Control process for low voltage microgrids with distributed communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12512697-B2
Application number	US-202318177872-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2023
Priority date	Mar 11, 2022
Publication date	Dec 30, 2025
Grant date	Dec 30, 2025

Abstract

This technology refers to a control process for low voltage microgrids with distributed communication, the process is based on two techniques: “Power-Based Control” (PBC) and “consensus protocol” (CP). The proposed technology resorts to PBC and CP techniques to take advantage of the combination of their technical features, achieving low implementation complexity and concomitantly providing the following technical effects: 1) precise sharing of active power and reactive power proportionally to the capacity of distributed generators (GDs) at the MR; 2) control of the flow of active power and reactive power between the different phases of the MRs; 3) Current unbalance compensation at the point of common coupling (PAC); in addition to other advantages. The technology is applied in the technical field of equipment and infrastructure for microgrids (MRs) of distributed generators (GDs).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method for controlling a microgrid comprising a plurality of distributed generators, the plurality of distributed generators comprising single-phase distributed generators and three-phase distributed generators, the method comprising, at a master control unit of the microgrid:
receiving measurements corresponding to active power measured at an output of a three-phase central converter, reactive power measured at the output of the three-phase central converter, active power supplied by a main grid, reactive power supplied by the main grid, active power measured at an output of each distributed generator, reactive power measured at the output of each distributed generator, a maximum power provided by each distributed generator, and a nominal power of a converter of each distributed generator; determining a total power demand of the microgrid based on the received measurements; determining a power flow at a point of common coupling between the microgrid and the main grid based on the total power demand, an active power reference obtained from the main grid, and a reactive power reference obtained from the main grid; determining a proportion of the total power demand provided by the single-phase distributed generators and a proportion of the total power demand provided by the three-phase distributed generators based on the determined power flow at the point of common coupling; determining a proportion of active and reactive power, respectively, provided by each distributed generator of the plurality of distributed generators; determining a maximum reactive power of each distributed generator, an active power of each distributed generator, and a reactive power of each distributed generator to determine an energy contribution of each distributed generator to the microgrid that is proportional to a capacity of the respective distributed generator; and controlling a flow of power within the microgrid in accordance with the determined energy contribution of each distributed generator.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the three-phase central converter causes the microgrid to operate in an islanded mode or in a grid-connected mode.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the flow of power within the microgrid comprises compensating for a current imbalance at the point of common coupling, wherein compensating for the current imbalance comprises reducing a neutral current at the point of common coupling.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a communication network interconnects adjacent distributed generators and connects the master control unit to at least one single-phase distributed generator and at least one three-phase distributed generator.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of distributed generators exchange information with each other in a vector structure, such that each distributed generator of the plurality of distributed generators receives information about each other distributed generator of the plurality of distributed generators.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein adjacent distributed generators exchange data packets, wherein each data packet comprises a vector structure that includes information about the plurality of distributed generators.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein data corresponding to each distributed generator is included in a vector structure that is shared between adjacent distributed generators, wherein a distributed generator that receives the vector structure is configured to update the vector structure.

Assignees

• Univ Minas Gerais
• Petroleo Brasileiro S A —Petrobras

Inventors

• Menezes Ferreira Daniele
• Magalhães Silva Sidelmo
• Iglesias Brandão Danilo

Classifications

• H02J13/12 Primary

  Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status · CPC title

• H02J3/381

  Dispersed generators · CPC title

• G05B17/02

  electric · CPC title

• H02J3/46 Primary

  Controlling the sharing of generated power between the generators, sources or networks · CPC title

• H02J13/00002 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic