Design and Research on Parameter of LCL Filter in

Three-Phase Grid-Connected Inverter

Fei Liu1, Xiaoming Zha1, Yan Zhou2 , Shanxu Duan2
1
Wuhan University, School of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan, 430072, China
2
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Wuhan, 430074, China

Abstract- Since LCL filter has smaller inductance value The main circuit topology can be seen as fig.1, where R1 and
comparing to L type filter with the same performance in harmonic R2 are the resistors associated with inverter side and grid side
suppression. it is gradually used in high-power and low-frequency inductors respectively. L1 , C2 and L2 compose the LCL filter.
current-source-controlled grid-connected converters. However id idc

design of LCL filters parameter not only relates switch frequency T1 T3 T5

ripple attenuation, but also impacts on performance of ic
L1 R1 L2 i2 R2
grid-connected current controller. This paper firstly introduced a C1
udc ua i1
Usa
ub
harmonic model of LCL filter in grid-connected operation, then uc
Usb O
Usc
researched the variable relationship among LCL filters T4 T6 T2 iC
parameter and resonance frequency and high-frequency ripple C2 uC
N
attenuation. Based on above analysis a reasonable design method
Fig.1 topology of three-phase grid-connected converter
was brought out in order to achieve optimal effect under the
precondition of saving inductance magnetic core of LCL filter, at B. The mathematical model of LCL Filter
the same time guaranteeing the resonance frequency of LCL filter In the grid-connected system with LCL filter, the relationship
was not too small lest restrict current controller resign. Finally this between grid-connected current igrid and inverter output voltage
design method was verified by the experimental results.
uinv is shown as (1). ( R1 and R2 are ignored since they are
smaller comparing with the impedance of L1 , L2 .)
I. INTRODUCTION
I grid ( s ) 1
Now in many systems connected to the grid and PWM G1 ( s ) = = (1)
rectifiers, LCL filters are used more and more. LCL filters give U inv ( s ) s L1 L2 C2 + s ( L1 + L2 )
3

advantage in costs and dynamic since smaller inductors are In the grid-connected system with L filter, the relationship
needed to achieve required performance in damping the between grid-connected current igrid and inverter output
switching harmonics comparing with L or LC filters. Especially
in large power systems whose frequency is low, the advantages voltage uinv is shown as (2)
of LCL filter are more significant. Because LCL filter need smaller I grid ( s ) 1
inductance value comparing to L type filter at the same performance in GT ( s ) = = (2)
harmonic suppression, it is gradually used in high-power and low U inv ( s ) sLT
frequency current source controlled grid-connected converters[1-4].
However design work of LCL filter parameter not only related to
switch frequency ripple attenuation, but also impacted on performance
of grid-connected current controller. First of all, this paper introduced a
harmonic model of LCL filter in grid-connected operation, secondly
researched the variable relationship among LCL filters parameter and
resonance frequency and high-frequency ripple attenuation. In order to
achieve optimal effect under the precondition of saving inductance
magnetic core of LCL filter, a reasonable design method was brought
out Based on above analysis. Furthermore the method could guarantee
the resonance frequency of LCL filter was not too small lest impacted
current controller resign. Finally this design method was verified by the
experimental results.
Fig.2 Bode diagram of L and LCL filter with same inductance value
II. THE MODEL OF GRID-CONNECTED INVERTER
In order to compare the characteristic of LCL filter and L
A. Main Circuit Topology filter, the bode-diagrams are drawn as fig.2, while LT = L1 + L2 .

,((( 2174 ,3(0&

It is seen that for L and LCL filter with the same inductance From fig.4 when setting H LCL ( jh ) = 0.1 , bigger
value, LCL is better in attenuating high-frequency harmonics.
filter-capacitor will bring bigger L1 / L2 and smaller L1 + L2 .
III. THE CHARACTERISTIC ANALYSIS OF LCL FILTER Moreover when C2 is small, the variation of L1 / L2 will make
little influence on variation of L1 + L2 . When C2 is small, the
jh L1 jh L2 variation of L1 / L2 will make big influence on variation
i1 ( jh ) igrid ( jh )
1 of L1 + L2 .
uk ( jh ) jhC2 uc ( jh )
When the value of L1 + L2 is fixed, the relationship
among res = ( L1 + L2 ) L1 L2 C2 , L1 / L2 and C2 can be seen
as fig.5. It is seen that when L1 / L2 is fixed, bigger C2 will
Fig.3 Harmonic model of LCL filter under gird-connected operation
According to the harmonic model of LCL filter which is seen make res smaller. When C2 is fixed, smaller L1 / L2 will
as fig.3, the relationship between grid-connected current igrid make res smaller. When res is too small, the filter resonance
and inverter output voltage uinv can be gained as (3). will increase the low- and middle-frequency harmonics.
I grid ( jh ) Moreover, when L1 + L2 is fixed, and Vh = 210 = 1 , according to
j
= (3) (4) and i1 = (1 + L2 C2 s 2 )igrid , the relationship among the
U k ( jh ) h (h 2 2 L1 L2 C2 + L1 + L2 )
H LCL ( jh ) is shown as (4). harmonic current on L1 ( i1 ( jh ) ), L1 / L2 and C2 can be seen
I grid ( jh ) 1 as fig.6. From fig.6(b) where L1 / L2 is fixed, when C2 = 2 F ,
H LCL ( jh ) = = (4)
U k ( jh ) h ( h 2 2 L1 L2 C2 + L1 + L2 )
i1 ( jh ) is the biggest. When C2 > 2 F , i1 ( jh ) will
The prize and volume of inductance are relatively cheaper and
decrease when C2 increases. From fig.6(c) where C2 is fixed,
bigger than that of capacitor, so it is worthy to investigate the
relationship among L1 + L2 , L1 / L2 and C2 . According to (4), i1 ( jh ) will decrease when C2 increases. When L1 / L2 > 7.5 ,
setting H LCL ( jh ) = 0.1 when h=210, the relationship can be i1 ( jh ) will increase when C2 increases. So L1 / L2 should be
shown as fig.4. chosen between 37.

