Grid Current Total Harmonic Distortion Research Articles

High-Efficient Direct Power Control Scheme Using Predictive Virtual Flux for Three-Phase Active Rectifiers

In recent years, the pulse-width-modulation (PWM) converter has been found to have extensive applications in renewable energy, industrial fields, and others. The high efficiency requirement is crucial to operating a PWM rectifier in various applications, in addition to the fundamental control objectives of sinusoidal grid currents and the correct DC bus voltage. Additionally, in practical application, another issue arises when the grid voltage frequently experiences distortion, leading to a distorted grid current and a significant rise in total harmonic distortion (THD). To resolve these problems, a model predictive virtual flux-based direct power control (MPVFDPC) with improved power loss performance is proposed based on an integrated switching state predetermination strategy. The proposed MPVFDPC for PWM rectifier inherits the merits of both virtual flux control and direct power control, which have fast dynamic performance and the grid current THD is considerably decreased under distorted grid voltage states. The proposed technique aims to minimize switching loss under ideal and distorted grid voltage states by exploiting the discontinuous modulation concept by using a switching state predetermination strategy. The MPVFDPC with switching state predetermination strategy is proven by employing it in experiments as well as simulations in comparison with previous models: predictive direct power control (Conv. MPDPC) and conventional MPVFDPC (Conv. MPVFDPC). The acquired waveforms and quantitative data are employed to prove the effectiveness of the developed algorithm.

Adaptability enhancement of fractional‐order LLCL‐type grid‐connected inverter to weak grid based on grid voltage weighted feedforward scheme

SummaryGrid‐connected inverter with a novel fractional‐order LLCL filter has the advantage of high grid current tracking accuracy and low total harmonic distortion without passive or active dampers, and the grid voltage full feedforward scheme is an effective method to improve the quality of grid current. However, due to the digital control delay, the suppression of the grid current harmonics is weakened, and the inverter output impedance has an additional negative phase shift, which deteriorates the stability of grid‐connected systems under weak grid. In this paper, a weighted grid voltage fractional‐order feedforward control scheme is proposed based on a quasi‐proportional resonant (QPR) controller, which introduces two weighting factors in the full feedforward path of the grid voltage and compensates the phase lag of the output impedance by designing appropriate weighting factors. Then, an improved scheme combining the QPR controller with a phase compensator is presented. As a result, the suppression ability of grid current harmonics and the adaptability to grid impedance variations are enhanced. Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed grid voltage fractional‐order weighted feedforward scheme.

A Robust High-Quality Current Control With Fast Convergence for Three-Level NPC Converters in Microenergy Systems

Three-level neutral-point-clamped (3L-NPC) power converters are necessary interfaces to form micro-energy systems. Naturally, designing a suitable control scheme, featuring superior dynamics, strong robustness, and simple structure, is a promising solution to guarantee more efficient operation of converter. This paper proposes a robust high-quality current control strategy for the 3L-NPC power converter in the stationary <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\alpha \beta$</tex-math></inline-formula> frame. A super-twisting algorithm coupled with a Luenberger observer current controller is proposed to deal with the poor sinusoidal current tracking issue due to the existing inductance/grid frequency deviations and the disturbance of the sinusoidal dynamic nature. Additionally, an extended sliding mode disturbance observer based proportional control is built to dramatically enhance voltage regulation performance, in the case of capacitance deviations and unknown dc-loads. Experimental data confirm the effectiveness of the proposed solution outperforms the conventional proportional-resonant/-integral control in terms of accurate tracking current/voltage, anti-disturbance, and grid current total harmonic distortion.

Power quality assessment of a wave energy converter using energy storage

Wave energy has been an immense area of interest in research and industry in our move towards a sustainable energy production society due to its high energy density and surface area. However, the grid connection of wave energy converters is still one of the major challenges due to the complexity of varying wave resources (amplitude and frequency). Wave energy converters grid integration can lead to several potential challenges, such as voltage fluctuations, harmonics and flicker. Using an energy storage system can help to mitigate few challenges by balancing the grid demand with the wave energy converter power supply. Hence, improving the power quality. This study assesses the power quality of wave energy converters equipped with energy storage against the scenario without any energy storage at different power levels. The power quality in this paper is investigated using total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid current, dc-link voltage ripple and battery current ripple. The study shows that the addition of a hybrid energy storage system lowers the grid current THD at the point of common coupling (PCC), stabilizes the dc-link voltage ripple and reduces the stress of the battery.

