Project Proposal

Project Title: Working Model of a Distributed DC Solar System Grid

University: UNIMAS
Department: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Technology Track: -
Design Challenge: -

1. Abstract
The aim of this project is to conduct a research on the comparison of the effectiveness between
centralized and distributed DC microgrid construction in the tropical weather of Sarawak. Both
simulation and experimental work will be conducted. The student must develop a prototype of a DC
microgrid system with multiple solar panels to demonstrate its performance. The solar source will
consist of two solar panels supplying a three-point grid with loads at each node. The DC loads are
variable loads. Measured Power flow will be tested using software simulation.

A complete review of the DC Grid to meet the load demand of a model village in Sabah – and a load
flow based comparative study on electrical power quality and economics of a DC and AC Microgrid.
A model DC microgrid will be constructed to demonstrate its performance.
The aim of this project is to reduce the vibration of power tool by 50% using active vibration control
(AVC) system. In this system, an accelerometer will be used to capture the vibration signal. The
vibration signal will be processed by NI myRIO-1900 controller and an activation signal will be sent to
an amplifier to drive the piezo actuator to counteract the vibration of the beam. Both simulation and
experimental work will be done. ANSYS simulation will be done on a cantilever beam to predict the
characteristic of the piezo actuator. The control algorithm will be developed in LabVIEW and once it
is verified, it will be uploaded to NI myRIO-1900 and further testing of the AVC system on a vibrating
cantilever beam will be done. The final phase of the project is the application of the system on an
actual power tool.

This paper presents a DC microgrid (PV array, storage, power grid connection, DC load) with multi-
layer supervision control which handles instantaneous power balancing following the power flow
optimization while providing interface for smart grid communication. The optimization takes into
account forecast of PV power production and load power demand, while satisfying constraints such
as storage capability, grid power limitations, grid time-of-use pricing and grid peak hour.
Optimization, whose efficiency is related to the prediction accuracy, is carried out by mixed integer
linear programming. Experimental results show that the proposed microgrid structure is able to
control the power flow at near optimum cost and ensures self-correcting capability. It can respond
to issues of performing peak shaving, avoiding undesired injection, and making full use of locally
produced energy with respect to rigid element constraints.

We constructed a small scale experimental system in our laboratory, and examined the fundamental
characteristics of dc microgrid. The experimental results demonstrated that high quality power was
supplied even when voltage sag occurred in the utility grid.

This paper describes an autonomous-control method for a DC microgrid system having distribution
power generators. This system consists of following five generation and control units; a solar-cell
generation unit, a wind-turbine generation unit, a battery energy-storage unit, a flywheel power-
leveling unit, and an AC grid-connected power control unit. The proposed control method intended

1
for suppression of circulating current detects only the DC grid voltage. Each unit could be controlled
autonomously without communicating each other. This method brings high reliability, high-flexibility
and maintenance-free operation to the system. Experimental results from a 10 kW-prototype system
verify the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control method.

2
2. Project Introduction

3
3. Design Methodology
3.1 Design Phase

The Design Phase of the project had initiated on the 1st week of the semester after the selection of
supervisor and project title is decided during the final week of the previous semester, and will be
proceeded by engaging on the following aspects:

3.1.1 Design Solar DC Microgrid System

According to this study, the design of the DC microgrid system is based on the simple Solar kit
system which consists of a Solar Panel, Solar Power Regulator or charge controller, Battery,
and a DC Load. The diagram of the Solar DC microgrid system can be seen below:

Solar PV Charge
DC Load
Array Controller

Battery

Figure 1: Diagram of Solar DC microgrid system

It was decided to have two solar panels, two solar power regulators, two batteries and three
loads that complies to the objective of the project. The loads will consist of a Rheostat and an
LED (Light Emitting Diode) with the total estimated power usage range of between 10W to
30W as the power can be controlled by the changeable resistance of the Rheostat is needed
to represent the fluctuating power usage of the real-world loads, the LED is used as an
indicator on whether the it receives enough power from the Solar panels through its varying
brightness. These extra components will be used to create both centralized and distributed
microgrid arrangement with the total estimated power rating of 100-200W and voltage of 12V
or 24V which is mostly used in light household power usage. For a centralized arrangement,
one or two solar panels will be used for the single power generator which is connected to the
three loads whereas for the distributed arrangement, two separated DC power generator are
connected to the three loads. The centralized and distributed arrangement are represented
in the diagrams below

