Modeling and Stability Analysis of Hybrid AC/DC
Microgrid Based on a Hybrid Model
Xiang Hu, Alian Chen, Chunshui Du, Chenghui Zhang
School of Control Science and Engineering
Shandong University
Jinan, Shandong
chenalian@sdu.edu.cn
Abstract—Hybrid AC/DC microgrid (MG) has attracted more
and more attention due to its advantages such as better power
sharing, improved system dynamics, and optimal management.
But the complicated structure brings a great challenge to the
modeling and stability analysis. In recent years, dynamic phasor
model has been well applied in the modeling of AC MGs.
Dynamic phasor tranforms sinusoidal quantities to constant
quantities on the base of Fourier Transform and it makes the
modeling procedure of AC MGs much easier. In this paper, a
novel hybrid model of a droop-controlled hybrid AC/DC MG is
developed with dynamic phasor model applied in the AC side and
the conventional state-space averaging model applied in the DC
side. Small signal stability Analysis is conducted with the help of
the developed hybrid model to investigate the effect of the droop
gains on the hybrid AC/DC MG. Conclusions of stability analysis
are verified through time domain simulation in Matlab/Simulink.
Keywords—hybrid AC/DC microgrid; stability analysis;
dynamic phasor; small signal; droop control
I. INTRODUCTION
Microgrid (MG) has become an important concept to
integrate distributed generations (DGs), loads and energy-
storage systems. MGs are generally classified into AC MGs,
DC MGs and hybrid AC/DC MGs. Nowadays, hybrid AC/DC
MGs attract more and more attention. The advantages of hybrid
AC/DC MGs include better power sharing, improved system
dynamics, and optimal management. The interfaces between
the prime motors and the MGs are often based on power-
electronic converters acting as voltage sources (voltage-source
inverters (VSIs) in case of AC MGs). These power-electronic
converters are connected in parallel through the MG. In order
to avoid circulating currents among the converters without
using any critical communication between them, the droop
control method is often applied.
In order to study the characteristics of the droop-controlled
hybrid AC/DC MGs, it is necessary to build a mathematical
model of it. 1
With the development of power eclctronic technology,
many mathematical models are proposed to analyze MGs, and
dynamic phasor model is an useful one. In fact, dynamic
phasor model has been well applied in the modeling of AC MG
[1]-[5]. The validity of a dynamic phasor model applied in an
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China under Grant 51377101, and Grant 61527809.
‹,(((
Zhengyu Lin
Electrical, Electronic and Power Engineering
Aston University
Birmingham, B4 7ET, U.K.
Z.Lin@hw.ac.uk
AC microgrid has been proved [6], [7]. On the base of Fourier
Transform, dynamic phasor tranforms sinusoidal quantities to
contant quantities and it makes the procedure of modeling an
AC MG much easier. So, dynamic phasor is an useful method
in the modeling of multi-inverters in an AC MG. Paper [8]
built a complete small signal model of a droop-controlled
hybrid AC/DC MG, but the modeling method is too
complicated for the AC side modeling.
In this paper, a novel hybrid modeling method is developed
for the modeling of a droop-controlled hybrid AC/DC MG.
Firstly, dynamic phasor model is applied in the AC side.
Compared with the model built in [8], the modeling of the AC
side becomes much easier. Secondly, conventional state-space
averaging model is applied in the DC side. Many studies show
that small signal models based on state-space averaging models
of DC MGs can accurately describe the characteristics of DC
MGs, and the procedure is not too complicated. Thirdly, the
model of interlinking converter is built for the proportional
power sharing between the AC and DC sides. Lastly, all the
models of the three parts of the hybrid AC/DC MG are
combined to obtain the complete model of the whole system.
Two different modeling methods are applied in the AC and DC
sides respectively, so this new model is a hybrid one.
The developed hybrid model is linearised near an operating
point to investigate the small signal stability of this hybrid
system. Effect of stability margin with droop gain is
investigated in detail using eigenvalue analysis. Conclusions of
stability analysis are verified through time domain simulation
in Matlab/Simulink.
This paper is organized as follows. In Section II,
mathematical model of the droop-controlled hybrid AC/DC
MG is presented in detail. In Section III, small-signal stability
analysis is presented. In Section IV, simulation and results are
presented. Conclusions are presented in Section V.
II. MODELING OF HYBRID AC/DC MICROGRID
The system mentioned in this paper is a droop-controlled
hybrid AC/DC MG and its basic framework is shown in Fig. 1.
The AC and DC sides are connected using an interlinking
converter. The AC side contains inverters, transmission lines
and AC loads. In the DC side, DC/DC converters are
connected to the DC bus through transmission lines, and the
public DC load is directly connected to the DC bus [9]-[11].
Sources in this MG contain photovoltaic (PV), wind generator

(WG) and battery storage (BS). Modeling of each part of this According to Fig. 2, the state equation of the AC side can
hybrid system will be presented in detail. be obtained as follows.

