An adaptive droop control with constant voltage regulation is proposed for the power and voltage management of a DC microgrid (DCMG) with multiple power sources, such as a utility grid (UG), a distributed generator (DG), an energy storage system (ESS), and an electric vehicle (EV). In the proposed scheme, the droop characteristics for the UG, ESS, and EV are adaptively changed according to electricity price conditions and state-of-charge (SOC) levels in order to optimize the DCMG operation flexibility as well as electricity cost. The proposed control method not only ensures the power-sharing of DCMG reliably without the use of a communication link, but also regulates the DC bus voltage stably at the nominal value. To achieve this, the proposed scheme consists of primary control and secondary control. The primary control is used to achieve power-sharing in the decentralized DCMG, while the secondary control is used to overcome the disadvantage of conventional droop control, i.e., to remove DC bus voltage deviations. Decentralized power management is also presented to enhance the DCMG system reliability in the presence of uncertainties such as DG generation power, the ESS and EV SOC levels, the grid and EV availabilities, the load demand, and electricity price conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated in a comprehensive simulation and experiment under various conditions. The test results clearly confirm the control flexibility and overall performance of the proposed control scheme for decentralized DCMG system.

In this paper, a power flow control strategy (PFCS) for the decentralized control of DC microgrids (DCMGs) is proposed to enhance the flexibility and scalability of the microgrid power system. The proposed scheme is achieved by combining the droop control and DC-link voltage control with the consideration of the electricity price condition. Generally, the droop control method can be used effectively in decentralized DCMGs to achieve power-sharing without additional communication links. However, the deviation of the DC-link voltage caused by the droop control affects the amount of power delivered to the load. As an alternative, the DC-link voltage control can be used to prevent such a deviation. To combine both control schemes in this study, the utility grid (UG) unit uses the DC-link voltage control to exchange the power between the DC-link and a UG in the grid-connected mode, while a distributed generator (DG) and energy storage system (ESS) units use the droop control method in the islanded mode. The operating modes of the UG, DG, ESS, and load units are determined by the deviation values of the DC-link voltage to maintain DCMG power balance. The overall PFCS is also developed for a decentralized DCMG system by taking into consideration several uncertainties such as DG power variation, battery state of charge (SOC) level, load demand, and grid availability. The proposed PFCS also considers electricity price conditions to adaptively change the DC-link voltage level for the purpose of minimizing the utility cost. When the DC-link voltage level is reduced due to the high electricity price condition, the proposed droop controller is designed such that the ESS unit operates with a discharging mode, which leads to the required minimum power support from the UG. The effectiveness of the proposed PFCS is demonstrated by comprehensive simulation and experimental results under various conditions. Those test results clearly confirm the control flexibility and overall performance of the proposed PFCS for a decentralized DCMG system.

To maintain voltage stabilization under transmission time delays, this paper proposes a seamless power management scheme for a distributed DC microgrid (DCMG) with minimum digital communication links (DCLs). First, a DCL topology with minimum communication data is presented for the construction of distributed DCMG system not only to mitigate the communication burden but also to enhance the system’s flexibility and reliability. In addition, based on information gathered from nearby agents and local measurements, the operating modes of local agents in a DCMG system are determined properly to ensure a proper power balance under various conditions. During normal operation, the proposed scheme works as a distributed control scheme either in the grid-connected or islanded mode to take advantage of the distributed control method. To maintain seamless power management even under transmission time delays such as grid fault detection delays and grid recovery detection delays, the operating modes of each agent in a DCMG system are switched to a decentralized scheme based on the droop control method. When the utility grid information is properly identified by all power agents after a transmission time delay, the DCMG system returns to the distributed control scheme based on DC-link voltage (DCV) control to guarantee voltage stabilization. Furthermore, the scalability issue of a distributed DCMG system is also considered in this paper when an additional energy storage system (AESS) agent is involved in the DCMG system. For this purpose, a DCL topology with minimum communication data is designed for the AESS, which enables power units to participate in or to leave the distributed DCMG system easily. Simulation and experimental results under various conditions demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed seamless power management strategy.

Currently, power electronics and AC machine drive systems are employed in numerous areas, such as in industrial processes, consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), renewable-energy-source (RES)-based distributed generation (DG) systems, and electric power generation systems. As RESs such as wind and solar are attracting relatively more attention due to environmental issues caused by fossil fuel use, various RESs have been integrated into the utility grid (UG) as DG systems. As a result, the concept of a microgrid (MG), which constructs an electrical power system with DGs, energy storage systems (ESSs), and loads, has emerged. Recently, the DG-based MG has been regarded as a promising and flexible technology for those involved in constructing electric power systems. This article presents future technology and recent developments in applied power electronics. In this Special Issue, “The Recent Development of Power Electronics and AC Machine Drive Systems”, four papers were published highlighting recent developments in this field. In addition, other topics beyond the coverage of the published articles are highlighted by a guest editor to address other trends and future topics related to the Special Issue. Through an in-depth investigation of recent development trends, this article seeks to encourage related studies in power electronics.