Coordinated Control of Diesel Generators and Batteries in DC Hybrid Electric Shipboard Power System

Hybrid electric ships powered by diesel generators and batteries are the main configuration for shipboard microgrids (SMGs) in the current maritime industry. Extensive studies have been conducted for the hybrid operation mode, whereas the all-electric operation mode and the switching between the aforementioned two modes in a system with multiple generators and batteries have not been tested. In this paper, a coordinated approach for a hybrid electric ship is proposed, where two operation modes have been simultaneously considered. More specifically, for achieving an efficient operation with reduced generator wear losses, the governor-less diesel-engine-driven generators have been adopted in the study. According to the practical operation conditions, two operation modes, the all-electric and hybrid modes, are preset. Based on these, the coordination of the generators acting as the main power sources and batteries regulating the power flow and improving the generator efficiency is studied. The governor-less diesel generators are regulated to inject the rated power in order to maximize the generator efficiency, while the DC bus voltage is regulated by DC/DC converters. For the benefit of the overall lifespan of battery banks, power sharing during charging and discharging states have been realized by the state of charge (SoC)-based adaptive droop regulator. For the test of two operation modes, as well as the mode switching, a simulation assessment in a 1 kV DC SMG has been conducted. The simulation results show that the DC bus voltage can be controlled well, and that the power sharing among batteries follows the design. Additionally, smooth transients can be observed during mode switching when the proposed control scheme is applied.