• 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.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1217-1226
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• 2015

In a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system, the traditional Z-source inverter uses a low frequency transformer to ensure galvanic isolation between the grid and the PV system. In order to combine the advantages of both Z-source inverters and transformerless PV inverters, this paper presents a modified single-phase transformerless Z-source PV grid-connected inverter and a corresponding PWM strategy to eliminate the ground leakage current. By utilizing two reversed-biased diodes, the path for the leakage current is blocked during the shoot-through state. Meanwhile, by turning off an additional switch, the PV array is decoupled from the grid during the freewheeling state. In this paper, the operation principle, PWM strategy and common-mode (CM) characteristic of the modified transformerless Z-source inverter are illustrated. Furthermore, the influence of the junction capacitances of the power switches is analyzed in detail. The total losses of the main electrical components are evaluated and compared. Finally, a theoretical analysis is presented and corroborated by experimental results from a 1-kW laboratory prototype.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.221-229
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• 2023

Recently, Grid-forming(GFM) converter, which offers features such as virtual inertia, damping, black start capability, and islanded mode operation in power systems, has gained significant attention. However, in low-voltage microgrids(MG), it faces challenges due to the coupling phenomenon between active and reactive power caused by the low line impedance X/R ratio and a non-negligible power angle. This power coupling issue leads to stability and performance degradation, inaccurate power sharing, and control parameter design problems for GFM converters. Therefore, this paper serves as a review study on not only control methods associated with GFM converters but also power decoupling techniques. The aim is to introduce promising control methods and enhance accessibility to future research activities by providing a critical review of power decoupling methods. Consequently, by facilitating easy access for future researchers to the study of power decoupling methods, this work is expected to contribute to the expansion of distributed power generation.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.7
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• pp.898-904
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• 2013

In order to minimize the damage from power outage, power system should be restored quickly. In this paper, a procedure for the restoration of microgrid is proposed. After elimination of the causes of power outage, a black start algorithm is executed by considering the characteristics of distributed generation control. After all resources have been recovered to the normal state, a grid reconnecting algorithm for stable operation in grid-connected mode is performed. In order to verify the proposed algorithm, low voltage microgrid is simulated using PSCAD/EMTDC.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1569-1576
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• 2014

This paper mainly proposes a direct torque control strategy to minimize torque ripple in brushless DC (BLDC) motor. BLDC motor has large current and torque ripple when one voltage vector applied in one cycle due to its low inductance. Hence, this paper proposed a hysteresis torque control with PWM mode to control the resultant torque. Moreover, when the direct torque control system is operating during the two-phase half-bridge $120^{\circ}$ conduction mode, large torque ripple in commutation area appears every 120 electrical degree. Based on analyzing the root of torque ripple in detail, lookup tables of switching devices states for new half-bridge modulation mode in the positive and negative reference torque put forwarded. Finally, simulations by MATLAB software and experiment results from DSP are presented to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy operating in four-quadrant operation.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2272-2283
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• 2016

This paper proposes a power conditioning system (PCS) for distributed photovoltaic (PV) applications using an asymmetric cascaded multilevel inverter with a single PV source. One of the main disadvantages of the cascaded multilevel inverters in PV systems is the requirement of multiple isolated DC sources. Using multiple PV strings leads to a compromise in either the voltage balance of individual H-bridge cells or the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation due to localized variations in atmospheric conditions. The proposed PCS uses a single PV source with a flyback DC-DC converter to facilitate a reduction of the required DC sources and to maintain the voltage balance during MPPT operation. The flyback converter is used to provide input for low-voltage H-bridge cells which processes only 20% of the total power. This helps to minimize the losses occurring in the proposed PCS. Furthermore, transient analyses and controller design for the proposed PCS in both the stand-alone mode and the grid-connection mode are presented. The feasibility of the proposed PCS and its control scheme have been tested using a 1kW hardware prototype and the obtained results are presented.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.357-363
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• 2004

