Accelerated-time and reduced-scale Hardware-In-the-Loop tests of an islanded microgrid

The optimal sizing, the energy management and the control of microgrids face to technical and economical constraints. Thus, simulation and tests at reduced scale must be carried out before a real implementation. So as to ensure that the energy management system and the control strategies are reliable and correspond to the network requirements, the microgrid components must be scaled to make the experimental tests with laboratory devices possible. The state of the art show that the size scaling is often considered for the validation of microgrid control, but the accelerated-time aspect is not included. Thus, it is proposed in this paper a combined size and time scaling method in order to propose size-scaled and accelerated-time Hardware-In-the-Loop experiments. This method, which is based on a dimensional analysis, allows the dynamics of the islanded microgrid model to be kept, while reducing the experiments time. The scaling method is firstly validated in simulation, before applying it on an experimental test bench. The renewable sources and the load are simulated in real-time, whereas a reduced scale battery is used. The obtained results allow the control of microgrids to be validated at reduced scale while reducing the experiments time.