The Smart Grid Load (SG-Load) is a resistive, variable load component of the smart grid testbed at the Smart Grid Lab in the City College of New York. This project implements a control system for the SG-Load that allows:
- Setting the value of 3-phase AC loading to a balanced or unbalanced state.
- Varying the amount of loading for a DC source.
- Automating the amount of loading over time according to a load profile.
This section summarizes the steps needed to upload the control system sketch to the Arduino and begin using the SG-Load through the keypad interface.
Note: The Arduino should already have the latest sketch version uploaded. The installation steps are only needed when debugging or upgrading this sketch.
- Download or clone (
git clone https://github.com/j0ntan/CCNY-SG-Load.git
) the repo into your Arduino sketchbook location directory, which may be under{YourUserName}\Documents\Arduino
on a Windows machine. - Install the New LiquidCrystal library, which replaces the usage of the default LCD library.
- Open & upload the
CCNY_Smart_Grid_Load.ino
sketch using the Arduino IDE. - Switch the Arduino to external power and observe the LCD startup message to verify the sketch upload.
The simplest way to control the SG-Load is with the front-panel keypad. Let's say we want to set up an unbalanced load at the AC terminals, with 10 switches turned ON for phases A & B, but only 9 for phase C. We can enter the sequence A10B10C9
, or equivalently AB10C9
, followed by the ENTER key (#
), to activate this configuration.
The Arduino can also take input from an XBee-connected PC or the lab's dSPACE controller. These methods are slightly more complex and their descriptions are reserved for the wiki.
For further details on the installation & build process, system configurations and working with the SG-Load, check out the wiki documentation.