Power flow studies in ship medium voltage DC distribution systems for generator-power converter schemes planning

The medium voltage DC (MVDC) distribution system is a new shipboard power distribution technology that has been extensively discussed and studied by many shipbuilding corporations and ship-owners in recent years. As different types of power converters and AC and DC power distributions simultaneously involved in the system, the system performance for different connections of generators to MVDC converters under varying steady-state operating conditions is essential and important in early the design stage of the electrical power distribution system. This type of problem can be analyzed by performing power flow studies. This paper aims presenting a methodology for power flow studies in ship MVDC distribution systems for system planning purpose. A power flow model of the power converters in steady-state is derived to consider medium and low voltage characteristics of electric power system on this type of ship. An AC/DC power flow solution approach then is developed to incorporate AC-system and DC-system models and the AC/DC interface buses in the analysis for determining an appropriate connection of generators and MVDC converters and power converter setting values. Test results of two alternatives for the direct connection of generators to MVDC converters under varying steady-state operating conditions are presented and compared to ensure the performance of the proposed method.