Sensor Fault-Resilient Control of Electronically Coupled Distributed Energy Resources in Islanded Microgrids

In this article, a sensor fault-resilient control approach for electronically interfaced distributed energy resources (DERs) in islanded microgrids is proposed. The proposed control strategy consists of a sliding-mode observer (SMO) and an $H_\infty$ output feedback controller that ensures resiliency of the DER units in an islanded microgrid against erroneous measurements due to sensor malfunctioning. Errors in the measurements due to malfunctioning of the associated sensors are modeled as sensor faults in this article. The SMO in the proposed approach estimates the sensor faults, and the estimated faults are used to devise the fault-tolerant control strategy so that the $H_\infty$ output feedback control remains unperturbed by the erroneous measurements. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control strategy, rigorous simulation studies are carried out on a test islanded microgrid system with single and multiple DERs. The efficacy of the proposed approach has been further validated through an experimental study carried out on a prototype islanded microgrid system.