Transient analysis of integrated solar/diesel hybrid power system

using MATLAB Simulink

Takyin Taky Chan

School of Electrical Engineering

Victoria University
PO Box 14428 MC, Melbourne 8001, Australia.
Taky.Chan@vu.edu.au

Abstract DC to AC power converter and the diesel

This paper presents Matlab simulation the
dynamic behavior of small autonomous power
system with solar and diesel power sources. The
solar power system and the diesel generator
operate in parallel. It is more cost effective than
a diesel generator acting alone. For the effective
integration of the solar power into the power
system, a method for controlling the Inverter’s
operation is proposed. The power demand from
the network is monitored and control signals
adjust the angle and magnitude of the Inverter’s
voltage.
This simulation is to investigate the behavior of
the step change in different load. Consequently,
develop an advanced digital controller to
provide a fast and stable dynamic response of
the hybrid power system.
1. Introduction
The analysis of an integrated hybrid power
system and associated control system could be
time consuming and expensive without a good
modeling and simulation study. Therefore,
simulation plays an important role in the design
and analysis of power system, power converter
and their controller.
Simulink, a window-oriented dynamic modeling
software package based on Matlab numerical
workspace is specifically designed for simulating
dynamic system [1]. Matlab is a software
package for high performance matrix
computation. In Matlab Simulink environment,
the models are entered as block diagrams with a
graphical interface and a set of blocks with
generator operate in parallel, which can be
analyzed the load flow and load sharing for the
power system, since it is more cost effective than
a diesel powered generator acting alone. Due to
the diesel generator is a commercial product, it
has own speed control and cannot be accessed
externally. The control of such an integrated
system proves to be very challenging. So this
simulation is to investigate the behavior of the
step change in different load. Consequently,
develop an advanced digital controller to provide
a fast and stable dynamic response of the hybrid
power system.
2. Model of System Components
The appropriate models used to simulate the
solar/diesel electric power system are general
and able to give accurate results. In order to
examine the dynamic behavior of the whole
autonomous system, models for the diesel engine
generator set and the solar fed inverter are given
in this section.
2.1 Model of a Diesel Engine
To simulate the complete dynamics of a diesel
engine system, a very large order model will be
required. However for most studies on speed
dynamics of internal combustion engines, it is
sufficient to use a lower order model. Similar
approaches have been adopted in diesel engine
simulation studies [2, 3, 4].
Load
Flywheel
1,2
1 θS α
n

signal interconnections could be masked as a 0 τs + 1 e Σ S

subsystem. The library blocks make the

Actuator Engine
construction of dynamical systems easy. ξ

Therefore Simulink can be conveniently used for DieselEngineSystem

studies of dynamic systems.

