Assessment and development of stability enhancing methods for dynamically changing power hardware-in-the-loop simulations

In this paper, to extend the range of Power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) simulations into dynamically changing systems, i.e., setups where during the test scenario the ratio of impedance of the simulation and hardware under test changes, an adaptive Ideal Transformer Method (ITM) interface algorithm is proposed. The method incorporates voltage and current sources at both sides of the interface (simulation and hardware), a switch and an online stability assessment monitoring for the operation of the switch. Two different study cases have been developed for the assessment of the performance of the proposed adaptive ITM interface algorithm in a simulation environment. First, a simple test case with a variable resistive hardware under test has been carried out, followed by a case with a series resistive and inductive load. From the results obtained from the assessment of the proposed interface algorithm, a guideline for performing stability assessments of PHIL simulations in dynamically changing scenarios in a more accurate manner is also provided.