Mechanistic comparison between Phase-Locked loop and reactive power-based synchronization for the grid connected converters under a weak grid

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For grid-connected converters (GCC), the synchronization unit (SU) is indispensable for the vector current control (VCC). Usually, the phase-locked loop (PLL) is employed as SU. However, PLL could introduce negative resistance contributing to potential instability issues. Thus, the second-order generalized integrator PLL (SOGI-PLL) and the reactive power-based synchronization method (RPS) are proposed to enhance the stability. Nevertheless, the intrinsic reason why RPS enhances stability is not clear. Therefore, a detailed comparative analysis among PLL, SOGI-PLL, and RPS is presented in this paper to reveal the mechanism of this stability enhancement. Firstly, an admittance model is derived to analyze the differences between these three synchronization methods. However, it is not intuitive enough to explain the detailed mechanism. Then, a SISO model containing the current controller, physical circuit, and synchronization unit is developed, which is established on the relationship between power and angle. According to this SISO model, it is revealed that the presence of the gain spike introduced by PLL and SOGI-PLL leads to instability. RPS avoids these issues due to its introducing current information for phase margin enhancement and its lower-order structure. Finally, the validity of the mathematical analysis and derived models are verified by experimental results.