The next generation of U.S. Navy ships will see the integration of the propulsion and electrical systems as part of the all-electric ship. This new architecture brings advantages and challenges. One of the challenges is to develop a stable power system that can ride through various issues such as faults or changes in load. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> While terrestrial systems have been studied for a long time related to stability, the unique characteristics of the shipboard power system mean that not all of these results are directly applicable to the all-electric ship. Because of the new shipboard power system structure, more generators are required to be connected in parallel to supply the power needed. Control of parallel generators has been done for years in terrestrial systems; however, the application of an advanced control technique has not been applied in the All-Electric Ship. The challenge is to apply an advanced control technique to the all-electric shipboard power system that will maintain stability of multiple generator systems, keeping in mind that the generators could be dissimilar in ratings. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> For that reason, the control techniques used to solve the problem need to be developed or adapted for test cases that are similar to the electric ship configuration. This dissertation provides a description of an effort to implement a robust control scheme on the all-electric ship. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The proposed solution is to apply H∞ Robust Control as an advanced control technique, with realistic constraints to keep the shipboard power system within stability margins during normal and abnormal operating scenarios. In this work, H∞ Robust Control has been developed in the form of state space equations which are optimized using linear matrix implementation. The developed H∞ Control has been implemented on the different operating scenarios to validate the functionality and to compare it with another control technique. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Test case results for one-generator, two-generator similar and two-generator dissimilar have been described. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Stability indicators have been determined and compared for various types of faults and transients for removing and adding static and dynamic loads. The research provides the foundation for applications of advanced control techniques for the next generation all-electric ship.

The shipboard power system supplies energy to sophisticated systems for weapons, communications, navigation, and operation. After a fault is encountered, reconfiguration of a shipboard power system becomes a critical activity that is required to either restore service to a lost load or to meet some operational requirements of the ship. Reconfiguration refers to changing the topology of the power system in order to isolate system damage and/or optimize certain characteristics of the system related to power efficiency. When finding the optimal state, it is important to have a method that finds the desired state within a short amount of time, in order to allow fast response for the system. Since the reconfiguration problem is highly nonlinear over a domain of discrete variables, the genetic algorithm method is a suitable candidate. In this thesis, a reconfiguration methodology, using a genetic algorithm, is presented that will reconfigure a network, satisfying the operational requirements and priorities of loads. Graph theory is utilized to represent the shipboard power system topology in matrices. The reconfiguration process and the genetic algorithm are implemented in MATLAB and tested on an 8-bus power system model and on larger power system with distributed generators by considering different fault scenarios. Each test system was reconfigured in three different ways: by considering load priority, without considering load priority, and by combining priority factor and magnitude factor. The test results accuracy was verified through hand checking.

The recent development of Integrated Power Systems (IPS) for shipboard application has opened the horizon to introduce new technologies that address the increasing power demand along with the associated performance specifications. Similarly, the Shipboard Power System (SPS) features system components with multiple dynamic characteristics and require stringent regulations, leveraging a challenge for an efficient system level management. The shipboard power management needs to support the survivability, reliability, autonomy, and economy as the key features for design consideration. To address these multiple issues for an increasing system load and to embrace future technologies, an autonomic power management framework is required to maintain the system level objectives. To address the lack of the efficient management scheme, a generic model-based holistic power management framework is developed for naval SPS applications. The relationship between the system parameters are introduced in the form of models to be used by the model-based predictive controller for achieving the various power management goals. An intelligent diagnostic support system is developed to support the decision making capabilities of the main framework. Naïve Bayes’ theorem is used to classify the status of SPS to help dispatch the appropriate controls. A voltage control module is developed and implemented on a real-time test bed to verify the computation time. Variants of the limited look-ahead controls (LLC) are used throughout the dissertation to support the management framework design. Additionally, the ARIMA prediction is embedded in the approach to forecast the environmental variables in the system design. The developed generic framework binds the multiple functionalities in the form of overall system modules. Finally, the dissertation develops the distributed controller using the Interaction Balance Principle to solve the interconnected subsystem optimization problem. The LLC approach is used at the local level, and the conjugate gradient method coordinates all the lower level controllers to achieve the overall optimal solution. This novel approach provides better computing performance, more flexibility in design, and improved fault handling. The case-study demonstrates the applicability of the method and compares with the centralized approach. In addition, several measures to characterize the performance of the distributed controls approach are studied.