This paper presents the modeling and simulation Fig.1 Block diagram of a typical diesel engine
study of a hybrid solar/diesel power system, a system
The mathematical model of a typical small sized
diesel driven prime mover is shown in Fig.1.
where the input to the plant is the control signal
to the actuator, the output of the model is
velocity, 0.035 ≤ α ≤0.2 seconds, θ = 0.04, 0.1≤
α ≤ 2 in velocity per second, 0.01 ≤ ξ ≤ 0.1, and
load = 0 or 1. The dead time θ in Fig.1 represents
the almost pure dead time associated with an
engine. This dead time is the result of having
several cylinders. Not all cylinder will be in a
position to accept more fuel at a given instant.
The dead time θ is largely made up of the time
required for all cylinders to come into position to
be filled with more or less fuel. This parameter is
fixed in this model, and is set to 0.04 seconds.
A self-tuning PID controller has been developed
for a small sized diesel engine and generator set
very successfully [5].
2.2 Synchronous Generator
The equations of synchronous generator are
obtained from Park equations [6]. The most
important is that stator transients are neglected
compared to the rotor. In the model presented the
synchronous machine rotor consists of three
windings. A field and a damping winding on the
direct axis are in order to take into account the
transient and sub-transient behavior respectively.
A damping winding on the quadrature axis also
has transient and sub-transient time constant.
The stator equations are in p.u.:
Vd = Ed '' − Rs ⋅ Id + Xq '' ⋅ Iq
Vq = Eq '' − Rs ⋅ Iq − Xd '' ⋅ Id
2.3 Model of Inverter
An inverter consists of inductors, capacitors,
transformer and power electronics components
such as IGBTs, MOSFETs. Each H-bridge
switch of the inverter is operated by a sinusoidal
pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. The
power electronic devices switch the signal to
transform the sources. The function of the
inverter is bi-directional to change a DC source
and a symmetrical sinusoidal AC source. The
DC input assumes a constant source (large
capacity batteries). The power transfer between
the inverter DC source and AC source is
achieved by controlling the phase angle (δ) and
magnitude of the inverter output voltage. Also a
controller is used to supervise the entire system.
At normal condition, the inverter generates in
parallel of output voltage and should be kept
synchronized with power system.
2.4 Load flow
The diesel generator and the converter are
connected in parallel to supply the load. The
diesel and converter voltage sources are
separated by a link inductor XM. The bi-
directional power flow can be explained with
reference to the single equivalent circuit shown
in Fig.2.
IM IL
XM
(1) IC
Load
(2)

The differential equations corresponding to the VM ∠0 0 VC ∠δ 0

rotor winding dynamics are in p.u.:
DieselGenerator Converter
dE q Ef + ( Xd − X d ) ⋅ Id − E q
' ' '
(3)
= Fig.2. Single equivalent circuit for a hybrid
dt T 'd 0
solar/diesel power system
dE ' d − ( Xq − X ' q) ⋅ Iq − E ' d (4)
= The active power (PM) and reactive power (QM)
dt T 'd 0
as follows:
dE '' q E ' q + ( X ' d − X '' d ) ⋅ Id − E '' q (5)
= VM VC (8)
dt T '' d 0 PM = sin δ
XM
VM (9)
dE '' d E ' d − ( X ' q − X '' q) ⋅ Iq − E '' d (6) QM = (VM − VC cos δ )
= XM
dt T '' d 0
⎛ X M PL ⎞ (10)
The electromagnetic torque equation is in p.u.: δ = sin −1 ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ VM VC ⎠

TD e = E '' d ⋅ Id + E '' q ⋅ Iq − ( X ' d − X ' d ) Id ⋅ Iq (7)

 Fig.3. The overall Simulink block diagram of hybrid power system
Where ‘δ’ is the phase angle between the two
voltage sources, the phase angle with respect to
the diesel voltage is varied for power flow. It can
be seen that the power supplied by the inverter
from the batteries or supplied to the batteries can
be controlled by controlling the phase angle ‘δ’.
The converter voltage Vc is separately controlled
by the modulation index of PWM pulses.
Typical operation of a hybrid power system is
load demand dependent. In the low loads, the
diesel generator is off. Power from the batteries
and solar is transferred to the load through the
inverter. In medium loads, the diesel generator
will be supplying the load directly. Excess power
from the diesel generator is used to charge the
batteries through the bi-directional inverter in the
charge mode. Hence the diesel generator
operates in optimum 80%-100% loading
capacity. During peak loads, the diesel generator
runs in parallel with the inverter which converts
DC power from batteries to AC power.
3. Simulation Model
Matlab Simulink is used to model the system and
apportion the electrical production between the
inverter and diesel engine generator. In general,
the Simulink model can be used to study the
performance of any hybrid power system. Using
Simulink for other renewable energy sources,
dynamic operation and control system strategies
can be easily incorporated into the existing
hybrid electric power system model to study the
overall performance of the system. Simulation
are performed the inverter and diesel engine
generator load flow sharing and dynamic
transient response. The results of the simulation
are used to design the comprehensive control
system and predict the power system impacts of
integrating a solar and diesel electric power
system.
A model of an inverter and diesel generator
power system was built using Matlab Simulink.
The Simulink model was developed so that it can
be used to study the performance of load flow
power system. Using the S-function and
SimPowerSystem in Simulink, blocks
representing system components can be easily
incorporated into the existing hybrid power
system model. Simulink also allows the dynamic
operation and the control strategy to be
incorporated into the hybrid power system model
to study the dynamic performance of the system.
The overall block diagram of the current system
is shown in Fig. 3. The model consists of two
large subsystems contained in blocks as shown
below.
Simulation model of 10kVA power converter to the normal, the converter current still
maintains as shown in Fig. 8b. Since the 5kW
load is withdrawn from the power system, the
converter also reduces power but the diesel
generator power still maintains almost same
level shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 4. Voltage regulator subsystem