(a)
Fig.4 Variation of L1 + L2 vs. L1 / L2 and C2

Fig.5 Resonant frequency res vs. L1 / L2 and C2 (b)

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 (c)
(c)
Fig.6 i1 ( jh ) in L1 vs. L1 / L2 and C2 with Vh = 210 = 1
Fig.7 igrid ( jh ) in L1 vs. L1 / L2 and C2 with Vh = 210 = 1

When L1 + L2 is fixed, the relationship among the grid

harmonic current igrid ( jh ) , L1 / L2 and C2 can be seen as IV. REQUIREMENTS OF FILTER DESIGN
According to [5-10], several rules should be considered.
fig.7. From fig.7(c), it is seen that igrid ( jh ) is smallest (1) The voltage loss generated on LCL filter-inductance
when L1 / L2 = 1 . But from fig.5, when C2 and L1 + L2 are should less than 10% of the normal grid voltage.
fixed, L1 / L2 = 1 will make the res smallest. Based on an 1 L1 + L2
(2) The resonant frequency f res = should be
overall analysis of fig.5 and fig.7, L1 / L2 should be chosen 2 L1 L2 C2
between 46. 1
10 f1 < f res < f sw , where f1 is the grid voltage frequency and
2
f sw is the switch frequency.
(3) In order to let the high-frequency harmonics go through
the capacitor path. The switch frequency impedances X C 2 and
X L 2 should be satisfied.
1 1
X C 2 = ( ~ ) X L2 (5)
10 5
Moreover, generally the reactive power absorbed by the
filter-capacitor should be less than the rated active power of the
system.
P
C2 (6)
3 2 f1 Em2
(a)
Where Em is the phase voltage (RMS), and is the ratio of
the reactive power absorbed by capacitor C2 . P is the rated
power.

V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT
To verify the proposed design method, a three-phase
experimental platform based on DSP TMS320LF2407 is
established. Based on 20% ripple wave RMS strict condition,
the inductance value of L1 can be calculated. Then in the
paper L1 = 5.5mH , L2 = 1.0mH , and based (5) C2 20 f .
Under the two-current-loop control, the system is connected to
the grid safely. The waveforms of the grid-connected current
with the designed LCL filter are shown in fig.8. The harmonic
analysis of grid-connected current can be seen as fig.9. The
(b)
harmonic above resonant frequency was suppressed.

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 [8] Magueed,F.A., Svensson, J. Control of VSC connected to the grid
through LCL -filter to achieve balanced currents. Fourtieth[C]. IAS
Annual Meeting Conference Record, 2005, 1:572-578
[9] Fei Liu, Shanxu Duan, Pengwei Xu, Guoqiang Chen and Fangrui Liu,
Design and Control of Three-Phase PV Grid Connected Converter with
LCL Filter, IECON07, Nov. 2007, pp. 1656-1661.
[10] Papavasiliou, S.A. Papathanassiou, S.N. Manias and G. Demetriadis,
Current Control of a Voltage Source Inverter Connected to the Grid via
LCL Filter, PESC07, Jun. 2007, pp. 2379-2384.


Fig.8 Experiment waves of grid-connected current

Fig.9 Harmonic analysis of grid-connected current

VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a parameter-design method is proposed for a
LCL filter used in a three-phase grid-connected inverter system.
The practicality of this method is practicability and validity.
Experimental results proved the correctness of the adopted
parameter-design theory analysis and feasibility of the proposed
design method. The adoption of filter-capacitor-current inner
loop can damp the resonance of LCL filter as analyzed. The
design method made the tuning procedure easier and the system
harmonic suppression performance good.

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