System Architectures and Power Electronic Converter Topologies Enabling Flexible AC/DC Power Networks

在过去一个世纪中，电力系统的部署和发展使全球国内生产总值和整个发达国家的生活水平实现了指数级增长。电力传输和分配(T&D)，无论是大规模的还是小型的，都可以将电力从电源输送到负载。2012年，全球T&D设备市场规模估计为1310亿美元。如今，随着可再生能源生产的爆炸性增长和提高能源效率的压力，将可再生能源和能源储存整合到公用事业网络中的重要性迫使人们重新评估过去几十年来推动T&D技术发展的设计范式。 最近，使用直流网络来收集、传输和分配电力已成为交流网络的一种可行的替代方案，为提高效率、增强可控性和在越来越多的应用中降低成本提供了希望。然而，大多数现有的终端用户在未来几十年仍将依赖交流配电网络，这将不可避免地导致混合或混合的AC/DC电力网络逐渐占据主导地位。 拟议的研究重点是开发未来的AC/DC混合电力网络体系结构，以实现系统效率的提高、成本的降低，以及最重要的是，利用组成AC-DC和DC-DC功率转换单元的电力电子构建块提供的控制多功能性。通过开发这种控件的通用性，可以实现可再生能源和储能设备的大规模集成。为了促进新的系统架构最大限度地利用交流和直流网络的优点，开发新的转换器拓扑是必要的。这些系统架构和转换拓扑将构成实现应用于电力收集、传输和分配的“智能电网”愿景所需的电力侧基础设施。对这些转换器拓扑和系统架构的控制是研究的一个组成部分。 这项工作将利用多伦多大学发明的模块化多输入/多输出转换器拓扑开发方面的最新进展，这种拓扑能够形成服务于多种功能的转换器拓扑。这些电力电子拓扑不仅促进了能量从交流到直流或从一个直流电压电平到另一个直流电压电平的转移，而且还使大量直流能源(无论是电池、太阳能光伏电池板或其他来源)或负载能够同时直接集成到交流和直流网络中。这种方法消除了不必要的电力转换阶段，提高了效率，降低了成本。电力系统的“新架构”将直接由开发的电力电子拓扑实现，并与之相连。 这项工作的紧迫性在全球范围内表现为日益增长的输电限制、电力中断和电能质量问题，这些问题是由于将可再生能源整合到过去一代人的T&D系统中的非系统方法而产生的。要进一步证明这一紧迫性，只需看看新的集成式“太阳能光伏-能源储存”系统市场，该市场预计将从2012年的2亿美元增长到2017年的170亿美元。加拿大必须参与这场正在重塑电力工程格局的技术革命。拟议的研究将能够培训5名MASC毕业生和5名博士毕业生，以及在这一关键领域培训众多的孟加拉学生、暑期学生和BASC论文学生。

The deployment and advancement of electrical power systems over the past century has enabled an exponential growth in global GDP and in the living standards of the entire developed world. Electrical power transmission and distribution (T&D), be it large scale or small, enables the movement of power from supply to load. In 2012 the global T&D equipment market size was estimated at $131 billion. Today, with the explosive growth in renewable energy production and the pressures to enhance energy efficiencies, the importance of integrating renewables and energy storage into utility networks are forcing a re-evaluation of the design paradigms that have driven T&D technology development over the past several decades. Recently, use of DC networks for collection, transmission and distribution of power have become a viable alternative to AC networks, offering promise for enhanced efficiency, enhanced controllability and, in a growing number of applications, reduced cost. Most existing end consumers however, will remain reliant on AC distribution networks for decades to come, inevitably leading to the emerging dominance of mixed or ‘hybrid’ AC/DC power networks. The proposed research focuses on the development of future hybrid AC/DC power network architectures to achieve system efficiency enhancement, cost reduction and, most importantly, to leverage the control versatility offered by the power electronic building blocks that make up AC-to-DC and DC-to-DC power conversion units. Through exploitation of this control versatility, the large-scale integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage devices may be realized. To facilitate new system architectures that best exploit the benefits of both AC and DC networks, the development of new converter topologies is necessary. These system architectures and conversion topologies will form the power-side infrastructure required to realize the “smart grid” vision as applied to power collection, transmission and distribution. Control of these converter topologies and system architectures are an integral part of the research. The work will exploit recent advances made in the development of modular multi-input/multi-output converter topologies, invented at the University of Toronto, that enable the formation of converter topologies that serve multiple functions. These power electronic topologies not only facilitate the transfer of energy from AC to DC or from one DC voltage level to another, but they also enable a multitude of DC energy sources (be they batteries, solar PV panels or other sources) or loads to be simultaneously integrated directly into the AC and DC networks. Such approaches allow the elimination of unnecessary power conversion stages, driving up efficiency and driving down cost. “New architectures” for the power system will be directly enabled by, and linked to, the power electronic topologies that are developed. The urgency of this work is demonstrated around the globe by the ever growing power transmission constraints, power interruptions and power quality problems that are arising as a result of a non-systematic approach to renewable energy integration into the T&D systems of the past generation. For a further demonstration of this urgency one need only look at the new integrated “Solar PV – energy storage” systems market, which is expect to grow from $200 Million in 2012 to $17 Billion by 2017. It is imperative that Canada participates in this technological revolution, which is reshaping the landscape of electric power engineering. The proposed research will enable the training of 5 MASc graduates, 5 PhD graduates, in addition to the training of numerous MEng students, summer students and BASc thesis students within this critical area.