Control Strategy of Distributed Battery Energy Storage System with Harmonic Compensation

Based on the distributed battery energy storage system (BESS), a grid-connection strategy considering harmonic restraint is investigated. It can compensate the harmonic current to the grid by measuring the grid harmonics, then harmonic compensation is implemented to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid current. In this paper, the method of measuring harmonics in the grid and the control principle of providing power supply and harmonic compensation based on BESS are described. On this basis, the control flow is designed. Firstly, the energy storage grid-connected system is built in MATLAB/Simulink and the uncontrolled rectifier with inductive and resistance load is used for testing. The simulation results show that the grid current contains many harmonics, and the grid current THD decreases significantly by controlling BESS for harmonic compensation, which validates that the control method proposed in this paper is accurate and feasible.

A variable step size robust normalized least mean absolute third‐based control scheme for a grid‐tied multifunctional photovoltaic system

SummaryThis paper develops a variable step size robust normalized least mean absolute third (VSSRNLMAT)‐based control scheme for a three‐phase grid‐tied multifunctional photovoltaic system (GTMPVS). The GTMPVS delivers PV power to grid‐connected loads and feeds excess power to the grid through a voltage source converter (VSC) when PV power is available. It enhances power quality (PQ) by mitigating current harmonics and compensating for an unbalanced load and reactive power simultaneously. The proposed control scheme accurately extracts the fundamental active and reactive weight components of nonlinear load current. The power exchange at the grid side occurs with balanced and sinusoidal grid currents. During the absence of PV power, the VSC continues its operation as a distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM), thus increasing the effective utilization of the power electronic switches employed in the VSC. The GTMPVS model is created in MATLAB/Simulink. The response of GTMPVS is observed under steady‐state and dynamic operating conditions while feeding power to a nonlinear load. The dynamic operating conditions are created by a change in solar irradiation and an unbalanced nonlinear load. Further, the proposed VSSRNLMAT control scheme is compared with some of the other adaptive filtering‐based control schemes, including least mean square (LMS), least mean fourth (LMF), least mean absolute third (LMAT), and normalized LMAT (NLMAT) in terms of convergence, oscillations, mean square deviation (MSD), computational complexity, and grid current total harmonic distortion (THD). It is found that the VSSRNLMAT control scheme offers THD of grid current as per IEEE‐519 standard. The proposed control scheme is implemented to operate the laboratory‐developed GTMPVS to verify the simulation results.

Fast and Robust Adaptive LMAT Control for Power Quality Improvement in Grid-Tied SPV System

This paper deals with the power quality improvement in a double stage solar photovoltaic (SPV) grid integrated system by an adaptive least mean absolute third (LMAT) control. This topology has advantages such as, (1) it has high efficiency, and (2) it provides an enhanced response. This SPV generating system consists of many components such as, a BC (Boost converter), a RC ripple filter, a VSC (Voltage source converter), local loads, and a 3-ɸ grid. Here, the VSC is connected at DC bus for feeding SPV power into the three-phase grid, which is also used to improve the power quality. An adaptive LMAT control estimates the fundamental load components, which provides the fast rate of convergence and less steady state error. The THDs (Total Harmonic Distortions) of grid currents are shown within the limits of the IEEE-519 standard.

공통 모드 전압 및 THD를 고려한 계통연계형 3레벨 NPC 인버터의 운용 알고리즘 연구

A grid-connected 3-level NPC inverter is a power conversion device that connects renewable energy generators, such as photovoltaic or wind turbines to the grid. Although many studies have focused on this inverter, commercializing it requires strictly satisfying various safety and power quality-related standards. Among many standards, leakage current and grid current total harmonic distortion(THD) can be affected by external factors such as installation environment, aging, and grid conditions. Hence, inverter operations that can satisfy these standards need to be explored. In this study a 3-level NPC inverter operation algorithm using the Phase Opposition Disposition-PWM method that can effectively reduce leakage current and switching frequency adjustment to reduce THD effectively has been proposed.

