Innovative Control Concepts Research Articles

Decentralised Droopless Control of Islanded Radial AC Microgrids Without Explicit Communication

A microgrid is a proven effective way to integrate renewable resources. This study presents an innovative control concept for decentralized AC microgrids, which is based on the architectural advantage of a radial microgrid structure. Under the proposed concept, power sharing between the distributed sources is achieved without droop control. Thus the need for a secondary control level is eliminated. Moreover, the use of explicit communication is replaced in the paper by a novel coordination mechanism based on the locally measured currents.

New experimental facility for innovative district heating systems—District LAB

Low temperature district heating (LTDH) is a key technology for the efficient integration of renewable energies and waste heat in our energy systems. Energy system studies indicate that a further development of LTDH systems is needed for a decarbonization of the heating sector and to reach the climate goals, but is also put in question. To face these challenges, research on innovative district heating concepts is required like the feed-in of decentralized renewable energy or the design of new modes of operation.Against this background, the new experimental facility District LAB is set up serving as a test and development platform for innovative district heating systems in close cooperation with collaborates from industry and research. By using the facility, it is targeted to investigate the system behaviour of flexible heating networks, to conduct component tests and to develop innovative control concepts for new management strategies. To reach these goals the District LAB consists of a flexible heating grid, a pipe test bench for mechanical tests and management respectively control units. This way the possibilities of the already existing facilities are expanded. Compared to tests in real operating district heating grid (demonstration) the experimental environment is more flexible since no public utility mandate is connected to the facility.A first started project comprises three different fields of research as investigations of new operational strategies or digitalization, tests of components and the development or validation of simulation tools. The results of the project and the knowledge generated at the District LAB will make a significant contribution to the decarbonization,​ transformation and digitization of district heating.The paper presents a more detailed description of the District LAB and the started research activities to foster the discussion about needed research and to invite possible partners from academia and industry for future cooperation.

Evaluating the Potential Benefit of Using Nowcasting Systems to Improve the Yield of Parabolic Trough Power Plants with Single-Phase HTF

Solar field developers include innovative solutions to optimize the energy production of their plants. Simulation tools play a significant role in the design and testing phases as they provide estimations of this yield in different conditions. Transient processes, like passing clouds and solar field start-up, are specifically challenging to optimize and estimate using such simulation tools. Solar fields are subject to high degree of both temporal and spatial variability in the energy input and a detailed estimation can be achieved by simulating subsystems within acceptable time and computational power. Hence, such simulation tools cannot be utilized for tests under realistic operation conditions. The Virtual Solar Field is a computationally efficient simulation tool that allows a detailed transient simulation of parabolic trough solar fields based on single-phase fluids. Using this tool, developers could reproduce a transient test case with exactly the same disturbances to provide fair comparisons between different configurations. In this paper, an evaluation process based on numerical simulations using the Virtual Solar Field is presented. The economic benefit of novel innovative control concepts can be assessed according to the presented scheme. This is demonstrated by evaluating the potential benefit of availability of spatial DNI nowcasts on the control of parabolic trough solar fields. Results show that nowcasting can increase the economic revenue of commercial power plants by up to 2.5% per day. This proves the feasibility of installing such systems.

Practicability study on the suitability of artificial, neural networks for the approximation of unknown steering torques

ABSTRACTFor steer-by-wire systems, the steering feedback must be generated artificially due to the system characteristics. Classical control concepts require operating-point driven optimisations as well as increased calibration efforts in order to adequately simulate the steering torque in all driving states. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are an innovative control concept; they are capable of learning arbitrary non-linear correlations without complex knowledge of physical dependencies. The present study investigates the suitability of neural networks for approximating unknown steering torques. To ensure robust processing of arbitrary data, network training with a sufficient volume of training data is required, that represents the relation between the input and target values in a wide range. The data were recorded in the course of various test drives. In this research, a variety of network topologies were trained, analysed and evaluated. Though the fundamental suitability of ANNs for the present control task was demonstrated.

Material Flows as a Basis for an Innovative Control Concept for Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators

AbstractDurch die Gewinnung von Sekundärbrennstoffen für den Einsatz bei energieintensiven Prozessen entstehen Abfallfraktionen mit höheren Chlorgehalten. Die Entsorgung dieser Fraktionen in Abfallverbrennungsanlagen ist problematisch, denn Chlor ist maßgeblich an Korrosionsprozessen beteiligt. Zur Minderung der Korrosionsprozesse wird, ausgehend von der Stoffbilanz für Chlor in einer Abfallverbrennungsanlage, ein neues Verfahren zur besseren Regelung von Abfallverbrennungsanlagen vorgestellt. Im Mittelpunkt steht eine separate geregelte Zuführung von Abfällen mit höheren Chlorkonzentrationen.

Flow-control approaches to drag reduction in aerodynamics: progress and prospects

Flow control—the control of turbulence and turbulent flows, in particular—may be likened to the exercise of cupping water between two arthritic hands frustratingly difficult and, at best, only partially successful. Harder still, innovative control concepts that are eventually brought to fruition

Design and validation of a product-driven control system based on a six sigma methodology and discrete event simulation

Recent trends in industry towards autonomous and just-in-time production systems, and the latest developments in auto-ID technologies, have created new opportunities for enhancing reactivity and agility on the shop floor. To take advantage of these opportunities, a Product-driven System (PDS) concept can be seen as an innovative control concept that advocates that a product can be an active actor throughout its lifecycle by associating the material flow with the product information. We propose a methodological approach that contributes to the design and validation of such a system. More specifically, this work focuses on an infrastructure that satisfies PDS control requirements. The feasibility of our proposed approach was evaluated by the development of an industrial case at the Trane Company using six sigma methodology and discrete event simulation.