4
 Figure 2: Distributed Solar DC Microgrid Design

Figure 3: Centralized Solar DC Microgrid Design

3.2 Implementation Phase

3.2.1 Component survey and purchasing

During the initial survey stage, both criteria has to be taken into account which are overall
power rating of between 100 to 200W DC microgrid system and cost constraints where the
budget has to be below RM 2000 so an equilibrium between both criteria is important as it
would not compromise with the project’s objective. The planned DC microgrid system will
consist of the components that are listed below.

 2 Solar kit

5
  2 Battery
 4 Rheostat
 6 LED
 Cables

Also, some components such as the rheostat and LED will need to be purchased with a
quantity more than planned which are:

 6 instead of 3 for LED

 4 instead of 3 for Rheostat

The reason to this is to serve as a spare just in case the first component breaks down or does
not performed up to standard during the testing phase. The full details regarding the hardware
and its costs can be seen in the section.

After much survey, the final decision is to stick to the DC microgrid system’s power rating at
100W as anything above that would cost more than RM 2000 which is over the planned
budget.

Table 1: Type of Hardware, Quantities and Costs

No. Components Unit Price per unit Overall Price
1. PT Ria 50W Solar Power Charging DIY Kit 2 RM 499.90 RM 999.80
2. Ohmite Rheostat 25W, 25Ω ±10% 4 RM 114.82 RM 459.28
3. RS Pro 12V Lead Acid Battery, 12Ah 2 RM 139.95 RM 279.90
4. Yellow colour LED 3V, 40mA 6 RM 0.80 RM 4.80
Total RM 1743.78

3.2.2 A Solar DC microgrid System (Hardware)

The building phase starts with assembling the solar kit which consist of the solar panels,
charge controller and their respective cable connectors. In the initial stage, batteries will not
be included in the upcoming test first as we are conducting a test during daytime only which
will be explained in the testing phase. As for the DC loads, the 3 LEDs will be connected to
their own rheostat through a terminal connector strip for an uncluttered arrangement.

6
 3.2.3 A Solar DC microgrid System (Software computed simulation)

Other than building and testing a system in hardware form, a software version will also be
built in a software simulation as a form of control data where it excludes external and internal
factors that will affect the accuracy of the hardware data.

The suggested simulation program for developing and testing the DC microgrid system in
software form for this project are:

 Powerworld Simulator 20 GSO (Glover Overbye Sarma)

 PSCAD

Both simulation software has their advantage and disadvantage which will affect the progress
and the objectives of the project, so some compromises must be made to pick the suitable
simulation program between those two programs.

3.3 Testing Phase

Before the system testing is proceeded, test for each component is done to ensure all components
are functioning properly. After that a DC load (refer to 3.2.2 Solar DC microgrid system hardware) is
then tested by its voltage, current and power absorbed through a constant DC source.

System testing will be done after we have built all the components and combine them into both
distributed and centralized system load (refer to 3.2.2 Solar DC microgrid system hardware). The test
for the project will be conducted in Sarawak, Malaysia which are UNIMAS Engineering Faculty.

Figure 4: Project conducted in UNIMAS, Sarawak, Malaysia (Taken from Google Maps 2017)

7
 Figure 5: Engineering Faculty (Yellow Circle) in UNIMAS (Taken from Google Maps 2017)

Data collection is done by taking voltage, current & power flow on each load (probably the solar panels
also) every 30 minutes for the whole daylight (8-12 hours) and will be recorded in table form.

The power flow test will be conducted by having a preliminary data collection to see whether the
system is functioning properly or not so any hardware adjustment and correction can be made before
proceeding to the real data collection.

3.4 Evaluation Phase

After the testing phase has been completed, the recorded data of the system will be evaluated in a
form of comparison between centralized and distributed DC microgrid system, and between hardware
and software counterparts to check whether the lab experiment fulfils the project’s objectives or not.
The collected data will be translated into charts and graphs to have a better representation of the
project outcome.

8
References