An Adaptive DC-Link Voltage Control of a Multifunctional SPV Grid-Connected VSI for Switching Loss Reduction

In the proposed method in this article, to minimize the burden on the switches of the multifunctional grid-connected voltage-source inverter (MFGCVSI), the voltages of dc-link split capacitors are adjusted according to power injection from the MFGCVSI. The MFGCVSI is used to control the active power injection from solar photovoltaic (SPV) power generation to the main grid and loads, load reactive power compensation, harmonic mitigation, and main grid current total harmonic distortion within 5 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> . In such a case, the voltages of split capacitors depend on the rated power injection from the MFGCVSI. The power generated from the SPV system and the loads that are connected at the point of common coupling vary with respect to time. It is observed that the selection of rated dc-link voltages during low power injection from the MFGCVSI leads to additional switching stress and higher switching losses. Therefore, to reduce the burden on inverter switches and switching losses, the reference dc voltage is reduced under low power injection from the MFGCVSI. A model predictive controller with a multiconstraint technique is used in the proposed method for balancing the dc-link capacitor voltages and average switching frequency reduction. The proposed method is validated through simulation and hardware setup.

Guidelines for Voltage Controller Coefficients Design to Attain Prescribed Grid Current THD and DC-Link Voltage Undershoot Values in Power Factor Correction Front Ends

This article establishes analytical guidelines for designing coefficients of proportional integral (PI) controller, typically used as voltage loop compensator of power factor correction rectifiers (PFCRs) operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM), based on two major performance merits (namely, total harmonic distortion (THD) of grid-side current and dc-link voltage deviation upon sudden load increase) and dc-link capacitance-to-rated power ratio. The proposed methodology allows to concretize the commonly used “5–10 Hz crossover frequency, 45°–70° phase margin” rule-of-thumb, typically used in application notes of commercial PFCR controllers. Explicit relationships between voltage loop gain crossover frequency and phase margin as well as settling time of dc-link voltage response to a step load increase to the above-mentioned performance merits are also derived in this article. Provided design guidelines allow to accurately achieve desired values of the two mentioned performance merits and indicate the feasible range of possible dc-link capacitance values. The proposed quantitative design guidelines are well-supported by experiments.

Grid Current Quality Improvement for Three-Phase Diode Rectifier-Fed Small DC-Link Capacitance IPMSM Drives

In order to improve the grid current quality of the small dc-link capacitance (SDC) motor drives fed by three-phase diode rectifier, a grid current control method based on regulation of the rectifier current sixth harmonic is proposed in this paper. Considering the 120° maximum conduction angle of the rectifier diodes, a 120° rectangular waveform with low total harmonic distortion (THD) is selected as the grid current reference. Based on the relationship between the grid current and the rectifier current, the proposed scheme shapes the grid current into the selected 120° rectangular waveform by regulating the rectifier current sixth harmonic. In this way, the grid current THD of the SDC system is significantly reduced. Since the regulation of the rectifier current harmonic is independent of the speed and motor current control loops, the proposed method avoids the complicated controller and the cumbersome parameter tuning in the grid current control process. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

On the Minimum DC Link Capacitance in Practical PFC Rectifiers Considering THD Requirements and Load Transients

The article presents the analytical derivation of the minimum dc link capacitance in single-phase front ends with active power factor correction (PFC) without hold-up time requirements. Such systems typically employ boost-type rectifiers; operate under restricted total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid-side current. Moreover, PFC rectifiers must be capable of tolerating step-like zero-to-rated load power variations. It is well known that these two constraints contradict each other, posing nontrivial design challenges. The revealed value of minimum capacitance is expressed by an explicit function of grid voltage and frequency, converter rated power, dc link voltage reference, and grid current THD and voltage loop phase margin set points. Experimental results validate the proposed methodology, closely matching corresponding analytical predictions.

A Simple Modulation Strategy for Full ZVS of Single-Stage Electrolytic Capacitor-Less EV Charger With Universal Input

The single-stage electrolytic capacitor-less on-board charger (OBC) is attracting attention with the possibility of achieving high efficiency, high power density, and low component count. However, under universal input and wide battery voltage, the single-stage OBC has a difficulty in achieving ZVS turn- <sc xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</small> while maintaining unity power factor. In order to achieve ZVS under wide voltage range, the conventional single-stage OBC uses multiple control variables including switching frequency where the switching frequency usually varies widely, which complicates the converter design and optimization. In this regard, a totem-pole based single-stage electrolytic capacitor-less OBC was introduced in [36]. It uses one control variable and fixed switching frequency. However, this topology is not able to achieve full ZVS under wide voltage range and has high grid current total harmonic distortion (THD). This article proposes a simple modulation strategy that uses an adaptive duty-cycle and phase-shift modulation to achieve full ZVS under universal input and wide battery voltage. In addition, the fourth-harmonic injection method greatly reduces the grid current THD. The effectiveness of the proposed modulation was validated on a 3.84-kW prototype with 100–240 V ac input and 460–800 V battery voltage. The efficiency is also increased up to 2.3%p under low-voltage grid compared to the previous work.

