Východoslovenská distribučná, a.s. has launched the Smart Industry Lab at the Department of Electrical Power Engineering at TUKE, which models a low-voltage distribution system.
TUKE has a new smart energy laboratory – the Smart Industry Lab, which models a low-voltage distribution system. It was launched by Východoslovenská distribučná (VSD) in cooperation with the Technical University of Košice. The laboratory, located at the Department of Electrical Power Engineering, builds on the existing HybridLab laboratory. It simulates conditions in a smart home and is used to test hybrid photovoltaic systems. The technological links between these laboratories enable the analysis of the impact of new household technologies on the distribution system.
Subjects and learning outcomes:
What is the purpose of the laboratory?
The Smart Industry Lab serves educational, experimental, and research purposes and meets the needs of VSD. The laboratory models a low-voltage system to which the largest number of VSD customers are connected. It is used to test the reverse effects of devices connected to the distribution system either by the operator itself or by its customers, i.e., consumers and producers, or a combination of both, with the Smart Industry Lab allowing their impact on the system to be examined and, at the same time, enabling various meters and analyzers to be used for this purpose.
Laboratory capabilities
The laboratory primarily allows for the modeling of low-voltage power lines of various lengths, from 60 meters to 3,500 meters. Various devices can then be connected to these lines at predetermined points. These devices can have either a positive or negative impact on the simulated line, i.e., the distribution system model. Such devices include various types of power generation sources, appliances, and electricity storage devices, control electronics, and others. According to him, the laboratory has a high level of automation – it is equipped with a control system that allows, for example, changing the input values of voltage, frequency, parameters of the modeled distribution system, parameters of sources, electrical energy appliances, and also the place of their connection to the system.
The laboratory is equipped with special software that can be used to specify the impact of customers on the distribution system. For example, to what extent these appliances affect the quality of electricity. The Smart Industry Lab also includes a real electric car charger located in the KEE outdoor parking lot, for familiarization with the topic of e-mobility.
Two in one
Another option is to interconnect the Smart Industry Lab and the HybridLab, as both laboratories are operated on the premises of the Technical University of Košice. By connecting the laboratories, we can obtain a more accurate simulation of the actual situation in the system. Seemingly identical customers may have different impacts on the distribution system, depending on where they are connected to it. The synergy between the laboratories expands the possibilities for testing sources.
Measuring the impact of electromobility
Since the launch of the Smart Industry Lab, VSD has carried out several measurements at the electric vehicle charging station, which is an integral part of the laboratory. After analyzing the measurement results, it is clear that charging electric vehicles, especially those in the lower-middle class, places a significantly asymmetrical load on the distribution system. In some parts of the distribution system, this may lead to the permitted values for the quality of electricity supplied to customers being exceeded in the future. The negative impact of an asymmetrical load on the distribution system is much more intense than that of a symmetrical load. Simply put, if the charging of electric cars were exclusively symmetrical, it would be possible to connect five times more charging stations of the same power to the system.
