temperature profiles as well as the outlet molar concentrations of product species. After the analysis and evaluation of all the results, it was found that by replacement of central thermocouple tube with central solid rod made of high conductivity material and by using material for inert porous region at the outlet that had a thermal conductivity equal to that of the catalyst bed led to more even temperature profiles within the catalyst region. It was also found that the hydrogen molar percentage output could be increased by approximately more than 25% and that the length of the reactor could be reduced by 20mm by incorporating these changes in the reformer design. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-03-09 12:14:27.627

This study examined the Lake of Egypt Power Plant operated by Southern Illinois Power Cooperative located on the Lake of Egypt south of Marion, IL. The facility has a 173 MW rated turbine operating on a pulverized coal cyclone boiler and three 33 MW rated turbines operating on an oversized circulating fluidized bed boiler with 120 MW capacity. The first area examined was reduction of auxiliary power consumption possible with the addition of variable frequency drives to the forced draft fan and booster fan motors. Included in this examination was an analysis of the economic and environmental impact of such a reduction. From the analysis an annual savings of 24.4 GWh of electricity is possible. The second area examined was the generation capacity lost due to condenser fouling and the possible reduction in facility emissions with altered condenser treatment. From the analysis an additional 3.0 MW of capacity facility wide is possible or a reduction steam production of 1.5% for each boiler.

Now a days, the society thinks about more sustainable and clean energy sources. Most of the countries in the world relay on non-renewable energy sources for the generation of electricity. This results in the scarcity of fossil fuels in future and also increases the production of carbon emissions. This thesis considers a metro system named Kochi Metro which is a rapid transit system serving in the city of Kochi in Kerala, India which uses renewable sources, mainly solar, for giving power to the Metro.In this thesis work, trying to analyze the measures adopted by Kochi Metro Rail project in potential reductions of energy consumption and energy generation both contributing to energy efficiency.With the help of Matlab, different levels of installed PV power are used to find out the possible self-usage, self-sufficiency, and energy neutrality of the system.

In this thesis, integrated active filter auxiliary power modules (AFAPMs) is presented in electrified vehicle applications. A topological evaluation is conducted particularly for the auxiliary power module (APM) applications in the electrified vehicles. Several primary and secondary base topologies are compared in terms of VA rating and performance. Multiple input/output topology configurations are compared with different connection configurations and control schemes. The MOSFET loss analysis is given. Based on the MOSFET loss analysis, the modular full bridge current doubler with input-series-output-parallel configuration presents better performance in terms of the switch efficiency and cost analysis. Bulk capacitor banks occupy large volume and impact the reliability in the traction inverter and HV battery charger in the vehicle applications. A capacitor-less design is relatively urgent for the next generation electrified vehicle. Active filter (AF) is one potential solution to reduce the corresponding dc-link capacitance. However, additional components are required which increases the system complicity and decreases its reliability. Hence, it would be great to integrate the AF into the LV battery charger for the vehicle applications. Based on the power switch requirements, the AFAPM is evaluated for traction inverter and HV battery charger, respectively. The evaluation result shows that the AFAPM for the HV battery charger system is a feasible and attractive solution. Furthermore, a simple and effective dual-mode dual-voltage charging system operating principle is proposed. The integrated AFAPM converter charges the LV battery when the vehicle is running and operates as an AF when the vehicle is connected to the grid and the HV battery is charging. Hence, the low-frequency second-order harmonic current is alleviated without a bulk capacitor bank or an extra AF circuit in the HV battery charger. For magnetic design, there is a trend toward integration and planarization. Two planar transformers are built for two different AFAPM prototypes. A minimized leakage inductance method is presented and implemented on a 20:1 center-tapped planar transformer. Three different integrated AFAPM converters are proposed. By applying these AFAPM converters, the required extra components to form the AF for the HV battery charger are reduced and thus the cost, size and weight for the dual-voltage charging system in the electrified vehicle applications can be reduced. Two prototypes are built. The experiments show promising results confirming the effectiveness of the proposed converters. