HIL Virtual Prototyping of a DC Shipboard Microgrid

Newest Hardware In the Loop (HIL) platforms are revolutionizing the study of power systems. The old concept of simulation is overtaken by the HIL paradigm, where regulators and controlled system are emulated by digital electronics boards. In such a way, transients and physical interactions are more coherent to reality. As a matter of fact, the DC microgrid is a good scenario on which prove the HIL potentialities. Microgrids are based on a widespread use of power converters to enable the DC distribution. In this context, emulation tools become indispensable to investigate the possible destabilizing interactions between the multiple control loops. Among the different HILs, the virtualization is reaching an important position in the last years. The reasons of this trend are sought in the possibility of preliminarily and virtually provide the emulation results of a physical HIL. The paper wants to adopt the V-HIL virtual tool to focus on the first steps of the prototyping process. The tool capability in testing voltage controls and power management is verified for a DC shipboard microgrid. The V-HIL simulation results can validate the designed control before the implementation on physical HIL platforms, towards the live performance in real world.