Digital Twin Techniques for Power Electronics-Based Energy Conversion Systems: A Survey of Concepts, Application Scenarios, Future Challenges, and Trends

The steady increase in energy demands has led to ever-increasing “energy generation.” This, coupled with the need for higher efficiency, flexibility, and reliability, has boosted the use of power electronics in power and energy systems. Therefore, power electronics-based energy conversion systems (PEECSs) have become prominent in power generation, power transmission, and end user applications. Given the relevance of such systems, and by considering their trend of digitalization, it is crucial to establish digital and intelligent PEECSs. To this end, digital twins (DTs) can be adopted, as they integrate many cutting-edge information techniques to realize the life cycle management of complex systems by constructing real-time mappings of them. In this article, existing DT techniques for PEECSs are reviewed. The concept, system layers, and key technologies of DTs are described first. Some application cases of DTs are then elaborated. Finally, future trends and challenges of DTs are discussed to provide a valuable reference for subsequent research.