Application of the HiL Method to Develop Transient Operating Strategies for Highly Flexible Power Generation in Gas Engine Power Plants

The transient operation of gas engines is of paramount importance to sustainable power generation as it increases the share of renewable energy. Fast-reacting and highly flexible power plants are an integral component of scenarios for the smart power generation of the future. Modern gaseous fueled large bore engines already adapt to fluctuating load demands quickly and also provide high efficiency throughout all load conditions. However, future energy systems that integrate predominantly fluctuating renewables will require even further improved transient capabilities of these engines. The goal is to be competitive with diesel engines in applications with the highest transient requirements and to meet the high transient requirements while simultaneously generating significantly less emissions than other fossil generation facilities to support the future sustainable power supply. This paper presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) method that is capable of transferring the transient behavior of a multicylinder engine to a single-cylinder test bed so that transient multicylinder engine combustion and control strategies can be developed directly on the single-cylinder engine test bed. First, the required HiL components and their interactions are described in detail and an example is provided of a method for boost pressure control at the test bed. The required models and controls for operation in island mode and grid parallel mode are explained as well as their similarities and differences and the resulting challenges for real-time modeling. The basic functionality of the method was validated at the single-cylinder engine in HiL mode. It is shown that the simulation models and their real-time capability can correctly simulate the behavior of the system.