Simulation model of 8kVA diesel generator set

Fig. 5. Governor & diesel engine subsystem

Fig. 7. (a) Generator power output (p.u.), (b)

Fig. 6. Voltage & speed control subsystem Excitation Voltage (p.u.), (c) Engine speed /
frequency (p.u.).
The synchronous machine block can be operated
in generator mode. The equivalent circuit of the
model is represented in the rotor reference frame
(qd frame). All rotor parameters and electrical
quantities are viewed from the stator and the
model parameters are preset.

4. Simulation and Results

The simulation results are presented in this
section. The main voltage of hybrid power
system is normally line voltage 400 volt (single
phase 230 volt rms). It is assumed that the DC
system at the power converter side has a constant
DC source. The diesel generator supply a 7kW
resistive load after 0.5 second at the engine
stabilized. The diesel generator is held constantly
single phase 220 volt. While the diesel generator
frequency stabilizes at 50Hz, the converter and
diesel generator synchronize at 7.1 second and
the converter current is phase shifted 31o
accordingly. Then a 5kW resistive load steps up
change on the loading at the 10 second as shown
in Figs. 8, 9, 10. The main current of power
converter increases during the step change load Fig. 8. (a) Vab inverter PWM output, (b) Vab
and needs approximately six cycles to reach the inverter voltage, (c) Ia inverter current, (d)
steady state. Similarly, when the voltage is back Modulation Index.
 Systems, IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, Vol., No., 2000.
[5] D. W. Augustine and K.S. P. Kumar, A
method for self-tuning a PID controller for
control of small to medium sized diesel engines,
IEEE International Conference on System
Engineering, P.85-88 1-3 Aug. 1991.
[6] Paul C. Krause, Analysis of Electric
Machinery, McGraw Hill, 1987.
[7] Ashari M., Nayar C.V., Islam S.,
Steady-state performance of a grid interactive
voltage source inverter, IEEE Power Engineering
Society Summer Meeting, 2001. Vol. 1, P.650 –
655 July 2001
[8] Nayar C.V., Ashari M., Keerthipala,
W.W.L., A grid-interactive photovoltaic
uninterruptible power supply system using
battery storage and a back up diesel generator,
IEEE Transaction on Energy Conversion, Vol.
15, Issue 3, Ps. 348 – 353, Sept. 2000
Fig. 9. (a) inverter output power, (b) diesel
generator output power, (c) load consumption.

5. Conclusion
Software simulation of solar diesel hybrid power
system has been developed and tested by several
simulation runs. This result represents an aid to
evaluate the transient behavior of power flow in
the system. Investigation has been devoted to
study of dynamic behavior in the normal and
step change in load condition. Therefore,
oscillation in power and frequency occur with
periods which are imposed by the source with
the largest time constant.

These oscillations may be excessive for the

operation of the power system. Oscillation and
instabilities can be avoided by using an inverter
with advanced digital control.

Reference:
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1994-2005
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k-step predictive scheme for speed control of
diesel driven power plants, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, Vol. 29, No. 2, 1993.
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H∞ Controller Design for Diesel Engine