Hardware In the Loop Simulation of a Microgrid: Framework for integration of Different Real Time devices

The simulation of microgrids requires increasingly advanced tools to take into account phenomena with different time scales and at the same time integrate real devices. This last aspect is of great interest in the scientific community for the possibility of testing control algorithms and system performance. In this article is proposed a new Hardware In the Loop (HIL) simulation framework, which integrates the potential of an industrial embedded controller, that can be programmed with Model Based Design (MBD) techniques, along with the computing capacity of a Real-Time (RT) simulator dedicated to the simulation of power grids. The framework is applied to the simulation of a microgrid that includes several Distributed Energy Resources (DER), highlighting the problems of integration.