• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.297-309
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• 2016

Grid-connected inverters (GCIs) with an LCL output filter have the ability of attenuating high-frequency (HF) switching ripples. However, by using only grid-current control, the system is prone to resonances if it is not properly damped, and the current distortion is amplified significantly under highly distorted grid conditions. This paper proposes a synchronous reference frame equivalent proportional-integral (SRF-EPI) controller in the αβ stationary frame using the parallel virtual resistance-based active damping (PVR-AD) strategy for grid-interfaced distributed generation (DG) systems to suppress LCL resonance. Although both a proportional-resonant (PR) controller in the αβ stationary frame and a PI controller in the dq synchronous frame achieve zero steady-state error, the amplitude- and phase-frequency characteristics differ greatly from each other except for the reference tracking at the fundamental frequency. Therefore, an accurate SRF-EPI controller in the αβ stationary frame is established to achieve precise tracking accuracy. Moreover, the robustness, the harmonic rejection capability, and the influence of the control delay are investigated by the Nyquist stability criterion when the PVR-based AD method is adopted. Furthermore, grid voltage feed-forward and multiple PR controllers are integrated into the current loop to mitigate the current distortion introduced by the grid background distortion. In addition, the parameters design guidelines are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Finally, simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the feasibility of the proposed control approach.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.287-295
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• 2013

The use of LCL filters in pulse width modulation voltage source converters is a standard solution for providing proper attenuation of high-order grid-current harmonics. However, these filters can cause the undesired effect of resonance. This paper proposes an active damping strategy with harmonics compensation. It can alleviate the harmonics around the resonance frequency caused by the LCL filters. The proposed strategy is attractive since it is simple, does not depend on grid parameters and does not increase the number of sensors. Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed active damping strategy.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.233-237
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• 2018

In this paper, we compared power generation characteristics of two MPPT algorithms, P & O and InC, applied to grid-connected solar inverters. The MPPT detects the voltage and current of the solar module string and transfers the power to the DC link. Since the grid is connected by the power conversion circuit, the grid connection control and the MPPT control influence each other. The power generation characteristics were analyzed by Psim simulation according to the MPPT cycle in the weak grid conditions.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2017

This paper proposes a design method of an LCL-filter for grid-tied three-level inverter systems. The demand for three-phase PWM inverters in applications such as wind or solar power generation systems has been increase in recent years. To reduce harmonic components caused by switching operation, such inverters are connected to the grid via an LCL filter. Although there are research results for designing LCL-filter, the modulation method should be fully considered to make the filter perform desired cancellation ability with minimized size. This paper presents the design methodology for an LCL-filter that is optimized for SVM switching operations. The simulation and experimental results verify the validity of the LCL-filter designed with proposed method in this paper.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.104-106
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• 2018

The harmonics and the DC offset in the grid can cause serious synchronization problems for grid connected inverters (GCIs) which leads not able to satisfy the IEEE 519 and p1547 standards in terms of phase and frequency variations. In order to guarantee the smooth and reliable synchronization of GCIs with the grid, Phase Locked Loop (PLL) is the crucial element. Typically, the performance of the PLL is assessed to limit the grid disturbances e.g. grid harmonics, DC Offset and voltage sag etc. To ensure the quality of GCI, the PLL should be precise in estimating the grid amplitude, frequency and phase. Therefore, in this paper a novel Robust PLL technique called Digital Lock-in Amplifier (DLA) PLL is proposed. The proposed PLL estimate the frequency variations and phase errors accurately even in the highly distorted grid voltage conditions like grid voltage harmonics, DC offsets and grid voltage sag. To verify the performance of proposed method, it is compared with other six conventional used PLLs (CCF PLL, SOGI PLL, SOGI LPF PLL, APF PLL, dqDSC PLL, MAF PLL). The comparison is done by simulations on MATLAB Simulink. Finally, the experimental results are verified with Single Phase GCI Prototype.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.910-919
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• 2015

The use of a PV grid-connected inverter with non-isolated topology and without a transformer is good for improving conversion efficiency; however, this inverter has become increasingly complicated for eliminating leakage current. To simplify the complicated architecture of traditional three-level dual buck inverters, a new dual Buck three-level PV grid-connected inverter topology is proposed. In the proposed topology, the voltage on the grounding stray capacitor is clamped by large input capacitors and is equal to half of the bus voltage; thus, leakage current can be eliminated. Unlike in the traditional topology, the current in the proposed topology passes through few elements and does not flow through the body diodes of MOSFET switches, resulting in increased efficiency. Additionally, a multi-loop control method that includes voltage-balancing control is proposed and analyzed. Both simulation and experimental results are demonstrated to verify the proposed structure and control method.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1672-1682
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• 2017

For grid-connected LCL-filtered inverters, the inverter-side current can be used as the control object with one current sensor for both LCL resonance damping and over-current protection, while the grid-voltage feedforward or harmonic resonant compensator is used for suppressing low-order grid current harmonics. However, it was found that the grid current harmonics were high and often beyond the standard limitations with this control. The limitations of the inverter-side current control in suppressing low-order grid current harmonics are analyzed through inverter output impedance modeling. No matter which compensator is used, the maximum magnitudes of the inverter output impedance at lower frequencies are closely related to the LCL parameters and are decreased by increasing the control delay. Then, to improve the grid current quality without complicating the control or design, this study proposes designing the filter capacitance considering the current harmonic constraint and using a PWM mode with a short control delay. Test results have confirmed the limitation and verified the performance of the improved approaches.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2010.07a
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• pp.454-455
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• 2010

This paper surveys recent works in line impedance estimation. Inverters used in distribution system are often connected to the grid through LCL filter. Different methods are investigated for estimating the line impedance. Advantages and disadvantages with brief summary for each method are presented. Simulation results for a specified grid are shown for two main different methods and the results are compared with estimation error.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2016.07a
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• pp.491-492
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• 2016

This paper presents a robust feedback control design to mitigate the effect of grid voltage disturbances for three-phase grid-connected inverters in distributed generation systems. The proposed strategy consists of two major design steps. First, the controller is synthesized using the internal model principle to achieve a good reference tracking and disturbance rejection performance. Then, the feedback gain is systematically obtained by solving the linear matrix inequality conditions which are directly derived from the stability criteria. The main contribution of this paper is that the complexity of control structure can be substantially reduced and transient response is improved as compared with the existing robust control design methods. The simulation results are given to prove the validity of the proposed control scheme.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.920-928
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• 2015

Transformerless solar inverters have a higher efficiency than those with an isolation link. However, they suffer from a leakage current issue. This paper proposes a family of single phase six-switch transformerless inverter topologies with an ac bypass circuit to solve the leakage current problem. These circuits embed two unidirectional freewheeling current units into the midpoint of a full bridge inverter, to obtain a freewheeling current path, which separates the solar panel from the grid in the freewheeling state. The freewheeling current path contains significantly fewer devices and poor performance body diodes are not involved, leading to a higher efficiency. Meanwhile, it is not necessary to add a voltage balancing control method when compared with the half bridge inverter. Simulation and experiments are provided to validate the proposed topologies.