A prototype long pulse ion source was developed, and the beam extraction experiments of the ion source were carried out at the Neutral Beam Test Stand (NBTS) of the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR). The ion source consists of a magnetic bucket plasma generator, with multi-pole cusp fields, and a set of tetrode accelerators with circular apertures. Design requirements for the ion source were a 120kV/65A deuterium beam and a 300 s pulse length. Arc discharges of the plasma generator were controlled by using the emission-limited mode, in turn controlled by the applied heating voltage of the cathode filaments. Stable and efficient arc plasmas with a maximum arc power of 100 kW were produced using the constant power mode operation of an arc power supply. A maximum ion density of $8.3{\times}10^{11}\;cm^{-3}$ was obtained by using electrostatic probes, and an optimum arc efficiency of 0.46 A/kW was estimated. The accelerating and decelerating voltages were applied repeatedly, using the re-triggering mode operation of the high voltage switches during a beam pulse, when beam disruptions occurred. The decelerating voltage was always applied prior to the accelerating voltage, to suppress effectively the back-streaming electrons produced at the time of an initial beam formation, by the pre-programmed fast-switch control system. A maximum beam power of 0.9 MW (i.e. $70\;kV{\times}12.5\;A$) with hydrogen was measured for a pulse duration of 0.8 s. Optimum beam perveance, deduced from the ratio of the gradient grid current to the total beam current, was $0.7\;{\mu}perv$. Stable beams for a long pulse duration of $5{\sim}10\;s$ were tested at low accelerating voltages.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.256-267
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• 2015

Grid-connected transformerless photovoltaic (PV) inverters (TPVIs) are increasingly dominating the market due to their higher efficiency, lower cost, lighter weight, and reduced size when compared to their transformer based counterparts. However, due to the lack of galvanic isolation in the low voltage grid interconnections of these inverters, the PV systems become vulnerable to leakage currents flowing through the grounded star point of the distribution transformer, the earth, and the distributed parasitic capacitance of the PV modules. These leakage currents are prohibitive, since they constitute an issue for safety, reliability, protection coordination, electromagnetic compatibility, and module lifetime. This paper investigates a wide range of multi-kW range power rating TPVI topologies and classifies them in terms of their leakage current attributes. This systematic classification places most topologies under a small number of classes with basic leakage current attributes. Thus, understanding and evaluating these topologies becomes an easy task. In addition, based on these observations, new topologies with reduced leakage current characteristics are proposed in this paper. Furthermore, the important efficiency and cost determining characteristics of converters are studied to allow design engineers to include cost and efficiency as deciding factors in selecting a converter topology for PV applications.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07b
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• pp.994-995
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• 2006

This paper presents a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system with direct coupled power quality control (PQC) algorithm, which uses an inner current control loop (PRT : polarized ramp time) and outer feedback control loop to improve grid power quality and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of PV arrays. To reduce the complexity, cost and number of power conversions, which results in higher efficiency, single stage CCVSI (Current Controlled Voltage Source Inverter) is used. The proposed system operation has been divided into two modes (sunny and night). In night mode, the proposed system operates to compensate the reactive power demanded by nonlinear or variation in loads. in sunny mode, the proposed system performs PQC to reduce harmonic current and improve power factor as well as MPPT to supply active power from the PV arrays simultaneously. it is shown that the proposed system improves the system utilization factor to 100% which is generally low for PV system (20%). To verify the proposed system, a comprehensive evaluation with theoretical analysis and simulation results are presented.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1131-1138
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• 2015

This study presents an input-powered high-efficiency interface circuit for energy harvesting systems, and introduces a zero standby power design to reduce power consumption significantly while removing the external power supply. This interface circuit is composed of two stages. The first stage voltage doubler uses a positive feedback control loop to improve considerably the conversion speed and efficiency, and boost the output voltage. The second stage active diode adopts a common-grid operational amplifier (op-amp) to remove the influence of offset voltage in the traditional comparator, which eliminates leakage current and broadens bandwidth with low power consumption. The system supplies itself with the harvested energy, which enables it to enter the zero standby mode near the zero crossing points of the input current. Thereafter, high system efficiency and stability are achieved, which saves power consumption. The validity and feasibility of this design is verified by the simulation results based on the 65 nm CMOS process. The minimum input voltage is down to 0.3 V, the maximum voltage efficiency is 99.6% with a DC output current of 75.6 μA, the maximum power efficiency is 98.2% with a DC output current of 40.4 μA, and the maximum output power is 60.48 μW. The power loss of the entire interface circuit is only 18.65 μW, among which, the op-amp consumes only 2.65 μW.