ICCS-EES-lab

By /

Institute of Communication and Computer Systems – Electric Energy Systems Laboratory

TA25 – ICCS-EES-lab 

Location

Iroon Polytechniou str 9, Zografou Campus

15772 Athens,  Greece 

Description

  • Low Voltage Microgrids: A main component of the laboratory is the single phase microgrid that includes a photovoltaic (PV) generator, a small wind turbine, battery energy storage, controllable loads and a controlled interconnection to the local LV grid. The DERs are connected to the AC grid via DC/AC power converters. Part of the laboratory’s infrastructure is the 3-phase microgrid with 3 single-phase battery inverters and micro-sources connected in each phase. The two microgrids form a multi-microgrid cluster. Finally, a laboratory SCADA is available for monitoring measurements on the AC and DC side of the inverters, environmental measurements, control of the DGs and load profile programming.
  • CHIL, PHIL & Combined CHIL and PHIL: The HIL facility provides an efficient environment for validation of advanced control algorithms for power electronic converters, microgrid hierarchical control schemes and studying interactions between hardware DER power devices and various simulated networks. A rack of the commercially available Real Time Digital Simulator RTDS® (NovaCor) is operated and various types of amplifiers are utilised to interface hardware components.
  • Multi-Agent System in intelligent load controllers: Multi-agent technology is implemented for the control of the DERs and the loads of the microgrid. This system can be used to test in the laboratory or in a real test field various algorithms for distributed control of microgrids and DG/RES.
  • Relay Testing & Adaptive Protection System in Distribution Grids: An Omicron amplifier is utilised for high precision testing of all types of protection relays. Additionally, through analogue, digital or protocol-based signals, the RTDS is connected to external protection devices, for example feeder relays, while a laboratory adaptive protection platform is running on the microgrid controller.
  • PV Inverter testing according to standards:  A PV simulator by Regatron features fully controllable and customisable voltage-current characteristics (V-I), and a grid simulator applies voltage and frequency variations on the inverter (dips, introduction of harmonics etc). In this way, a testing environment is created for the testing of both the DC and AC side of the inverter.
  • Flexible Power Electronics Configuration for Coupling RES & Storage: The Triphase and Taraz Power Modules realise scalable, flexible and open platforms for rapid prototyping of power conversion and power system applications. Researchers can change all the software (based on Matlab/Simulink) from the highest level (e.g. coordination and control of power flows between the storage and the grid) to the lowest level (e.g. PWM control).
  • Residential Wind and Hydro Turbines construction and testing:  Residential wind and hydro turbines for rural electrification applications are locally manufactured and tested. A bench testing rig allows the testing of axial flux generators of power up to 9kW and maximum diameter of up to 1m.
  • Meltemi Test Site: ICCS has access to the Meltemi site where a number of DGs are installed, such as 40kVA diesel generator, 4.5 kW photovoltaic panels and small residential wind turbines, along with smart meters and intelligent load controllers. Meltemi is used to validate methods for intelligent load management and increasing use of RES.

Testing Capabilities

  • Performance of Power Hardware-in-Loop testing of DER devices integrated with the RTDS simulator. MIMO PHIL tests can also be performed using the two power amplifiers of the lab. 
  • CHIL applications with the RTDS simulator and an external Triphase Target PC which allows the design of the control algorithm in Matlab/Simulink, testing in real time. Moreover, the PE-RCP box which is TI based Controller, programmable either in Matlab/Simulink or C++, is available.
  • Distributed control (Multi Agent System) testing and performance of optimisations using HIL simulations.
  • Fast testing of developed control algorithms (Matlab/Simulink) and rapid prototyping of power electronic converters using flexible converters (DC/DC, DC/AC, AC/DC/AC) provided by Triphase and Taraz Technologies.
  • PV inverter testing according to standards (MPPT, LVRT, etc.).
  • Testing and validation of DG components within the microgrids operation.
  • Testing commercial or custom-made e-mobility products for their compliance with EV standards/protocols (IEC61581, OCPP).
  • Testing and validating EV integration within simulated distribution networks in the RTDS.
  • Testing of protection schemes with the RTDS.
  • Power curve measurement of small wind turbines.
  • Testing of static and numerical relays of all types and high-burden electromechanical relays using the OMICRON CMC 356.
  • Testing of adaptive protection schemes for DER dominated power systems in HIL setup.
  • Testing of microgrid control schemes with hardware MGCC in CHIL setup.
  • Steady state and dynamic simulations of power systems with high-RES penetration using various in-house and commercial packages.

Technical Equipment

  • Real Time Digital Simulator RTDS® NovaCor, GT peripheral cards for analog, digital and protocol-based communication (GTNETx2)
  • Single-phase Microgrid, 3-phase microgrid, Multi-Microgrid cluster
  • Amplifiers/Grid Simulators:
  • Linear Amplifier/Grid Simulator by Spitzenberger & Spies (PAS 5000 – 4 Quadrant Linear Amplifier 5kVA)
  • Switched-Mode Amplifier by Triphase, 1ph-3-leg back-to-back converter (AC/DC/AC) (5kVA)
  • Flexible Power Electronic Devices:
  • 15 kVA bidirectional active frontend (DC/AC), and a 15 kW bidirectional DC/DC converter consisting of 3 channels by Triphase
  • 3 Phase back-to-back inverters 11 kVA by Taraz
  • PV Simulator by Regatron (3x10kW TopCon Quadro Programmable DC Power Supply)
  • OMICRON CMC 356 universal relay test set and commissioning tool
  • 3 commercial PV Inverters (SMA SB3000, Danfoss, etc), four arrays of PV with total nominal power of 10.74kWp
  • 1 wind turbine system: SMA Wind Boy 1700, WHISPER Wind Generator
  • Battery Energy Storage Systems
  • SMA SI 4500 inverter 3.3kVA, Lead Acid battery bank
  • Victron Multigrid 3kVA inverter, Li-ion, capacity of 5 kW
  • SMA SI-3.0 inverter 2.5kVA inverter, Lead Acid, capacity 5.7 kWh
  • 3 single phase battery inverters: SMA Sunny Island 2012. Master-slave, 2kW each, Lead Acid battery bank
  • Controllable Loads: 15 kW Resistors, 1kW lamps, 0.5HP motor, 2.5kVAr Inductive
  • Digital Relays and PMUs:
  • 2xSEL-751 directional & overcurrent features
  • 3xSEL-351A directional & overcurrent features
  • 1xSEL-311B (distance and reclosing relay), 1xSEL-587 (differential/overcurrent relay), SEL-300G (generator relay), SEL-3354 (embedded automation computing platform)
  • Inverter controllers (Triphase Target PC, Taraz PE-RCP Box)
  • Microgrid Controller SEL Axion-2240
  • CHP unit: 6 kW electrical and 14.9kW thermal output at nominal load and an overall efficiency of 94% (Vitobloc 200 EM-6/15: 6)
  • Yokogawa WT3000 Power Analyser
  • Intelligent Load Controllers
  • 3D printer for small wind turbines

Additional information

Technology Readiness Level: 4-6

Special considerations: N/A 

Technology clusters: Energy Storage, Information and Communication Technologies, Integrated Grids, PV

Website: https://www.smartrue.gr/

Availability: All year

Provision of tools to prepare data sets in a FAIR way:  Yes 

Gallery

Contact us


Scroll to Top