As the electrical industry fully 
embraces the digital age, the needs of utilities and other large equipment users have been transformed. Their demands require a different form of testing to ensure new equipment can function in a highly sophisticated and rapidly changing environment. At one university, a research center has been built with this in mind.


In early February, Florida State University announced a testing facility at its Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS). It features a 24,000-volt direct current power test system, with a capacity of 5-megawatts (MW). It is composed of four individual, 6-kilovolt, 1.25-MW converters for medium-voltage direct current (MVDC) system investigations. The converters can be arranged in any combination, in series or parallel connection, for a test bed with maximum flexibility.


CAPS was founded 14 years ago as a collaborative research center to develop smart-energy systems for the nation’s power and defense needs. Much of the research focuses on bringing renewable energy onto the power grid.


Two of the biggest CAPS collaborators are the U.S. Navy and Virginia Tech University. The Navy’s goal is to develop an all-electric ship, while Virginia Tech researchers are evaluating the performance of an electric-impedance measurement unit (IMU), which establishes criteria for stable operations of an electrical system.


The new test system is the latest installment of the power hardware in the loop (PHIL) test facility model, pioneered by CAPS and replicated at other research institutions. PHIL provides simulation to help researchers observe and assess how equipment functions in real world conditions, such as electrical storms and surges.


According to CAPS, its facility the most powerful of its kind at any university research center in the world.