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Gas turbine engines provide thrust for aircraft engines and supply shaft power for various applications. They consist of three main components. That is, a compressor followed by a combustion chamber (burner) and a turbine. Both turbine and compressor components are either axial or centrifugal (radial) in design. The combustion chamber is stationary on the engine casing. The type of engine that is of interest here is the gas turbine auxiliary power unit (APU). A typical APU has a centrifugal compressor, burner and an axial turbine. APUs generate mechanical shaft power to drive equipments such as small generators and hydraulic pumps. In airplanes, they provide cabin pressurization and ventilation. They can also supply electrical power to certain airplane systems such as navigation. In comparison to thrust engines, APUs are usually much smaller in design. The purpose of this research was to investigate the possibility of combining the three components of an APU into a single centrifugal rotor. To do this, a set of equations were chosen that would describe the new turbomachinery cycle. They either were provided or derived using quasi-one-dimensional compressible flow equations. A MathCAD program developed for the analysis obtained best design points for various cases with the help of an optimizer called Model Center. These results were then compared to current machine specifications (gas turbine engine, gasoline and diesel generators). The result of interest was maximum specific power takeoff. The results showed high specific powers in the event there was no restriction to the material and did not exhaust at atmospheric pressure. This caused the rotor to become very large and have a disk thickness that was unrealistic. With the restrictions fully in place, they severely limited the performance of the rotor. Sample rotor shapes showed all of them to have unusual designs. They had a combination of unreasonable blade height variations and very large disk thicknesses. Indications from this study showed that the single radial rotor turbomachinery design might not be a good idea. Recommendations for continuation of research include secondary flow consideration, blade height constraints and extending the flow geometry to include the axial direction. / Master of Science

Due to the superior characteristics compared to its silicon (Si) counterpart, the wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor enables next-generation power electronics systems with higher efficiency and higher power density. With higher blocking voltage available, WBG devices, especially the silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), have been widely explored in various medium-voltage (MV) applications in both industry and academia. However, due to the high di/dt and high dv/dt during the switching transient, potential overcurrent, overvoltage, and gate failure can greatly reduce the reliability of implementing SiC MOSFETs in an MV system. By utilizing the parasitic inductance between the Kelvin- and the power-source terminal, a short-circuit (SC) and overload (OL) dual-protection scheme is proposed for overcurrent protection. A full design procedure and reliability analysis are given for SC circuit design. A novel OL circuit is proposed to protect OL faults at the gate-driver level. The protection procedure can detect an SC fault within 50 nanoseconds and protect the device within 1.1 microsecond. The proposed method is a simple and effective solution for the potential overcurrent problem of the SiC MOSFET. For SiC MOSFETs in series-connection, the unbalanced voltages can result in system failure due to device breakdown or unbalanced thermal stresses. By injecting current during the turn-off transient, an active dv/dt control method is used for voltage balancing. A 6 kV phase-leg using eight 1.7 kV SiC MOSFETs in series-connection has been tested with voltage balanced accurately. Modeling of the stacked SiC MOSFET with active dv/dt control is also done to summarize the design methodology for an effective and stable system. This method provides a low-loss and compact solution for overvoltage problems when MV SiC MOSFETs are connected in series. Furthermore, a scalable auxiliary power network is proposed to prevent gate failure caused by unstable gate voltage or EMI interference. The two-stage auxiliary power network (APN) architecture includes a wireless power transfer (WPT) converter supplied by a grounded low voltage dc bus, a high step-down-ratio (HSD) converter powered from dc-link capacitors, and a battery-based mini-UPS backup power supply. The auxiliary-power-only pre-charge and discharge circuits are also designed for a 6 kV power electronics building block (PEBB). The proposed architecture provides a general solution of a scalable and reliable auxiliary power network for the SiC-MOSFET-based MV converter. For the WPT converter, a multi-objective optimization on efficiency, EMI mitigation, and high voltage insulation capability have been proposed. Specifically, a series-series-CL topology is proposed for the WPT converter. With the optimization and new