­ dik
° Lk dt = − Rk ik + uk
° di
°L L = − R i + u − u (2)
® L dt L L 1 2
° io1 = i1 + iL
°
°¯ io 2 = i2 − iL

Applying the definition and properties of dynamic phasor,

we can get the first-order dynamic phasor of (2) as follows.

­ d ik 1 dθ
° Lk = −Rk ik 1 − j k Lk ik 1 + uk 1
° dt dt
° d iL 1 dθL (3)
®LL = −RL iL 1 − j LL iL 1 + u1 1 − u2 1
° dt dt
Fig. 1. Basic framework of a hybrid AC/DC microgrid ° io1 1 = i1 1 + iL 1
° io2 1 = i2 1 − iL 1
¯
A. Dynamic phasor model of AC side
Selecting ș1 as the reference time-varying angle of iL and
Assuming that the parameters of controllers in inner combining (2), we can get
voltage/current loop in the AC side are designed rationally,
inverters together with filters are equivalent to voltage sources
as shown in Fig. 2. ­ u1 1 = U1
® (4)
¯ u2 1 = U2∠δ = U2 cosδ − jU2 sinδ

­ io1 1 = i1 1 + iL 1
® (5)
¯ io 2 1 = i2 1 − iL 1 ∠δ

Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit structure of the AC side where į=ș1-ș2.

In Fig. 2, RL=diag[RL,RL,RL] and LL=diag[LL,LL,LL] Combining (3), (4) and (5), we can get the dynamic phasor
represent the resistance and inductance of transmission lines model of the AC side as follows.
respectively. Rk=diag[Rk,Rk,Rk] and Lk=diag[Lk,Lk,Lk] (k=1,2)
represent the resistance and inductance of the kth load
respectively. uk and iok represent the terminal voltage of the kth R
voltage source and the current flows from the kth voltage d ik dθk R I
Lk 1
= − Rk ik +
Lk ik 1 + U k
source respectively. iL represents the current flows through dt dt 1

transmission lines. I
d ik 1 I dθ R
Lk = − Rk ik 1 − k Lk ik 1
dt dt
R
ª º d iL 1 R dθ I
« Uk cosθk » LL = − RL iL 1 + 1 LL iL 1 + U1 − U 2 cosδ
dt dt (6)
« 2π » (1)
uk = [uka , ukb , ukc ]
T I
= 2 «Uk cos(θk − )» d iL 1 I dθ R
« 3 » LL = −RL iL 1 − 1 LL iL 1 + U 2 sin δ
«U cos(θ + 2π )» dt
R R
dt
R
«¬ k 3 »¼ io1 1 = i1 1 + iL 1
k

I I I
io1 1 = i1 1 + iL 1
R R R I
where Uk and șk represent the voltage amplitude and phase io 2 = i2 − iL cosδ + iL 1 sin δ
1 1 1
angle of kth micro-source (MS) respectively. I I I R
io 2 1
= i2 1 − iL 1 cosδ − iL 1 sin δ


 Droop control method is applied in this hybrid AC/DC MG.
­ du oi
The control scheme is illustrated in Fig. 3. The bandwidth of ° Ci = (1 − d i )iLi − ioi
low-pass filter is smaller than the one of inner voltage/current dt
°° di Li (10)
loop, so the inner voltage/current loop is always neglected in ® Li = u si − Ri iLi − (1 − d i )u 0 i
dynamic phasor modeling of AC microgrid [6],[7]. ° dt
° di
Lti oi = uoi − Rti ioi − u dc
°¯ dt

where Rti/Lti (i=1,2) represents the equivalent impedence of

Fig. 3. Control scheme of the AC side
Equations of the control scheme of AC side is as follows.
transmission lines, Ci, Ri, Li, and di respectively represent the
capacitance, equivalent resistance, filtering inductance and
duty ratio of ith converter, uoi, iLi, ioi and udc represent output
voltage of ith converter, current of filter inductance, output
current and DC bus voltage respectively.

dθ k
= ω + k p (Pkref − Pk ) (7)
dt
U k = U kref + kq (Qkref − Qk )

where Ȧ(f=50Hz) represents the reference angular frequency.

