Digitalisation and Electromobility – Grid and Charging Infrastructure:
Full spectrum digitally regulated grid and charging infrastructure for electromobility on land, in the air and on the water

In our research laboratories we develop an AI-bases energy management system. We do this by investigating an intelligent charging and load management for EVs.
dtec emob

News

January 24, 2024 – “Roundtables second round“
On January 17th and 24th, 2024, two further roundtables of the dtec emob project took place in the hySOLUTIONS premises on the topics of “Electromobility and Traffic Area Modeling” and “E-Mobility and Networks”.
A total of over 40 participants from industry, research and authorities were able to discuss their vision of the city’s development with each other. In the two keynote speeches, representatives from Agora Verkehrsende (Ms. Kerstin Meyer) and Stromnetz Hamburg (Mr. Bastian Pfarrherr) gave a comprehensive overview of the current regulatory, technical and practical challenges of electromobility. Many thanks to the speakers.
In the following tried and tested format consisting of short lectures and subsequent discussions, the scientists from Helmut Schmidt University were then able to present new project results and discuss possible solutions for the successful integration of e-mobility with the participants. Here too, some interesting questions for the further project were identified.
We would like to thank all participants for the interesting discussion and look forward to the next round.

14^th November 2023 — “Workshop of Aviation”

On November 14th, 2023, together with our partners from KPMG, we organized a workshop with the topic “Electrification in aviation and ground handling”. The participants had the opportunity to discuss a variety of different topics, such as the technological state of the art and future development, as well as opportunities and challenges in the area of infrastructure, cost-effectiveness, or regulation.
We thank all involved individuals and organizations, such as NOW GmbH, University Hamburg, TU Dresden, Bundesverband der Deutschen Luftverkehrswirtschaft e. V., Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Stromnetz Hamburg GmbH, HAM Ground Handling Gruppe, HAMBURG AVIATION e.V. , Dornier Consulting International GmbH, Verband Unbemannte Luftfahrt, hySOLUTIONS GmbH, Emqcopter GmbH, Gesellschaft für Energie und Klimaschutz Schleswig-Holstein GmbH (EKSH), TU Braunschweig, Fraunhofer-Institut für Siliziumtechnologie (ISIT), University Lübeck, and Hochschule Worms.

27^th January 2023 — Roundtable “Kick-Off”

The series of round-table talks intiiated during the project has been kicked off on 27^th January 2023. On the premises of hySOLUTIONS, the project team and nineteen external guests, including representatives from Stromnetz Hamburg and the municipal planning bureau, saw presentations about the first project results and the plans for the future sparking interesting discussions. A subsequent get-together marked the conclusion to the meeting in a relaxed atmosphere.

The round-table talks will provide regular opportunities for project partners as well as interested parties and official authorities alike to engage in mutually beneficial exchanges in the topics of municipal planning, energy technologies (and grids) as well as EVs.

26^th January 2023 — dtec.bw-workshop ‘Digitilization and AI Use in the Research Area “Energy and Digitilization”‘

In order to discuss results from various projects pertinent to the utilisation of AI and to foster networking amongst researchers, this second AI-workshop ‘Digitilization and AI Use in the Research Area “Energy and Digitilization”‘ had been organised. Within dtec emob Dennis Salvador Versen presented his current state of research as well as a test software to showcase control and visualisation of an AI-interface.

December 2022 — Publication of the dtec.bw anthology
The first volume of the dtec anthology has been published. This publication ‘dtec.bw-Beiträge der Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg: Forschungsaktivitäten im Zentrum für Digitalisierungs- und Technologieforschung der Bundeswehr dtec.bw – Band 1 · 2022’ compiles many contributions from various dtec projects and has been organised by dtec emob. The emob researchers themselves have contributed two articles, the first of which informs about the current state of the AI-network control. The second article discloses the set-up of a PHIL-test environment.

November 2022 — Receiving the KIA EV6
To allow dtec emob to practically test different charging infrastructures, control and discharge options, the KIA EV6 has been procured. The KIA EV6 is capable of grid back-feeding and will participate in trials for AI-based LLM. The car will serve the project as a tool to comprehensively analyse the dependency of charging power on SOC (state of charge).