topology, a 120 W, 48 V to 48 V WPT converter has been tested to be a reliable part of the auxiliary power network. For the HSD converter, a novel unidirectional voltage-balancing circuit is proposed and connected in an interleaved manner, which provides a fully modular and scalable solution. A ``linear regulator + buck" solution is proposed to be an integrated on-board auxiliary power supply. A 6 kV to 45 V, 100 W converter prototype is built and tested to be another critical part of the auxiliary power network. / Doctor of Philosophy / The wide bandgap semiconductor enables next-generation power electronics systems with higher efficiency and higher power density which will reduce the space, weight, and cost for power supply and conversion systems, especially for renewable energy. However, by pushing the system voltage level higher to medium-voltage of tens of kilovolts, although the system has higher efficiency and simpler control, the reliability drops. This dissertation, therefore, focusing on solving the possible overcurrent, overvoltage, and gate failure issues of the power electronics system that is caused by the high voltage and high electromagnetic interference environment. By utilizing the inductance of the device, a dual-protection method is proposed to prevent the overcurrent problem. The overcurrent fault can be detected within tens of nanoseconds so that the device will not be destroyed because of the huge fault current. When multiple devices are connected in series to hold higher voltage, the voltage sharing between different devices becomes another issue. The proposed modeling and control method for series-connected devices can balance the shared voltage, and make the control system stable so that no overvoltage problem will happen due to the non-evenly distributed voltages. Besides the possible overcurrent and overvoltage problems, losing control of the devices due to the unreliable auxiliary power supply is another issue. This dissertation proposed a scalable auxiliary power network with high efficiency, high immunity to electromagnetic interference, and high reliability. In this network, a wireless power transfer converter is designed to provide enough insulation and isolation capability, while a switched capacitor converter is designed to transfer voltage from several kilovolts to tens of volts. With the proposed overcurrent protection method, voltage sharing control, and reliable auxiliary power network, systems utilizing medium-voltage wide-bandgap semiconductor will have higher reliability to be implemented for different applications.

Auxiliary power supply (APS) plays a key role in ensuring the safe operation of the main circuit elements including gate drivers, sensors, controllers, etc. in medium voltage (MV) silicon carbide (SiC)-based converter systems. Such a converter requires APS to have high insulation capability, low common-mode coupling capacitance (Ccm ), and high-power density. Furthermore, considering the lifetime and simplicity of the auxiliary power supply system design in the MV converter, partial discharge (PD) free and multi-load driving ability are the additional two factors that need to be addressed in the design. However, today’s state-of-the-art products have either low power rating or bulky designs, which does not satisfy the demands. To improve the current designs, this thesis presents a 1 MHz isolated APS design using gallium nitride (GaN) devices with MV insulation reinforcement. By adopting LCCL-LC resonant topology, the proposed APS is able to supply multiple loads simultaneously and realize zero voltage switching (ZVS) at any load conditions. Since high reliability under faulty load conditions is also an important feature for APS in MV converter, the secondary side circuit of APS is designed as a regulated stage. To achieve MV insulation (> 20 kV) as well as low Ccm value (< 5 pF), a current-based transformer with a single turn structure using MV insulation wire is designed. Furthermore, by introducing different insulated materials and shielding structures, the APS is capable to achieve different partial discharge inception voltages (PDIV). In this thesis, the transformer design, resonant converter design, and insulation strategies will be detailly explained and verified by experiment results. Overall, this proposed APS is capable to supply multiple loads simultaneously with a maximum power of 120 W for the sending side and 20 W for each receiving side in a compact form factor. ZVS can be realized regardless of load conditions. Based on different insulation materials, two different receiving sides were built. Both of them can achieve a breakdown voltage of over 20 kV. The air-insulated solution can achieve a PDIV of 6 kV with Ccm of 1.2 pF. The silicone-insulated solution can achieve a PDIV of 17 kV with Ccm of 3.9 pF. / M.S. / Recently, 10 kV silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET receives strong attention for medium voltage applications. Asit can switch at very high speed, e.g. > 50 V/ns, the converter system can operate at higher switching frequency condition with very small switching losses compared to silicon (Si) IGBT [8]. However, the fast dv/dt noise also creates the common mode current via coupling capacitors distributed inside the converter system, thereby introducing lots of electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues. Such issues typically occur within the gate driver power supplies due to the high dv/dt noises across the input and output of the supply. Therefore, the ultra-small coupling capacitor (<5 pF) of a gate driver power supply is strongly desired.