Distributed control of converters in a DC microgrid using agent technology

The objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of an innovative agent-based architecture of controllers for stand-alone DC microgrids. The controllers regulate voltage to the required level and balance load flow in all converters. In addition, they maintain a deterministic time frame of a few 10's of milliseconds for a system with 10's of converters when there is no limitation in the number of events which might happen concurrently. The paper proposes application of publish-subscribe agent-based controllers which are identified based on a numerical analysis as the most efficient technology for real-time coordination of power converters in the defined microgrid. To test the design, a sample DC shipboard microgrid including four converters was used as a case study. Results of implementing the agent-based publish-subscribe control system using Java Agent DEvelopment Framework (JADE) are illustrated in paper. The results show that the upper-time limit for task management is consistent and independent of the number of converters.