Teaching & Research Lab Setup for Power Lab Ecosystem
The Power Labs Ecosystem offers a real testbench environment to design, test and evaluate various aspects of power systems design using state-of-art hardware and software tools from the industry. The solutions are designed by: Bitlismen- a National Instruments Silver Alliance Partner
The labs feature easy to use power or energy related Trainer Platforms which are open, flexible, reconfigurable and reprogrammable. At the heart of each trainer lies:
A Reprogrammable
NI myRIO Platform
LabVIEW graphical
programming environment
Open
Source Codes
Power & Energy Trainers
Solar Power Generation Trainer
Solar Power Generation Trainer consists of:
- a PV panel and
- an array of halogen lamps as a sun simulator
The positions of both the PV panel and Sun Simulator can be controlled manually using joysticks and also from the software. The trainer also has a dual-axis solar tracking system.
Core Functionality
The trainer allows simulating real light, daytime, year time and investigates the PV performance in different irradiation. It works in both off-grid and on-grid modes. In off-grid mode it allows to investigate the battery charging process using a DC charge controller and also the discharge using an AC-DC Inverter and loads.
Wind Power Generation Trainer
Wind Power Generation Trainer consists of:
- a wind tunnel and
- a real wind turbine-generator set
Core Functionality
The trainer allows simulating real wind and investigate the generator performance in different wind speeds. In off-grid mode it allows to investigate the battery charging process using an AC charge controller and also the discharge using an AC-DC Inverter and loads. In on-grid mode it allows to implement the synchronization with the mains power grid.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trainer
The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trainer consists of
- a hydrogen cylinder
- PEM fuel cell stack
- DC-DC converter, load, pressure meter, flow meter, etc
Core Functionality
The trainer allows us to investigate the main principles of fuel cell operation and its characteristics. The students will learn how the hydrogen and air reaction can produce electrical energy.
Hydro Power Generation Trainer
Hydro Power Generation Trainer consists of
- a 3-phase synchronous generator moved by a real Pelton turbine working in both off-grid and on-grid modes.
Core Functionality
The trainer simulates real water flow using a pump. With the manually controlled valves, it allows to simulate different water flow and head pressure and investigate the generator performance in different conditions. In off-grid mode it allows to investigate the supply of local loads, as well as voltage and frequency regulation. In on-grid mode it allows to implement the synchronization with the mains power grid.
Traditional Power Generation Trainer
- a 3-phase synchronous generator moved by an asynchronous motor using a VFD, working in both off-grid and on-grid modes.
Core Functionality
With the manually controlled excitation current and motor, it allows to investigate the generator performance in different mechanical energy.
Smart Grid Trainer
The Smart Grid Trainer includes a chain of power network (traditional, hydro, wind and solar power generations, power transmission and power distribution, etc.). The system is being monitored and controlled from the SCADA software.
Core Functionality
This system allows us to study the main concepts of smart grid, to explore its benefits and advantages in power networks.
Power Transmission Trainer
- step-up and step-down transformers.
- overhead line models and loads
Core Functionality
It allows us to simulate real AC transmission lines and investigate mechanisms of decreasing the losses on the lines, protection from real-simulated earth-short circuits and line-to-line short circuits, and reactive power compensation. Using this power transformer characteristics can also be investigated.
Power Distribution Trainer
The Power Distribution Trainer is a combination of
- physical models of power busbars and
- switchgears
Core Functionality
It allows us to investigate the control mechanisms of different buses and the system behaviour in case of different emergency situations.
Substation Automation Trainer
The Substation Automation Trainer is a small model of a distribution substation. It includes
- small scale modules for switchgears, busbars, circuit breakers, transformers and loads.
Core Functionality
It allows students to study the basics of substation automation systems and implementing the monitoring and control (RTU) system in hardware using the NI myRIO platform.
The educational trainer is a part of a real SCADA system.
Relay Protection Trainer
The Relay Protection Trainer includes
- electromechanical relay protections and
- microprocessor-based relay protection.
Core Functionality
This trainer allows us to concentrate on different protection circuits that are used in different points of real power network. It allows investigating the relays as separate equipment, as well as their use in advanced protection circuits with and without the generator.
Solar + Wind Power Generation Trainer
Core Functionality
Solar & Wind Generation Trainer allows us to investigate the synchronous operation of Solar Power Generation and Wind Power generation as small microgrids. It allows us to simulate real light, daytime, and year time and investigate the PV performance in different irradiation. The wind part allows us to simulate real wind and investigate the generator performance in different wind speeds.
Solar + Wind + Fuel Cell Power Generation Trainer
Core Functionality
This trainer combines features from Solar Power Generation, Wind Power Generation and Hydrogen Fuel Cell.
Traditional + Hydro Power Generation Trainer
Core Functionality
This trainer allows us to investigate how the traditional and renewable generation sources work in parallel (synchronously) within a microgrid.
- Firstly, the Hydro Generation Trainer is synchronized to the traditional one, and vice versa.
- In both cases the voltage and frequency regulation are implemented.
- During the parallel operation of two generation sources, the users are able to adjust the power factor to have minimum reactive power generation