26^th October 2022 — 1^st dtec.bw workshop

A twin workshop covering the two topics of Energy and Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence

This 1^st dtec workshop with the group for Electrical Power Systems took place on October 26^th 2022 at HSU Hamburg as a hybrid event, i. e. in person and online. The workshop was conceived as twin workshop, dealing with the topics of Energy and Digitalisation in the morning followed by the topic of Artificial Intelligence in the afternoon.

Further information pertaining to this workshop can be gathered following this link:
1^st dtec.bw workshop

Dennis Salvador Versen hält einen Vortrag — Dennis Salvador Versen hält seinen Vortrag im dtec Workshop “Künstliche Intelligenz”

27^th September 2022 — Yuzhuo Fu gives a talk at NEIS 2022
Yuzhuo Fu gave a talk presenting the paper entitled ‘AI-based charging management for the integration of electric vehicles using a reference low voltage grid in Hamburg’ authored by him and Dennis Salvador Versen at the ‘Conference on Sustainable Energy Supply and Energy Storage Systems – NEIS 2022’. Congrats!

For further events click here: dtec emob archive.

Project Overview

Duration
Project leader
PhD students EPS
PhD students TEENS, EME
Partner

January 1^st 2021 – December 31^st 2024
Prof. Dr.–Ing. habil. Detlef Schulz
6
2
5

Project Structure

Project Description

Of central concern is the consideration of all vehicles may they be in the air, on the water or on the ground. In addition, the adoption of a local view and an adaptation to the metropolitan area of Hamburg is envisaged.

Foundationally, the theoretical part of the project we identify electromobility’s current state in the metropolitan area of Hamburg in terms of technological, market economical, and regulatory aspects. Subsequently, a meta study entitled ‘Metastudie Elektromobilität – Auswirkungen der Entwicklung der Elektromobilität auf das Verteilnetz der Stadt Hamburg’ will be crafted. This study will expound on the current state of affairs as well as the ramp-up of EVs until the year 2050 and their impact on the distribution grid of Hamburg.

Complementarily, the experimental part will comprise the development of an intelligent AI-based grid control system based on measurements in the real world conducted on EVs and charging infrastructure. For this to work, several research and innovation laboratories will be installed and outfitted within the confines of the chair of Electrical Power Systems but also on the premises of external partners. In the ‘Charging Infrastructure Test Lab’ controllability, electrical properties, and new functions such as bidirectionality will be tested as will grid perturbations. In the ‘Energy Storage and Climate Lab’ electrical properties and load characteristics of charging infrastructure and EVs will be tested over a wide range of environmental conditions.

Synergistically, the methodical part will witness the confluence of the results obtained in the theoretical and experimental parts for the purpose of training, testing, and validating the developed AI. Key to this is the digitilisation especially of the low and medium voltage levels. The grid control will utilise real time (measurement) data shared over secure data connections.

Projekt Partners and Contractors

HSU: Chair of Electrical Measurement Engineering
HSU: Chair of Theoretical Electrical Engineering and Numerical Simulations
Universität Hamburg: Institute of Information Systems
hySOLUTIONS GmbH
Your name could be listed here!

Project Findings

AI-based intelligent grid control
Presented at the NEIS conference a first approach has been detailed: Charging events of EVs in a typical grid section of Hamburg are managed by means of an agent-based ‘reinforcement learning’ approach. To authentically simulate the environment regular loads and charging events have been connected to the connection points. A load flow calculation allows the assessment of the current state and the workload of the transfomer. Depending on this state the agent, a neural network, receives a reward. During the process of learning the agent is supplied with historical data and has to maximise the reward causing the node weights to get optimised in the process.
Laboratories
Publications

Laboratories, Set-Ups and Demonstrators

Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop Set-Up
Goal:

Test of the set-ups under real conditions
Analysis of grid perturbations under laboratory conditions
Analysis and validation of control, communication, and measurement
Connecting hardware to the simulated parts of the project

Description:
The first set-up can be seen on the right-hand side, consisting of:

Real-time simulator simulating the mains grid and electrical loads
Three-phase grid simulator to output node potentials in the simulated grid
Digital twin of an EV to communicate the requested demand for charging power (not visible; mounted to the back)
Wallbox with the potential to serve as electrical load

For further information click here.