Pkref, Qkref and Ukref represent the reference values of active
power, reactive power and voltage respectively, kp and kq
represent droop gains.
As shown in Fig. 3, Pk and Qk are active power and reactive
power exported from the kth inverter, and they go through low
pass filter.

Pk =
1
Re ­®U k iok
Ts + 1 ¯
( R
1
+ j iok
I ∗
1
) ½¾¿ (8)
Fig. 4. Equivalent circuit structure of the DC side

When DC MG is running normally, it is controlled by inner

Qk =
1
Im ­®U k iok
Ts + 1 ¯
( R
1
+ j iok
I ∗
1
) ½¾¿ voltage/current loop. Meanwhile, to share power successfully,
droop control is adopted as outer loop. And the control scheme
of the DC side is illustrated in Fig. 5.
where T represents filter parameter.
Combining (6), (7) and (8), we can get the complete
dynamic phasor model of the AC side of the droop-controlled
hybrid AC/DC MG. In the form of state equation, dynamic
phasor model of the AC side is non-linear. So, dynamic phasor
model should be linearised near the operating point to build its
small signal model [12].

ΔX AC = AAC ΔX AC (9) Fig. 5. Control scheme in the DC side

The mathematical model of the control scheme shown in

where ǻXAC=[ǻ<i1>1R,ǻ<i1>1I, ǻ<i2>1R, ǻ<i2>1I, ǻ<iL>1R, Fig. 5 can be expressed as follows [13].
ǻ<iL>1I, ǻį, ǻP1, ǻP2, ǻQ1, ǻQ2]T. AAC represents the system
matrix of the AC side of the hybrid AC/DC MG.
­ dmi
B. State-space averaging model of DC side
° = Vref − RDioi − uoi
dt
The DC side of the hybrid AC/DC MG shown in Fig. 1 can °° dni
be simplified to a equivalent structure which contains droop- = kPUi (Vref − RDioi − uoi ) + kIUi mi − ioi (11)
®
controlled DC-DC converters and resistive load [13]. A ° dt
simplified model of the DC side is shown in Fig. 4. °di = kPIi [kPUi (Vref − RDioi − uoi ) + kIUi mi − ioi ] + k IIi ni
The state-space model of the DC side shown in Fig. 4 can ¯°
be expressed as follows. where RD represents the droop gain, Vref represents the DC bus
voltage, kPUi and kIUi represent parameters of PI controller of
voltage loop, kPIi and kIIi represent parameters of PI controller


of current loop, mi and ni respectively represent the inputs of
integrators in voltage loop and current loop.
Combining (10) and (11), we can get the state-space
averaging model of the DC side. In the form of state equation,
state-space averaging model is also non-linear. So, it should be
linearised near the operating point to build its small signal
model.
ΔX DC = ADC ΔX DC (12)
where ǻXDC=[ǻuo1, ǻiL1, ǻio1, ǻm1, ǻn1, ǻuo2, ǻiL2, ǻio2, ǻm2,
ǻn2]T. ADC represents the system matrix of the DC side of the
hybrid AC/DC MG.
C. Mathematical model of the interlinking converter
To realize the propotional power sharing between the AC
and DC side of the hybrid system shown in Fig. 1, it is helpful
to bring frequency for AC side and voltage for DC side to a
common per-unit range by adopting the equations listed in (13)
for normalization [14].
f − 0.5 × ( f max + f min )
f pu =
0.5 × ( f max − f min ) (13)
VI − 0.5 × (VI , max + VI , min )
VI , pu =
0.5 × (VI , max − VI , min )
To achieve proportional power sharing at steady state, per-
unit frequency for AC side of the hybrid system must be equal
to the per-unit voltage for DC side (fpu=VI,pu).
f − 0.5 × ( f max + f min ) VI − 0.5 × (VI , max + VI , min ) (14)
= of relevant parameters are list in Table I and II.
0.5 × ( f max − f min ) 0.5 × (VI , max − VI , min )
k p , max RD, max
= =α (17)
kp RD
Hence, Į is the key parameter relating the AC side of the
hybrid AC/DC MG with the DC side, and is also a key factor
which may affect the stability margin of the whole system.
D. Model of hybrid AC/DC microgrid
The small signal model of the droop-controlled hybrid
AC/DC MG is obtained by combining (9), (12) and (17).
ª ΔX AC º ª AAC 0 º ªΔX AC º
«  »=« (18)
¬ΔX DC ¼ ¬ 0 ADC »¼ «¬ΔX DC »¼
It is obvious that the AC and DC parts in the whole model
are decoupled, but it does not mean that the two parts are
irrelevant because the droop gains in both sides are related
through the parameter Į defined in (17).
AAC is based on dynamic phasor, and ADC is based on state-
space equation. So, the model built here is a hybrid one. The
biggest advantage of this novel hybrid model is a easy
modeling procedure due to dynamic phasor. This hybrid model
will be an useful method in modeling a MG containing a large
amount of inverters.
III. SMALL SIGNAL STABILITY ANALYSIS
System matrix of the hybrid AC/DC MG has been obtained
in Section II. And eigenvalue analysis of system matrix is
extensively used for stability analysis in power system. In
Section II, to obtain small signal model, operating points are
required. In this study, steady state operating points are
calculated using the function of ‘fsolve’ in Matlab. The values

