Robust adaptive droop control for DC microgrids

• Published in: Electric power systems research 2017-05, Vol.146, p.95-106
• Main Authors: Vu, Tuyen V., Perkins, Dallas, Diaz, Fernand, Gonsoulin, David, Edrington, Chris S., El-Mezyani, Touria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptive control; Computer simulation; Control stability; Current distribution; Current sharing; Current sharing and voltage stability; Data buses; Direct current; Distributed control; Distributed generation; Droop control; Electric potential; Electric power; Electric power grids; Electricity distribution; Linear control; Microgrids; Robust control; Smart grid technology; Switches; Voltage stability
• ISSN: 0378-7796; 1873-2046
• DOI: 10.1016/j.epsr.2017.01.021

•Comprehensive linear time-varying models for DC microgrids are derived.•Model reference adaptive control is enhanced for DC microgrids for the first time.•Experiments validate the capability of the proposed method in a 400VDC microgrid.•Comparative study using ISE index verifies the efficacy of the proposed algorithm. There are tradeoffs between current sharing among distributed resources and DC bus voltage stability when conventional droop control is used in DC microgrids. As current sharing approaches the setpoint, bus voltage deviation increases. Previous studies have suggested using secondary control utilizing linear controllers to overcome drawbacks of droop control. However, linear control design depends on an accurate model of the system. The derivation of such a model is challenging because the noise and disturbances caused by the coupling between sources, loads, and switches in microgrids are under-represented. This under-representation makes linear modeling and control insufficient. Hence, in this paper, we propose a robust adaptive control to adjust droop characteristics to satisfy both current sharing and bus voltage stability. First, the time-varying models of DC microgrids are derived. Second, the improvements for the adaptive control method are presented. Third, the application of the enhanced adaptive method to DC microgrids is presented to satisfy the system objective. Fourth, simulation and experimental results on a microgrid show that the adaptive method precisely shares current between two distributed resources and maintains the nominal bus voltage. Last, the comparative study validates the effectiveness of the proposed method over the conventional method.