AI Grid Control Simulator
Goals:

Visualisation of the working principle of agent-based control
Explanation of a neural network
Visualisation of time-dependent node weights

Description:
Multiple graphical interfaces visualise the grid control introduced in the NEIS-paper. The interface on the left shows the controlled grid, the currently charging EVs, and the accumulated load profiles. The other interfaces display nodes, connections, and the node weights of the neural network.

Graphical interface of the AI grid control simulator

Publications

Jahic, A.; Soliman, R.; Eskander, M.; Plenz, M.; Avdevicius, E.; Schulz, D., Investigation of parameters impacting the energy consumption of electric buses. In 7th E-Mobility Power System Integration Symposium (EMOB 2023), Copenhagen, Denmark, 2023.
DOI: 10.1049/icp.2023.2690

Heider, F.; Stadler, A, M.; Schulz, D.; Teroerde, M.
Agility factor-based Power Management Measures in the face of an increasing Share of controllable Devices in the residential Sector
In: IEEE IAS Global Conference on Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Technologies (GlobConHT) 2023, Male, Maldives
DOI: 10.1109/GlobConHT56829.2023.10087526

Mavraj, G.; Fu, J.; Avdevičius, E.; M.; Schulz, D.
Analyse von Energieverbrauchsmodellen für elektrisch betriebene Transportdrohnen
In: Hamburger Beiträge zum technischen Klimaschutz 2022: Analyse, Digitalisierung und Flexibilisierung von Energiemärkten, Elektromobilität, Sektorenkopplung, Elektroenergienetzen und Wasserstoffsystemen,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2022
Bd. 4, S. 64-68, ISSN (Druck) 2698-8798, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-252-1 , ISSN (Online) 2698-8801, ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-253-8 , doi: 10.24405/14591

Stadler, A.; Plenz, M.; Schulz, D.
Mikrocontroller-gesteuerter Netzanschlusspunkt-Demonstrator für ein modulares Netz- und Kommunikationslabor
In: Hamburger Beiträge zum technischen Klimaschutz 2022: Analyse, Digitalisierung und Flexibilisierung von Energiemärkten, Elektromobilität, Sektorenkopplung, Elektroenergienetzen und Wasserstoffsystemen,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2022
Bd. 4, S. 48-53, ISSN (Druck) 2698-8798, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-252-1 , ISSN (Online) 2698-8801, ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-253-8 , doi: 10.24405/14588

Avdevičius, E.; Plenz, M.; Schulz, D.
Development and electrification of the truck segment in Hamburg by 2050
In: Hamburger Beiträge zum technischen Klimaschutz 2022: Analyse, Digitalisierung und Flexibilisierung von Energiemärkten, Elektromobilität, Sektorenkopplung, Elektroenergienetzen und Wasserstoffsystemen,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2022
Bd. 4, S. 41-47, ISSN (Druck) 2698-8798, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-252-1 , ISSN (Online) 2698-8801, ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-253-8 , doi: 10.24405/14587

Stadler, A.; Pinke, N.; Schulz, D.
Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop Testumgebung zur Integration von digitalen Zwillingen verschiedener elektrischer Mobilitätsträger
In: dtec.bw-Beiträge der Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg: Forschungsaktivitäten im Zentrum für Digitalisierungs- und Technologieforschung der Bundeswehr dtec.bw – Band 1 · 2022,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2022
Bd. 1, S. 53-57, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-316-0 , ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-315-3, doi: 10.24405/14529