An approach to parallelize the simulation of AC-Radial Shipboard Power Systems (SPSs) using multicore computers is presented. Time domain simulations of SPSs are notoriously slow, due principally to the number of components, and the time-variance of the component models. A common approach to reduce the simulation run-time of power systems is to formulate the electrical network equations using modified nodal analysis, use Bergeron's travelling-wave transmission line model to create subsystems, and to parallelize the simulation using a distributed computer. In this work, an SPS was formulated using loop analysis, defining the subsystems using a diakoptics-based approach, and the simulation parallelized using a multicore computer. A program was developed in C# to conduct multithreaded parallel-sequential simulations of an SPS. The program first represents an SPS as a graph, and then partitions the graph. Each graph partition represents a SPS subsystem and is computationally balanced using iterative refinement heuristics. Once balanced subsystems are obtained, each SPS subsystem's electrical network equations are formulated using loop analysis. Each SPS subsystem is solved using a unique thread, and each thread is manually assigned to a core of a multicore computer. To validate the partitioning approach, performance metrics were created to assess the speed gain and accuracy of the partitioned SPS simulations. The simulation parameters swept for the performance metrics were the number of partitions, the number of cores used, and the time step increment. The results of the performance metrics showed adequate speed gains with negligible error. An increasing simulation speed gain was observed when the number of partitions and cores were augmented, obtaining maximum speed gains of <30x when using a quadcore computer. Results show that the speed gain is more sensitive to the number partitions than is to the number of cores. While multicore computers are suitable for parallel-sequential SPS simulations, increasing the number of cores does not contribute to the gain in speed as much as does partitioning. The simulation error increased with the simulation time step but did not influence the partitioned simulation results. The number of operations caused by protective devices was used to determine whether the simulation error introduced by partitioning SPS simulations produced a inconsistent system behavior. It is shown, for the time step sizes uses, that protective devices did not operate inadvertently, which indicates that the errors did not alter RMS measurement and, hence, were non-influential.

Shipboard Power Systems (SPS) play a significant role in next-generation Navy fleets. With the increasing power demand from propulsion loads, ship service loads, weaponry systems and mission systems, a stable and reliable SPS is critical to support different aspects of ship operation. It also becomes the technology-enabler to improve ship economy, efficiency, reliability, and survivability. Moreover, it is important to improve the reliability and robustness of the SPS while working under different operating conditions to ensure safe and satisfactory operation of the system. This dissertation aims to introduce novel and effective approaches to respond to different types of possible faults in the SPS. According to the type and duration, the possible faults in the Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) SPS have been divided into two main categories: transient and permanent faults. First, in order to manage permanent faults in MVDC SPS, a novel real-time reconfiguration strategy has been proposed. Onboard postault reconfiguration aims to ensure the maximum power/service delivery to the system loads following a fault. This study aims to implement an intelligent real-time reconfiguration algorithm in the RTDS platform through an optimization technique implemented inside the Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS). The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed real-time approach to reconfigure the system under different fault situations. Second, a novel approach to mitigate the effect of the unsymmetrical transient AC faults in the MVDC SPS has been proposed. In this dissertation, the application of combined Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM)-Super Conducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL) to improve the stability of the MVDC SPS during transient faults has been investigated. A Fluid Genetic Algorithm (FGA) optimization algorithm is introduced to design the STATCOM's controller. Moreover, a multi-objective optimization problem has been formulated to find the optimal size of SFCL's impedance. In the proposed scheme, STATCOM can assist the SFCL to keep the vital load terminal voltage close to the normal state in an economic sense. The proposed technique provides an acceptable post-disturbance and postault performance to recover the system to its normal situation over the other alternatives.

Shipboard Power System (SPS) is known as an independent controlled small electric network powered by the distributed onboard generation system. Since many electric components are tightly coupled in a small space and the system is not supported with a relatively stronger grid, SPS is more susceptible to unexpected disturbances and physical damages compared to conventional terrestrial power systems. Among different distribution configurations, power-electronic based DC distribution is considered the trending technology for the next-generation U.S. Navy fleet design to replace the conventional AC-based distribution. This research presents appropriate control management frameworks to improve the Medium-Voltage DC (MVDC) shipboard power system performance. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is an advanced model-based approach which uses the system model to predict the future output states and generates an optimal control sequence over the prediction horizon. In this research, at first, a centralized MPC is developed for a nonlinear MVDC SPS when a high-power pulsed load exists in the system. The closed-loop stability analysis is considered in the MPC optimization problem. A comparison is presented for different cases of load prediction for MPC, namely, no prediction, perfect prediction, and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) prediction. Another centralized MPC controller is also designed to address the reconfiguration problem of the MVDC system in abnormal conditions. The reconfiguration goal is to maximize the power delivered to the loads with respect to power balance, generation limits and load priorities. Moreover, a distributed control structure is proposed for a nonlinear MVDC SPS to develop a scalable power management architecture. In this framework, each subsystem is controlled by a local MPC using its state variables, parameters and interaction variables from other subsystems communicated through a coordinator. The Goal Coordination principle is used to manage interactions between subsystems. The developed distributed control structure brings out several significant advantages including less computational overhead, higher flexibility and a good error tolerance behavior as well as a good overall system performance. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach, a performance analysis is accomplished by comparing centralized and distributed control of global and partitioned MVDC models for two cases of continuous and discretized control inputs.

Uninterrupted power supply is an important requirement for electric ship since it has to confront frequent travel and hostilities. However, the occurrence of faults in the shipboard power systems interrupts the power service continuity and leads to the severe damage on the electrical equipments. Faults need to be quickly detected and isolated in order to restore the power supply and prevent the massive cascading outage effect on the electrical equipments. This thesis presents an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based method for the fault classification and location in MVDC shipboard power systems using the transient information in the fault voltage and current waveforms. The proposed approach is applied to the cable of an equivalent MVDC system which is simulated using PSCAD. The proposed method is efficient in detecting the type and location of DC cable faults and is not influenced by changes in electrical parameters like fault resistance and load.

A shipboard power system (SPS) should be stable and reliable in order to ensure that the ship has better fight-through capability and increased fault invulnerability. The protection system is designed to minimize the effects of faults in the SPS, which presents challenges, such as increased fault vulnerability and lack of an electrical ground in the system. If protection devices are not updated after power system reconfiguration, they may not protect the power system appropriately. Therefore the development of elaborate digital protection devices for the SPS is required. This thesis focuses on the model-based methodology for designing a protection scheme for SPS based on instantaneous overcurrent digital relays. To achieve this, an instantaneous overcurrent relay model is first developed in MATLAB/Simulink. Then, the Simulink model is downloaded to the DSP-based platform dSPACE, which runs the Simulink model in real-time, to perform hardware-in-the-loop testing (HIL). Thus, through the dSPACE hardware, the proposed relay model is tested for various fault conditions in three HIL platforms. Different electromagnetic transient real-time digital simulators are used to simulate the SPS, to which protection is provided through the relay modeled in dSPACE. Simulation results from these three HIL platforms demonstrate that the proposed overcurrent relay model was successfully modeled, simulated and tested using various tools for model-based design. Testing results show that the developed model can work with different real-time platforms, and that in contrast to a commercial relay, the developed relay model has increased flexibility because settings such as reclose delay and pickup value can be changed online. This feature can be used to develop an advanced relay model with a dynamic pickup value. An advanced relay model will be useful for the SPS, because such system is subject to topological changes and reconfiguration that are not as prevalent in other types of power systems.

The differences between shipboard and land based power systems are explored to support the main focus of this work. A model was developed for simulating hidden failures on shipboard integrated propulsion plants, IPP. The model was then used to evaluate the segregation of the IPP high voltage, HV, buses in a similar fashion as a shipboard firemain. The HV buses were segregated when loss of propulsion power would put the ship as risk. This new treatment reduces the region of vulnerability by providing a high impedance boundary that limits the effects of a hidden failure of a current magnitude or differential based protective element, without the installation of any additional hardware or software. It is shown that this protection could be further improved through the use of a simple adaptive protection scheme that disarms unneeded protective elements in certain configurations. / Master of Science

This work discusses the implementation of a Unique Ships Grid design that utilizes Energy Storage. This Unique Ships Grid is used to enhance the efficiency of a Construction Single-Hull River Tender previously discussed and assessed by the Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Coast Guard (USCG). This Grid Design is shown to be both in compliance with applicable regulations and reliable due to built-in redundancy. Compliance with regulations and redundancy are both prized by the Maritime Community and the USCG. An applicable Heuristic Design Methodology is provided in conjunction with the Unique Ships Grid. This Design Methodology can be used with a simple load analysis and results in a Load Center breakdown and the sizing of Cables, Generators, Inverter, and required Energy Storage. This design process is shown to provide an inherent margin for growth and safety. This design process is quick and results in values necessary to do a cost analysis, environmental impact survey, and stability analysis (Ship Stability not Electrical Stability). / Master of Science