Ecosense installs Wind- PV Hybrid systems at Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur.
Wind- PV Hybrid systems utilise 2 energy sources, Wind Energy and Solar energy for renewable electricity production. The renewable energy systems are weather dependent which makes their instantaneous production output uncertain, to compensate the lower production of output due to change in weather using multiple energy sources is a good idea. Renewable Energy systems with multiple energy sources and single output is known as hybrid systems.
At Department of Electrical Engineering in College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur, Ecosense has installed 2 types of system:
1. Wind Turbine and Solar PV Hybrid system:
This system utilises two energy sources an actual 400-Watt Wind Turbine and actual 500 W Solar PV array as the energy sources. The output of both the energy sources are fed to a charge controller which is further connected to a battery bank and Inverter to complete a standalone hybrid system. The DC loads can be connected at battery output and AC loads can be connected to Inverter output. The system represents a mini hybrid standalone powerplant. As the system is made for laboratory usage, for ease of experimentation the system is fitted with an artificial wind generator which provides wind energy to the wind turbine for power generation. Using this system, a user can learn about the Wind and Solar technology and can experiment on the following parameters:
• Evaluate efficiency of charge controller
• Evaluate start-up speed and cut-in speed of wind turbine
• Evaluate the Tip speed ratio at different wind speeds
• Evaluate coefficient of performance of wind turbine
• Draw Turbine vs wind power curve
• Draw the curve between TSR and coefficient of power
• Draw the power curve of turbine with respect to the rotational speed of rotor at fix wind speeds
• Demonstrate the power analysis at different branches of the system with only AC loads
• Demonstrate the power analysis at different branches of the system with only DC loads
2. Wind Turbine Emulator- Solar PV Hybrid System.
On the other hand, a Wind Turbine Emulator- Solar PV Hybrid system utilises a Wind Turbine Emulator instead of actual Wind Turbine
Why Emulator?
Wind turbine emulator mimics the behaviour of actual wind turbine under controlled manner. Essentially it simulates the same operating pattern at hardware level in real time similar to what an actual wind turbine does at given operating parameters of wind speed and pitch angle.
Term Emulation is coined for simulation practices which involve hardware platform. In simple words, emulation is hardware level simulation. It provides a fast configurable testing platform. Usually these are performed in real time. Emulator is similar to Hardware-In-Loop simulation concepts. Wind turbine emulator can find applications in numerous fields. It provides a flexible testing platform for study of dynamic and steady state behaviour of wind turbine. Beginners can learn about Power/wind speed, Torque/turbine speed and Power/turbine speed characteristics of a wind turbine and can-do comparative studies about how changes in parameters of wind turbine affect the behaviour.
For other applications, this emulator can be coupled to the generator (Induction, PMSG, DFIG) followed by power electronics in place of actual wind turbine. So, researchers would not have to rely on environmental conditions which are appropriate for driving the wind turbine at some desired operating point. Since the operating point of wind emulator can be controlled, researcher can simulate all possible scenarios of operation of wind turbine and accordingly can modify the power electronics & control algorithms. Consequently, it will improve the product quality and reliability. Using this system, a user can learn about the Wind and Solar technology and can carry on research on the following topics:
• DC-side Load management
• User controlled, cost effective way to test response of PV system for wide range of solar panels
• Simulate the I-V curve under varying environmental conditions
• Test and verify different parameters of PV system like – MPPT tracking algorithm of PV inverter, efficiency of MPPT tracking
• Measure and verify the overall efficiency and conversion efficiency of PV inverter for variety of solar panels and in varying weather conditions
• Real time Emulation of Static and dynamic behavior of Wind Turbine
• Power balancing using battery bank and bidirectional converter
• 3 phase inverters control for standalone and grid tied system in Wind Emulator
• Exhibits both static and dynamic behaviour close to real wind turbine
• Intuitive graphical user interface & data acquisition for control and monitoring of various parameters
• Capability to change wind turbine parameters (within permissible range)
• FPGA board for solving the differential equations in real time, additionally on-board ADC channels and PWM port for power electronics converter/inverter firing
• Suitable for Hardware-in-Loop simulations
Masters Training Conducted
Ecosense also conducted a masters training program at Electrical Lab. This Masters training program was focused on educating and training the professors, scholars and technicians in Hybrid Technology who will further train thousands of students and professionals to start their career or business in this very field.
Ecosense Engineer interacting with faculty
Program Outcomes
The faculty members and students really enjoyed our two-day training programme and loved to work on our lab equipment. Professors will conduct experiments on the system to understand it more deeply and incorporate this lab set up as part of their regular curriculum.