DC-Link voltage control of a multifunctional PV-GCVSI to reduce VSI switching losses

ABSTRACT The reference input dc voltage of grid connected voltage source inverter (GCVSI) is altered in this article based on power (both active and reactive) injection from GCVSI for minimising inverter switching losses, and total harmonic distortion (THD) of grid current. If the GCVSI is exclusively used for actual power injection from the photo-voltaic (PV) system to the utility grid, the needed input dc voltage of GCVSI is twice the utility grid phase peak voltage. According to the literature, GCVSI is also used to compensate for power quality issues, and in these circumstances, the dc-link voltage value is determined by the maximum power injection of GCVSI. Under reduced load, and reduced power generation from the PV system, keeping maximum GCVSI input dc voltage reference causes extra voltage stress at GCVSI switches, and the grid current THD is worse due to high ripple current in filter inductance. Therefore, to reduce the inverter switching losses and to improve the grid current THD, the relationship between the GCVSI input dc voltage reference and the power flow from GCVSI has been formulated. The proposed work is verified using simulation studies, as well as hardware studies, and the results are compared with existing methods for validation.

Predictive Control of Grid-Connected Modified-CHB With Reserve Batteries in Photovoltaic Application Under Asymmetric Operating Condition

The system stability and injection of maximum active power to the grid are among the most important technical issues in cascaded H-bridge (CHB) based photovoltaic (PV) systems, especially when the irradiation of PV arrays connected to CHB cells are not uniform. In other words, the unequal irradiation of PV arrays leads to the unbalanced output power of H-bridge cells, which causes overmodulation and increased grid current total harmonic distortion in the CHB inverter. Conventional control methods cannot maintain the stability of a grid-connected CHB inverter under asymmetric operating conditions. So, this article proposes a new CHB-based structure with reserve batteries and a novel modulation technique to stabilize the system in heavy mismatching conditions and avoid overmodulation. Furthermore, the number of switches and series batteries is reduced, and the number of output voltage levels is increased compared to the conventional PV-CHB system with energy storage. The validity of the proposed solution is verified by simulation in MATLAB/Simulink, and then the experimental results are presented to confirm the theoretical and simulation results.

Operation of Grid-Connected PV-Battery-Wind Driven DFIG Based System

This article presents a photovoltaic (PV)-battery and wind driven doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based grid-connected system with an improved multifunctional control scheme for grid-side converter (GSC). A three-stage improved reduced-order multiple integrator control is used to maintain the reactive power into the grid as well as it regulates the dc-link voltage across the GSC. The grid side control improves power quality in different abnormal conditions. Moreover, it behaves in such a way that it reduces the rise time, the maximum peak overshoot, as well as the settling time during the transients. The rotor side converter is used to provide the required amount of reactive power using the field-oriented control, for the wind power generator (WPG). A DFIG is used as a WPG. The single-stage PV array and a battery with bidirectional converter are connected to the common dc link of the GSC. The battery helps to extract the maximum wind power in light load conditions. The charging and discharging of the battery depend on the renewable energy generation and load demand. The dynamic behavior is improved by adding a PV feedforward term with the total active load current component. Here, the stator current total harmonic distortion (THD) and grid current THD are maintained as per the IEEE standard. Simulated and test results show the performance of the developed system in different dynamic conditions, such as load unbalancing, changes in PV insolation, and change in speed from the cut-in to cut-out speeds of the wind turbine. Moreover, these results show the battery behavior during different dynamic conditions.

