Active power flow strategies for bidirectional Energy Storage Units in smart communities

This paper proposes a comparative analysis of control strategies for active power flow between a smart community grid and an energy storage unit located in a house of the community, which is connected to the grid by a bidirectional charger. These strategies are applied to the bidirectional DC/DC converter of the charger and include an improved precharge stage of the storage unit, based on the gain scheduling method. The gain-scheduled controller aims to extend the lifetime of the battery reducing the stress and peak current values. The control strategies are compared and validated by using an experimental prototype of the charger. Experimental results are included.