Two-Loop Controller for Maximizing Performance of a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic-Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Plant

The study started with the requirement that a photovoltaic (PV) power source should be integrated with other supplementary power sources whether it operates in a stand-alone or grid-connected mode. First, fuel cells for a backup of varying PV power were compared in detail with batteries and were found to have more operational benefits. Next, maximizing performance of a grid-connected PV-fuel cell hybrid system by use of a two-loop controller was discussed. One loop is a neural network controller for maximum power point tracking, which extracts maximum available solar power from PV arrays under varying conditions of insolation, temperature, and system load. A real/reactive power controller (RRPC) is the other loop. The RRPC meets the system's requirement for real and reactive powers by controlling incoming fuel to fuel cell stacks as well as switching control signals to a power conditioning subsystem. The RRPC is able to achieve more versatile control of real/reactive powers than the conventional power sources since the hybrid power plant does not contain any rotating mass. Results of time-domain simulations prove not only effectiveness of the proposed computer models of the two-loop controller, but also their applicability for use in transient stability analysis of the hybrid power plant. Finally, environmental evaluation of the proposed hybrid plant was made in terms of plant's land requirement and lifetime CO2 emissions, and then compared with that of the conventional fossil-fuel power generating forms.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• Ro, Kyoungsoo

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Rahman, Saifur

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Liu, Yilu
• Broadwater, Robert P.
• VanLandingham, Hugh F.
• Roach, John W.

• real and reactive power control
• environmental evaluation
• photovoltaics
• fuel cells
• batteries
• neural networks
• maximum power point tracking controller

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-284211839751071

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/30378