Digital Twin Techniques for Power Electronics-Based Energy Conversion Systems: A Survey of Concepts, Application Scenarios, Future Challenges, and Trends
Authors: Haoyu Chen; Zhenbin Zhang; Petros Karamanakos; Jose Rodriguez
Extended Abstract:
The steady increase in energy demands has led to an ever-increasing “energy generation”. This, coupled with the need for higher efficiency, flexibility, and reliability, has boosted the use of power electronics in power and energy systems. Therefore, power-electronics-based energy conversion systems have become prominent in power generation, power transmission, and end-user applications. Given the relevance of such systems, and by considering their trend of digitalization, it is crucial to establish digital and intelligent power-electronics-based energy conversion systems. To this end, digital twin can be adopted as it integrates many cutting-edge information techniques to realize the life-cycle management of complex systems by constructing real-time mapping of them. In this work, existing digital twin techniques for power-electronics-based energy conversion systems are reviewed. The basic hierarchical structure and key technologies of digital twin are emphasized. Particularly, digital twins for power-electronics-based energy conversion systems are systematically investigated from a complete life-cycle perspective, i.e., design, control, and maintenance. In doing so, application cases of digital twin in each process are presented to provide more insight into the benefits of the discussed method. Moreover, future trends and problems are discussed in detail. The current investigation results show that the application of digital twins to power-electronics-based energy conversion systems can effectively improve the design efficiency of power electronics equipment, enhance the control performance, realize the maintenance of the system more flexibly and conveniently, and ensure the high quality and reliable operation of the whole system.
