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

在过去的一个世纪里，电力系统的部署和进步使全球GDP和整个发达国家的生活水平呈指数级增长。电力传输和分配（T&D），无论规模大小，使电力从电源到负载的移动。2012年，全球T&D设备市场规模估计为1310亿美元。今天，随着可再生能源生产的爆炸式增长和提高能源效率的压力，将可再生能源和能源存储整合到公用事业网络的重要性迫使人们重新评估过去几十年来推动输配电技术发展的设计范式。**最近，使用直流网络收集，传输和分配电力已成为交流网络的可行替代方案，提供了提高效率，增强可控性的承诺，并在越来越多的应用中降低了成本。然而，大多数现有的终端消费者在未来几十年仍将依赖交流配电网络，不可避免地导致混合或“混合”交流/直流电网的新兴主导地位。**建议的研究重点是未来混合AC/DC电源网络架构的发展，以实现系统效率的提高，成本的降低，最重要的是，利用电力电子构建模块提供的控制多功能性，这些模块组成AC- DC和DC- DC电源转换单元。利用这种控制通用性，可实现可再生能源与储能装置的大规模集成。为了促进新的系统架构，最好地利用交流和直流网络的好处，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“智能电网”愿景所需的电力侧基础设施，并应用于电力收集、传输和分配。这些转换器拓扑结构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/多输出转换器拓扑的最新进展，该拓扑能够形成服务于多种功能的转换器拓扑。这些电力电子拓扑结构不仅促进了从交流到直流或从一个直流电压水平到另一个直流电压水平的能量传输，而且还使大量的直流能源（无论是电池、太阳能光伏板还是其他来源）或负载同时直接集成到交流和直流网络中。这种方法可以消除不必要的功率转换阶段，提高效率并降低成本。电力系统的“新架构”将直接由正在开发的电力电子拓扑实现，并与之相关联。**这项工作的紧迫性在全球范围内得到了证明，日益增长的电力传输限制、电力中断和电力质量问题是由于上一代将可再生能源整合到输配电系统中的非系统方法所导致的。为了进一步证明这种紧迫性，我们只需要看看新的集成“太阳能光伏-能源存储”系统市场，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。拟议的研究将使5名硕士毕业生，5名博士毕业生，以及众多孟学生，暑期学生和BASc论文学生在这个关键领域的培训成为可能。

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.