[37] To satisfy the APS demands for high power modular converter system, a solution is proposed in this thesis. This work investigates the design of 1 MHz isolated APS using gallium nitride (GaN) devices with medium voltage insulation reinforcement. By increasing switching frequency, the overall converter size could be reduced dramatically. To achieve a low Ccm value and medium voltage insulation of the system, a current-based transformer with a single turn on the sending side is designed. By adopting LCCL-LC resonant topology, a current source is formed as the output of sending side circuity, so it can drive multiple loads importantly with a maximum of 120 W. At the same time, ZVS can use realized with different load conditions. The receiving side is a regulated stage, so the output voltage can be easily adjusted and it can operate in a load fault condition. Different insulation solutions will be introduced and their effect on Ccm will be discussed. To further reduce Ccm, shielding will be introduced. Overall, this proposed APS can achieve a breakdown voltage of over 20 kV and PDIV up to 16.6 kV with Ccm<5 pF. Besides, multi-load driving ability is able to achieve with a maximum of 120 W. ZVS can be realized. In the end, the experiment results will be provided.

Control and monitoring networks often operate on AC/DC power systems. DC batteries and chargers are commonly used on industrial plants as auxiliary DC power systems for these control and monitoring networks. The energy demand and load profiles for these control networks differ from application to application. Proper design, sizing, and maintenance of the components that forms part of the DC control power system are therefore required. Throughout the load profile of a control and monitoring system there are various peak currents. The peak currents are classified as inrush and momentary loads. These inrush and momentary loads play a large role when calculating the required battery size for an application. This study investigates the feasibility of using supercapacitors in conjunction with batteries, in order to reduce the size of the required battery capacity. A reduction in the size of the required battery capacity not only influences the cost of the battery itself, but also influences the hydrogen emissions, the physical space requirements, and the required rectifiers and chargers. When calculating the required size batteries for an auxiliary power system, a defined load profile is required. Control and monitoring systems are used to control dynamic processes, which entails a continuous starting and stopping of equipment as the process demands. This starting and stopping of devices will cause fluctuations in the load profile. Ideally, data should be obtained from a live plant for the purpose of defining load profiles. Unfortunately, due to the economic risks involved, installing data logging equipment on a live industrial plant for the purpose of research, is not allowed. There are also no historical data available from which load profiles could be generated. In order to evaluate the influence of supercapacitors, complex load profiles are required. In this study, an alternative method of defining the load profile for a dynamic process is investigated. Load profiles for various applications are approximated using a probabilistic approach. The approximation methodology make use of plant operating philosophies as input to the Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation theory. The required battery sizes for the approximated profiles are calculated using the IEEE recommended practice for sizing batteries. The approximated load profile, as well the calculated battery size are used for simulating the auxiliary power system. A supercapacitor is introduced into the circuit and the simulations are repeated. The introduction of the supercapacitor relieves the battery of the inrush and momentary loads of the load profile. The battery sizing calculations are repeated so as to test the influence of the supercapacitor on the required battery capacity. In order to investigate the full influence of adding a supercapacitor to the design, the impact on various factors are considered. In this study, these factors include the battery size, charger size, H2 extraction system, as well as maintenance requirements and the life of the battery. No major cost savings where evident from the results obtained. Primary reasons for this low cost saving are the fixed ranges in which battery sizes are available, as well as conservative battery data obtained from battery suppliers. It is believed that applications other than control and monitoring systems will show larger savings. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015