Agent-based control of a DC MicroGrid

A lab-scale hardware DC MicroGrid system has been designed and built as part of a suite of electrical grid simulation environments. It is intended for use as an educational tool and in research as a testbed for control strategy development. The testbed has the capability to rapidly transition between hardware and software simulation of the DC MicroGrid system and consists of three components: Software in the Loop Simulation (SILS), Hardware in the Loop Simulation (HILS), and Hardware. SILS uses a PLC emulator and a Simulink model to simulate the plant and control system. In HILS, the emulator is replaced with an actual hardware controller. In the transition from HILS to hardware, a software switch shifts the PLC I/O from the model to the PLC I/O modules connected to the DC MicroGrid. In tandem with the PLC ladder code, Rockwell Automation's agent-based distributed control software enables the investigation of complex interactions between autonomous decision makers on the grid.