TU Ilmenau
TU IlmenauWith a scientific colloquium, Technische Universität Ilmenau inaugurated a new large-scale facility for research work on the energy supply of the future at the Center for Energy Technology (ZET ) of the Thuringian Energy Research Institute (ThEFI) on May 2, 2022. Funded by the Free State of Thuringia as part of a TAB project, the medium-voltage mixed-current test facility (MMV) can be coupled with existing high-performance facilities at the center and opens up completely new research opportunities for scientists to conduct experimental studies on direct current technology and other transition technologies that are significant in the course of the energy transition.
While our current power grid is largely based on alternating current (AC), more and more devices are using direct current (DC) internally. This, together with the expansion of volatile renewable energy sources, is leading to an increasing load and instability on the power grid. To address these challenges, two approaches are currently being pursued: On the one hand, the existing AC grid is being optimized by integrating additional energy storage systems. However, once the optimization potential has been exhausted, the power grid must be expanded. Direct current technology is of particular importance here. With its advantages over alternating current, such as a high transmission capacity with lower material consumption, it is seen as a promising option for making future electrical energy systems efficient, low in resources and thus ecologically acceptable.
In order to test these potentials of direct current technology in practice and to develop and implement cost-optimal transition scenarios such as the parallel operation of alternating current and direct current networks up to the simultaneous transmission of alternating and direct current in only one line system, so-called mixed current transmission systems, several research groups in the field of electrical power engineering at the TU Ilmenau have been working together intensively since the 1980s with other groups that are close in content, such as mechanical engineering, automation technology, computer science, physics or economics. This successful work has been consolidated in recent years by three additional endowed professorships and an excellent infrastructure at the Center for Energy Technology. Since 2019, the research work has been coordinated in the Thuringian Energy Research Institute (ThEFI) headed by Prof. Dirk Westermann, which bundles the research of a total of 13 disciplines in all areas of energy, environmental and systems engineering on a national and international level.
The research focus in electrical power engineering is on experimental investigations of low- and medium-voltage AC and DC networks, their components and their system behavior. "This makes TU Ilmenau one of the three to four leading institutions in this field in German-speaking countries," says Prof. Jürgen Petzoldt. In his keynote adress at the opening colloquium, the professor emeritus of Power Electronics and Control and long-time Prorector for Education at TU Ilmenau outlined the research opportunities offered by the new experimental facility, particularly for experimental studies in the medium-voltage range for all components of a DC and mixed-voltage transmissionsystem - for scientists at TU Ilmenau, as well as for research and industry partners and students at the university. "The experimental infrastructure installed with the help of the MMV project and various predecessor projects is unique in its interaction and offers the best conditions for already ongoing and upcoming research projects at the TU Ilmenau," says Prof. Petzoldt.
TU IlmenauThe new test facility consists of several parts that can be used together or independently. At the opening colloquium, Prof. Michael Rock, Head of the Group for Lightning and Surge Protection, demonstrated its capabilities by means of a recorded commissioning test: The largest and most powerful part ofthe facility, the so-called medium-voltage mixed-current test facility MMP, is capable of generating direct currents and surge currents of up to 100 kiloamperes with a maximum stored energy of two megajoules at up to 20 kilovolts. This allows it to be used for research on electromechanical, power electronics and hybrid DC switches, among other things, as well as for studies on high-voltage, high-current arcs with square-wave and surge pulses. Other parts of the facility include a Unidirectional DC Source as a special power electronic device with voltage range extended to medium voltage and a High-Voltage Modular Multilevel Converter as a power converter with internal storage option for AC-DC coupling and as a DC source for mixed current transmission. "The modularity and interchangeability of these individual components up to the medium-voltage level is probably unique and of great benefit both for basic and applied research and for industry-related research services," said Prof. Petzoldt.