RT23 | OPAL-RT Simulators – A Key Component in Power Technology Research at KIT

At the Energy Lab 2.0 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, we deploy OPAL-RT real-time simulators and software as a key component of our Power Hardware-in-the-Loop facility. Thanks to the real-time simulators we can test a variety of "Energy Storage Systems", such as batteries, supercaps, flywheels, and soon also hydrogen, under realistic conditions, with reduced safety risks for our researchers and students. The presentation will include the results of multiple projects, one of them being the development of "Hybrid Energy Storage" control algorithms, using an OP5700 to execute the control algorithms. The "Hybrid Energy Storage" consists of a "Battery Storage System" simulated on the OP5700 and two flywheels which are connected to the simulation using a Power Hardware-in-the-Loop interface. The Power Hardware-in-the-Loop interface is also used to test power electronic systems coupling two asynchronous grids, both simulated on an OP5700, which controls the two power amplifiers simultaneously in that setup. To minimize the remaining risk for our students and offer them additional freedom, we developed multiple Controller Hardware-in-the-Loop test benches. These test benches can be used to validate power electronic control algorithms on real control hardware. In this setup, the used simulators (OP4510) replace the power stages of the power electronic system, by running switching models of a power electronic converter on FPGA and any connected plant models on the CPU in a co-simulation. This allows us to have very fast development iterations, due to the real-time speed of the switching model simulation and the avoidance of additional laboratory time, which requires much more resources. Eventually, the presentation will be closed, giving an outlook for upcoming projects deploying OPAL-RT simulators in our facilities.