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Keywords—Electric spring, DC grid, AC grid, Smart load, Fig. 1. Electric and mechanical spring
Non-critical loads.
When the mechanical spring is compressed, the same principle
I. INTRODUCTION occurs in the ES, voltage is boosted, and when the mechanical
In 1678, Hooke’s law introduced the principle of the spring is extended, the voltage of the ES is stepped down
mechanical spring, which became widely used in different [5],[6].
applications [1]. After centuries, an invention emerged in 2010
based the mechanical spring concept introduced by Hooke, A. AC Electric Spring
named Electric Spring (ES) [2]. Table I shows the characteristics The ES is mainly connected in series with Non-Critical Loads
and applications of both mechanical spring and ES. Nonetheless, (NCLs) (e.g. thermostatically controlled loads as air
ES performs different functions to stabilize the voltage and conditioning systems, electric water heaters and refrigerators or
increase the efficiency of the system. charging of charging of plug in electric vehicles). The series
TABLE I. MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SPRING FUNCTIONS [3] connection between the NCLs and ES forms the so-called smart
Mechanical spring Electrical spring
loads, which can be used for demand side management and
Type of support Mechanical support Voltage support support the voltage at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) of
Type of stored Mechanical energy Electrical energy other critical loads. With the penetration of Renewable Energy
energy Sources (RESs), ES changes the power consumed by the NCL
Type of Mechanical Electrical oscillation damping to match the intermittency of these sources thus providing a
oscillations oscillation damping
damping demand side management.
Applications Used in vehicles Connected in series with non- ES has emerged in AC grid with three different versions with
and beds critical loads (e.g. different characteristics, which are ES-I, ES-II and ES-III [7],
thermostatically controlled as shown in Fig. 2. The first version, ES-I, controls only the
loads as air conditioning
systems, electric water reactive power by providing reactive power compensation to
heaters and refrigerators [4]) regulate the voltage at the PCC [8]. It has also an ability to
simultaneously alter the NCL power associated to it for power
The similarity between mechanical spring and ES is shown in balancing, especially with the penetration of RESs. Fig. 2(b)
their operating modes in Fig. 1. As the mechanical spring shows that the capacitor of ES-I is replaced by battery and
depends on compression and extension to operate, the ES known as ES-II. It has an ability to operate in eight modes to
voltage is stepped down or boosted depending on the system. control both active and reactive power [7].
Electric
Spring
+ Renewable Critical
DC Energy
Grid - Sources Non Load
Critical
Load
(a) ES-I (b) ES-II (C) ES-III
Fig. 2. Different types of AC-ES Fig. 3. Target system topology
157
in Fig. 3). Boosting Charging (BC) operates similar to the BD in stepping
up the voltage at the PCC. However, in this case the battery is
charged by storing surplus power.
BD BC SD
Voltage Power
VPCC_ref PES 0
VES
VPCC_ref / 2
SES
0 IES
158
The voltage across the NCL is = , and by applying voltage and current, there are five types of chopper circuits,
KVL analysis, similar to [15], equation (1) can be expressed as: which are types A, B, C, D, and E.
(a) Case (1) (b) Case (2) (a) Case (1) (b) Case (2)
Fig. 8. Second quadrant of DC-DC converter Fig. 10. Fourth quadrant of DC-DC converter
V =V +I R (1) The type that is used in this paper is type E chopper that can
operate in the four modes (four-quadrants).
( − ) In the first quadrant, in case (1), S1 is operated, S4 is always on
= (2) and S3 and S2 are always OFF. The current will flow from the
The power through the ES is obtained by substituting (2) in the battery to the load passing through S1 and S4 and the inductor
following equation. will store energy on it (Discharging for the battery). The output
( − ) (3) voltage will have the same polarity as the input voltage.
= =
Therefore, the voltage and the current will be positive, thus the
The power through the NCL is also obtained by substituting power will be also positive as it is represented in Fig. 7(a). In
in (4). case (2) S1 will be OFF and D2 will conduct, so the current
( − ) stored in the inductor will flow in the same direction as in case
= = (4) (1) through the freewheeling diode D2 as shown in Fig. 7(b).
The power across smart load can be obtained by summing up Since the diode is conducting, it will act as a short circuit, so it
(3) and (4). will short the load and the output voltage will be zero.
( − ) In the second quadrant, in case (1), S2 is conducting, S4 will be
= = (5) always ON, while the other two switches will be always OFF
B. Constant power so the current flow as represented in Fig. 8(a). Since, the current
flows in a direction opposite to the current in quadrant 1, it will
The NC load voltage is = and by applying KVL analysis be negative while the voltage will be zero. In case (2) the
the voltage across the PCC is obtained current will flow from the load to the battery passing through
P D1 and S4 (charging battery) as shown in Fig.8(b).
V =V + In the third quadrant, in case (1) S3 is conducting, S2 is always
I (6)
By substituting from (6), the power of the ES is expressed ON, and S1 and S4 are always OFF. The current will flow from
as: the battery to the load passing through S2, S3 and the inductor
( ) (7) will store energy on it (discharging of the battery). The output
= voltage will have opposite polarity to the input voltage.
( − )
By substituting from (6), the power of the smart load is Therefore, the voltage and the current will be negative, thus the
expressed as: power will be positive as it is represented in Fig. 9(a). while,
( × ) Fig.9(b) represent case (2), where S3 will be OFF and D4 will
= (8) conduct, so the current stored in the inductor will flow in the
( − )
same direction as in case (1) through the freewheeling diode D4.
Since the diode is conducting, it will act as short circuit, so it
V. FOUR-QUADRANT DC-DC CONVERTER will short the load and the output voltage will be zero.
DC-DC converters are classified as buck, boost, and buck-boost In the fourth quadrant, in case (1), S1 is conducting, S3 is always
according to the relation between the output and input voltages. ON, and S2 and S4 will be always OFF so the current flow as
There is a further classification, which is unidirectional and shown in Fig. 10(a). Since, the current in this quadrant flows in
bidirectional DC-DC converter. According to the direction of the same direction to the current in quadrant 1, it will be positive
159
while the voltage will be zero. In case (2) the current will flow
from the load to the battery passing through D2 and S3 (charging
160
explained for providing voltage regulation for DC bus to
maintain the PCC voltage constant. Simulation results for the
open and closed loop system have been provided for the electric
spring operation. The closed loop system with PI controller has
been presented to regulate the voltage even in the presence of
fluctuations. Experimental results have been provided pertinent
to the four-quadrant DC-DC converter-based ES.
REFERENCES
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Fig. 21. Output voltage from LC filter
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switching frequency 20kHz. Then, four gate driver circuits, fed
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are used in the implementation are listed in the Table V. Fig. 20 [13] M. H. Wang, K. T. Mok, S. C. Tan and S. Y. R. Hui, “Series and shunt
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VII. CONCLUSION [16] Y. Yang, S. C. Tan and S. Y. R. Hui, "Enhanced digital PI control with
The DC-ES is an effective solution in DC grid for stabilizing state-variable feedback loop for DC electric springs," 2017 IEEE Applied
Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), Tampa, FL, 2017,
the voltage and improving the power quality. The principle of pp. 1242-1247.
operation and four operating modes of the DC-ES were
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