Development and experimental testing of an advanced power converter system for renewable energy application with high voltage DC distribution

预计到2020年，信息和通信技术（ICT）数据中心的全球温室气体排放量将超过2007年水平的两倍以上。为ICT数据中心供电是非常耗能的操作; 2014年，仅数据中心就占加拿大能源消耗的约50亿千瓦时。总部位于渥太华的ICT公司，CISTECH有限公司已经开始研究绿色和创新的ICT电力解决方案，以提供清洁，可靠和可持续的能源，为企业提供动力。在ICT数据中心的可再生能源系统中采用的典型电力电子接口需要一个单独的并网电源转换器，以便在可再生能源或备用储能设备无法提供所需负载电力时提供不间断电源。与约克大学电力电子可持续能源研究小组合作，他们的合作研究项目产生了一种新的、具有成本效益的功率转换器概念，用于为具有多种可再生能源的高压直流分布式ICT数据中心供电。仿真结果表明，所设计的转换器能够将功率效率提高3%以上与任何具有高压DC配电的可再生系统中使用的现有电力架构相比，基于目前与CISTECH合作的成功成果，CISTECH和York正朝着通过对原型单元进行深入的实验测试来开发功能硬件工程原型的方向努力。

The global greenhouse gas emissions from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) data centers areprojected to exceed 2007 levels by more than twofold in 2020. Powering ICT data centers are extremelyenergy-intensive operations; in 2014, data centers alone accounted for approximately 5 billion kWh of theCanada's energy consumption. Ottawa-based ICT company, CISTECH Limited has started to look into greenand innovative ICT power solutions to supply clean, reliable, and sustainable energy for powering the datacenters. Typical power electronic interface employed in renewable energy systems with DC power distributionfor ICT data centers require a separate grid-connected power converter to provide uninterruptible power wheneither the renewable energy source or the backup energy storage device is not capable of providing the requiredload power. Collaborated with the Power Electronics for Sustainable Energy Research group at YorkUniversity, their collaborative research project has resulted in a new and cost-effective power converterconcept for powering high voltage DC distributed ICT data centers with multiple renewable energy sources.Simulation results have indicated that the devised converter is able to increase the power efficiency by morethan 3% compared to the existing power architecture used in any renewable systems with high voltage DCdistribution. Based on the successful outcomes from the current collaboration with CISTECH, CISTECH andYork are now working towards the direction to develop a functional hardware engineering prototype byperforming in-depth experimental testing on the prototype unit.