Design and Simulation of a Power System Composed of Grid-tied Five-level Inverter with LCL Filter

This paper presents the analysis, design, and simulation of a power system composed of a grid-tied single-phase five-level inverter with an LCL filter. First, the analysis of the proposed system has been carried out in the decoupled Direct-Quadrature frame, where the Phase-Lock-Loop technique has been used for synchronizing the LCL-filter-connected-grid with the five-level inverter. Next, the design of the LCL filter has been discussed. In this paper, we focused on the active power control based on grid current adjustment using a proportional-integral regulator and a high-frequency modulation technique for the switching of a five-level inverter, where the Sinusoidal-Pulse-Width-Modulation technique is selected. All circuit design and control schemes are discussed step by step to provide the effectiveness of the system analysis. The theoretical analysis is verified through simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink environments. An important finding when using the five-level inverter in a grid-connect system is improving the system output voltage; the total standing voltage and the total harmonic distortion are decreased compared to a conventional H-bridge inverter. The results indicate that the total harmonic distortion of grid-current is less than 0.2%, which is according to the international standards.

An Improved Low-Complexity Model Predictive Direct Power Control With Reduced Power Ripples Under Unbalanced Grid Conditions

This article proposes an improved low-complexity model predictive direct power control (LC-MPDPC) along with reduced power ripples. Different from those MPDPC methods under balanced grid voltage conditions, both the design and implication of MPDPC under unbalanced grid conditions are further studied. In the proposed MPDPC, to reduce the computational burden of the controller, an improved LC-MPDPC based on the extended reactive <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">pq</i> theory is proposed. Only one prediction is needed to select the next voltage vector. Besides, the defined cost function under balanced grid conditions cannot obtain the minimized value if the unbalanced grid conditions occur. Accordingly, a new power error is defined, which is described analytically in the optimal model. With the proposed LC-MPDPC, a negative conjugate of the new defined complex power is selected as the control variable, and an improved modulation for the LC-MPDPC is presented to ensure the best voltage and calculate the optimal duration under unbalanced grid conditions. Compared with prior MPDPC, the proposed LC-MPDPC obtains much lower power ripples and grid current total harmonic distortion, and further, it offers a fast dynamic response and robustness. The effectiveness of the proposed LC-MPDPC is evaluated and validated by the experimental results.

New control strategy for multifunctional grid-connected photovoltaic systems

The main aim of this work consists of proposing a new control strategy for multifunctional grid-connected photovoltaic systems (GCPVSs) to enhance the power quality at the point of common coupling (PCC) while considering the inverter-rated capacity. In addition, an Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for a two-phase interleaved boost converter is proposed to improve the dc-link voltage oscillation of the GCPVS. The control strategy takes into account the inverter's rated capacity in terms of power, which is defined by its maximal current modulus. It limits the inverter current to prevent overrating operations, and it also manages the GCPVS's functions: active power injection, reactive power compensation, and current harmonic filtering. The Active power injection into the grid takes precedence over power quality enhancement. Then, The reactive power compensation takes priority over the filtering of nonlinear load current harmonics. The proposed strategy is applied to a grid-connected PV system through an interleaved boost converter and a three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter. Various scenarios with different solar irradiation levels are investigated using MATLAB/Simulink environment. Compared with another existing control strategy in terms of grid current total harmonic distortion (THD) enhancement, the simulations results indicate the superiority of the proposed method. Furthermore, the simulation results also show that the multifunctional GCPVS can perfectly perform all its functions simultaneously with up to 16.95% reduction in grid current THD.

Design and Real-Time Implementation of a Control System for SiC Off-Board Chargers of Battery Electric Buses

Emerging wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC), will enable chargers to operate at higher switching frequencies, which grants the ability to deliver high power and enhances efficiency. This paper addresses the modeling of a double-sided cooling (DSC) SiC technology-based off-board charger for battery electric buses (BEBs) and the design of its control and real-time (RT) implementation. A three-phase active front-end (AFE) rectifier topology is considered in the modeling and control system design for the active part of the DC off-board charger. The control system consists of a dual-loop voltage–current controller and is used to ensure AC to DC power conversion for charging and to achieve the targeted grid current total harmonic distortion (THD) and unity power factor (PF). Linear and nonlinear simulation models are developed in MATLAB/Simulink for optimum control design and to validate the voltage and current control performances. Four types of controllers (i.e., proportional–integral (PI), lead–lag, proportional–resonant (PR), and modified proportional–resonant (MPR)) are designed as current controllers, and a comparative analysis is conducted on the simulation model. In addition, the final design of the dual-loop controller is implemented on the RT–FPGA platform of dSpace MicroLabBox. It is then tested with the charger to validate the control performance with experimental data. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate the correct operation of the converter control performance by tracking the reference commands.