Fu, Y.; Versen Salvador, D.; Stiemer, M.; Schulz, D.
Reinforcement learning based charging management for electric vehicle fleet to reduce transformer overloading in distribution networks
In: dtec.bw-Beiträge der Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg: Forschungsaktivitäten im Zentrum für Digitalisierungs- und Technologieforschung der Bundeswehr dtec.bw – Band 1 · 2022,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2022
Bd. 1, S. 58-63, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-316-0 , ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-315-3, doi: 10.24405/14530

Fu, Y.; Versen, S, D.; Plenz, M.; Stiemer, M.; Schulz, D.
Electric Vehicle Charging Management for Avoiding Transformer Congestion Using Policy-based Reinforecement Learning
In: IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT-Europe), Grenoble, France, 2023.
DOI: 10.1109/ISGTEUROPE56780.2023.10407357

Yuzhuo, F.; Dennis, V.; Andreas, S.; Edvard, A.; Gazmend, M.; Meriam, S.; Nils, P.; Oliver, S.; Maik, P.; Marcus S.; Detlef, S.
AI-based charging management for the integration of electric vehicles using a reference low voltage grid in Hamburg
In: NEIS 2022; Conference on Sustainable Energy Supply and Energy Storage Systems, Hamburg, Germany, 2022, 26-27 September 2022
VDE Verlag, Berlin 2022, Bd. 4, S. 236-243, ISSN 2510-6902, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-8007-5983-5 , ISBN (eBook) 978-3-8007-5984-2

Eskander, M.; Plenz, M.; Avdevicius, E.; Schulz, D.
Optimal Design of Modular Electrical Infrastructure for Large-Scale Electric Bus Depots
In: IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 13754-13772, 2023, Electronic ISSN: 2169-3536, DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3243727

Jahic, A.; Heider, F.; Plenz, M.; Schulz, D.
Flexibility Quantification and the Potential for Its Usage in the Case of Electric Bus Depots with Unidirectional Charging
In: Energies,
2022; 15(10):3639, DOI: 10.3390/en15103639

Mavraj, G.; Eltgen, J.; Fraske, T.; Swaid, M.; Berling, J.; Röntgen, O.; Mujanovic, A.; Fu Y.; Kloock-Schreiber, D.; Gertz, C.; Gollnick, V.; Noennig, J.R.; Schüppstuhl, T.; Schulz, D.
A systematic review of ground-based infrastructure for the innovative urban air mobility
In: Aerospace Europe Conference 2021,
Warsaw, 23-26 November 2021, doi: 10.15480/882.4797

Stadler, A.; Wienken, H.; Pinke, N.; Plenz, M.; Schulz, D.
Abschätzung des Energiebedarfs im Hamburger Hafen durch die Elektrifizierung von Containerschiffen im Projekt dtec emob
In: Hamburger Beiträge zum technischen Klimaschutz – Stand der Technik und Digitalisierung bei integrierten Energiesystemen, Sektorenkopplungs- und Mobilitätstechnologien,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2021,
Bd. 3, S. 103-112, ISSN (Druck) 2698-8798, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-250-7, ISSN (Online) 2698-8801, ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-251-4, doi: 10.24405/13960

Fu, Y.; Mavraj G.; Mujanovic, A.; Plenz, M.; Schulz D.
Hochlaufszenarien und elektrischer Leistungsbedarf von Lufttaxis und Paketdrohnen in der Metropolregion Hamburg
In: Hamburger Beiträge zum technischen Klimaschutz – Stand der Technik und Digitalisierung bei integrierten Energiesystemen, Sektorenkopplungs- und Mobilitätstechnologien,
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr, Professur für Elektrische Energiesysteme, Hamburg, Dezember 2021, Bd. 3, S. 113-120, ISSN (Druck) 2698-8798, ISBN (Druck) 978-3-86818-250-7, ISSN (Online) 2698-8801, ISBN (Online) 978-3-86818-251-4, doi: 10.24405/13961

Jahic, A.; Plenz, M.; Eskander, M.; Schulz, D.
Route Scheduling for Centralized Electric Bus Depots
In: IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems,
Bd. 2, S. 149-159, 2021, doi: 10.1109/OJITS.2021.3096115, Im Druck