Power electronic interfaces

The microsources are quite capable of contributing significantly to the generation augmentation. Power electronic interfaces are used for preferred microsources, viz. micro-CHPs, wind turbines, PV-arrays and fuel cells. It not only generates utility grade AC power, but also facilitates their overall integration in Microgrids. How ever, these interfaces are quite costly for their complicated technology and system packaging. Power converter designs are normally customised for achieving economic performance. The applicability of electric power converters can greatly be enhanced by proper design to make them rugged, cheap, reliable and interchangeable. Recent trends in the design of power electronic converters include the integration of several components similar to computer architectures and digital electronics. In order to increase the applicability of power electronic converters in distributed power generation and Microgrids with economic viability, research is being focused on the development of modular architecture. It leads to systematic power electronic solutions by the use of pre-engineered components through mass production. This modular approach has been applied to design Bricks-Buses-Software (BBS) framework as proposed by Power System Engineering Research Center-Wisconsin (PSERC) and Wisconsin Power Electronics Research Center (WisPERC). As evident from the nomenclature, this framework consists of three components, viz. (i) modular converter components known as bricks, (ii) connecting elements known as buses and (iii) interfacing elements known as software. The technical and implementation issues of this framework are discussed in the following sections with its advantages and limitations.