Fault-tolerant control in a peak-power reduction system of a traction substation with multi-string battery energy storage system

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of fault-tolerant control (FTC) of a multi-string battery energy storage system (BESS) in the dynamic reduction system of a traction substation load (DROPT). The major task of such a system is to reduce the maximum demand for contracted peak power, averaged for 15 min. The proposed concept, based on a multi-task control algorithm, takes into account: a three-threshold power limitation of the traction substation, two-level reduction of available power of a BESS and a multi-string structure of a BESS. It ensures the continuity of the maximum peak power demand at the contracted level even in the case of damage or disconnection of at least one chain of cells of the battery energy storage (BES) or at least one converter of the power conversion system (PCS). The proposed control strategy has been tested in a model of the system for dynamic reduction of traction substation load with a rated power of 5.5 MW. Two different BESS implementations have been proposed and several possible cases of failure of operations have been investigated. The simulation results have shown that the implementation of a multi-string BESS and an appropriate control algorithm (FTC) may allow for maintenance of the major assumption of DROPT, which is demanded power reduction (from 3.1 MW to 0.75 MW), even with a reduction of the BESS available power by at least 25% and more in the even in fault cases.