Evaluation of power flow control for an all-electric warship power system with pulsed load applications

Future U.S. Navy ships will require power systems that meet more stringent agility, efficiency, scalability, controllability and resiliency requirements. Modularity and the ability to interconnect power systems having their own energy storage, generation, and loads is an enabling capability. To aid in the design of power system controls, much of what has been learned from advances in the control of networked microgrids is being applied. Developing alternative methods for controlling and analyzing these systems will provide insight into tradeoffs that can be made during the design phase. This paper considers the problem of electric ship power disturbances in response to pulsed loads, in particular, to electromagnetic launch systems. Recent literature has indicated that there exists a trade-off in information and power flow and that intelligent, coordinated control of power flow in a microgrid system (i.e. such as an electric ship) can modify energy storage hardware requirements. The control presented herein was developed to provide the necessary flexibility with little computational burden. It is described analytically and then demonstrated in simulation and hardware.