Microgrid Controller Simulation Workflow for Rapid Safe Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing microgrid control systems face challenges in designing, testing, deploying, tuning, and monitoring controllers rapidly, safely, and inexpensively, while ensuring flexibility and adaptability to varying conditions.
Innovation Solution
A multi-mode, cross-platform design system for microgrid controllers that includes a host machine with a microgrid simulator, monitoring system, and analysis services, allowing users to design, test, and deploy control logic in offline, real-time, and live environments, using specialized software tools and dedicated hardware to create and monitor microgrid controllers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional microgrid control design methods are used, then design and deployment can be completed, but the process is time-consuming, costly, and lacks rapid iteration capability
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary testing and validation in a virtualized environment before actual deployment. The microgrid simulator allows control logic to be tested in advance under various simulated conditions, identifying and fixing issues before they reach the physical system, thereby accelerating the overall design and deployment process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the microgrid system through simulation environments that replicate physical microgrid behavior. This virtual model allows rapid iteration, testing, and validation of control strategies without affecting the actual physical system, enabling faster design cycles and reducing real-world testing time.
2Reliability
If extensive testing and validation are performed to ensure safety, then reliability improves, but the process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtualized simulation environment as an intermediary between the designer and the physical microgrid system. This intermediary layer provides a safe, controlled space for extensive testing and validation of control logic, allowing comprehensive reliability verification without the complexity and risks associated with direct physical testing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements beforehand cushioning by creating protective virtual environments that cushion against potential failures before they occur in the physical system. The simulator allows testing of failure scenarios and edge cases in a risk-free environment, ensuring reliability is validated before deployment without requiring complex physical safety infrastructure.
3Manufacturing precision
If detailed low-level communication protocols are implemented, then system control precision improves, but ease of operation deteriorates due to increased complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of communication protocols and interfaces in the simulation environment that mirror the physical system's detailed communication requirements. This allows the system to maintain precise control through detailed protocol implementation while presenting a simplified interface to users, as the complexity is handled in the virtual layer rather than exposing it to end users.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided herein are embodiments of systems, devices, and methods for a multi-mode, cross-platform design environment to deploy and monitor microgrid controllers rapidly, safely, and inexpensively. A multi-mode environment may run offline, real-time, and live. A cross-platform environment may run on different operating systems and environments. A design system may allow users (e.g., engineers, managers) to design, test, deploy, tune, and monitor microgrid controllers before and after deployment.