EAGER: Wireless Power Quality Management System for Residential Applications

越来越多地使用节能家用电器有助于减少住宅消费者的能源使用。家用电器和能源管理系统的组合已被提出作为智能家居的节能解决方案。然而，对无功功率的需求不仅由于输电和配电线路中发生的损失而降低了整体能源效率，而且对无功功率的不良监管也降低了消费电器的寿命;两者都可以量化为每年数十亿美元的损失。在本项目中，将评估各种家用电器的可用无功功率容量。无功功率需求将由这些设备的无功功率容量来满足。通常，洗衣机和空调等家用电器具有前端功率因数校正（PFC）转换器，以满足能源之星星星认证的功率因数条件。这些PFC电路通常是低成本的单向升压转换器。即使在这种PFC变换器的功率容量很小，多个家用电器可以合作，以满足配电级电网的无功功率需求。还将开发无线家庭电源管理系统，以1）管理每个电器提供的无功功率补偿，以及2）与智能家庭能源管理网络或高级计量接口系统合作，以实现峰值需求响应目的。因此，由于输电线路和配电线路的功率损耗以及由于无功功率变化而引起的电压波动将显著降低。拟议框架的成功将导致住宅应用中的电能质量的显著提高，而消费者几乎没有额外的成本。此外，家电的生命周期将得到改善，最后，二氧化碳排放量将减少，本研究的目的是构建，仿真，并调查的有效性的无线电能质量管理系统，利用可用的功率容量从家用电器，小型太阳能发电机，电动汽车，都可以在住宅和智能家居应用。所提出的方法协调有功和无功功率支持和谐波控制能力的单向转换器和双向转换器的电能质量缓解。一个低功耗的实时无线网络将被用作通信基础设施，以交换电能质量管理器和转换器之间的电能质量信息。这些聚合转换器中的有功功率、无功功率和谐波失真补偿的混合控制将是该技术的关键推动者。该项目将进行技术调查，无线网络和监控控制器设计，通过概念验证设计进行实验验证，以及家用电器无功功率支持的实施和可行性测试。拟议的研究是变革性的，因为它提供了一个基本的和高度可扩展的框架，用于监测，减轻和提高住宅应用中的电能质量，从单一建筑物电力系统到社区范围和城市范围的电力系统，特别是在采用可再生能源的微电网中，电能质量监测系统和智能电器。

Increasing use of energy efficient home appliances contributes to the reduction of energy usage by residential consumers. The combination of home appliances and energy management systems has been proposed as an energy efficient solution for smart homes. However, the need of reactive power not only reduces overall energy efficiency due to losses incurred in transmission and distribution power lines, but also poor regulation of reactive power degrades the lifespan of consumer appliances; both quantifiable in billions of dollars in losses per year. In this project, the available reactive power capacities in various home appliances will be evaluated. The reactive power demand will be met by the reactive power capacity of these appliances. Typically, home appliances such as laundry machines and air conditioners have a front-end power factor correction (PFC) converter to satisfy power factor conditions for Energy Star certification. These PFC circuits are usually low-cost unidirectional boost converters. Even though the power capacity in this PFC converter is small, multiple home appliances can cooperate to meet the reactive power demand in distribution level power networks. A wireless home power management system will also be developed to 1) manage the reactive power compensation provided by each appliance, and 2) cooperate with smart home energy management networks or advanced metering interface systems for peak demand response purposes. As a result, the power losses due to the transmission lines and distribution lines, and voltage fluctuations due to variations in reactive power will be significantly reduced. The success of the proposed framework will result in significant enhancement of power quality in residential applications at little to no extra cost to the consumer. Furthermore, the life-cycle of the home appliances will be improved; and lastly, CO2 emissions will be reduced.The objective of this research is to construct, emulate, and investigate the effectiveness of a wireless power quality management system that utilizes available power capacities from home appliances, small solar power generators, and electric vehicles which can all be found in residential and smart home applications. The proposed method coordinates active and reactive power support and harmonic control capabilities of both unidirectional converters and bidirectional converters for power quality mitigation. A low-power real-time wireless network will be employed as the communication infrastructure to exchange power quality information between a power quality manager and the converters. Hybrid control for active power, reactive power, and harmonic distortion compensations in these aggregated converters will be the key enabler for this technology. This project will conduct a technology survey, wireless network and supervisory controller design, an experimental verification through proof-of-concept design, and an implementation and feasibility test of reactive power support from home appliances. The proposed research is transformative because it provides a fundamental and highly scalable framework for monitoring, mitigating, and enhancing power quality in residential applications ranging from a single building power system to community-wide and city-wide power systems especially in microgrids employing renewable energy sources, power quality monitoring systems, and smart appliances.