As far as frequency droop for AC side of the hybrid system TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF AC SIDE
and voltage droop for DC side are concerned, it can be Parameter Value
assumed that:
Pref 5000W
Qref 2500Var
­
° f max = 51 Hz Uref 220V
°° kp (15)
® f = fn − P kp 0.00126
° 2π
° f = f − k p , max P kq 0.002
°¯ min n
2π Ȧ 314rad/s
RL 0.5ȍ
­ VI , max = Vn LL 0.642ȍ/km
° (16)
® VI = Vn − RDio Rk 20ȍ
°V
¯ I , min = Vn − RD , maxio Lk 0.02mH

Substituting (15) and (16) in (14) and simplifying it, the T 0.0265s
relation between AC droop and DC droop is shown below.


 TABLE II. PARAMETERS OF DC SIDE

Parameter Value
Vref 600V
Ri 0.04ȍ
Li 5mH
Ci 2200ȝF
Rti 0.1ȍ
Lti 0.5mH
Rdc 100ȍ

Fig. 7. Eigenvalue trace with variation in droop gain of AC side

Fig. 8 shows the movement of the dominate eigenvalues by

varying droop parameter in the DC side. With the drop of
parameter Į, the dominate eigenvalues move in the direction of
right which means the drop of stability margin. The dominate
eigenvalues will also move into the right half-plane and the
system is unstable when the droop value in the DC side is high.

Fig. 6. Eigenvalue plot of hybrid AC/DC microgrid

Eigenvalue plot of the complete model of the hybrid

AC/DC MG is shown in Fig. 6. All the eigenvalues in Fig. 6
are in the left half-plane, and it means the current operating
point is a stable one.
In order to determine the stability margin of the hybrid
AC/DC MG, parameter Į defined in (17) is varied. Considering
that the AC and DC parts in the whole model are decoupled,
root locus plots are separately shown for the AC and DC sides.
It would help in observing the direction in which the dominate
eigenvalues move for various values of Į for both AC and DC
sides. Stability margin is obtained by varying Į and maximum
allowable droop applied to the hybrid system. Papers show that
a high droop value in AC MG is required for proper power
sharing among sources which also improves the transient
response of the system [15]. Whereas a high droop value in DC
MG improves power sharing results in significant voltage drop
[16].
The root locus plot of the AC side of the hybrid AC/DC
MG is shown in Fig. 7. The dominate eigenvalues (Ȝ1, Ȝ2, Ȝ3)
moves in the direction of right with the drop of the value of
parameter Į. The dominate eigenvalues will also move into the
right half-plane as a result of a higher droop value, it means
that the system is unstable due to the drop of stability margin.
Fig. 8. Eigenvalue trace with variation in droop gain of DC side
IV. SIMULATION AND VERIFICATION
The droop-controlled hybrid AC/DC MG shown in Fig. 1 is
simulated in time domain using Matlab/Simulink. To
investigate the effect of higher droop gains on the system, the
value of Į decreased at t = 1s. The output active powers of
VSIs and frequency of AC bus are shown in Fig. 9. The output
currents of DC sources and voltage of DC bus are shown in Fig.
10.
Fig. 9 shows the system is stable before t = 1s for lower
value of droop gain in the AC side and power sharing between
VSIs are equal (P1=P2=5000W). After decreasing the value of
Į at t = 1s beyond maximum allowable value subjected to the
stability of the system obtained through root locus plot, output
active power of VSIs become oscillatory which shows small
signal instability of the system.



Fig. 9. Active power sharing between VSIs
Fig. 10 shows the system is stable before t = 1s for lower
value of droop gain in the DC side and current sharing between
DC sources are equal (I1=I2=9.15A). After decreasing the value
of Į at t = 1s beyond maximum allowable value subjected to
the stability of the system obtained through root locus plot,
output currents of DC sources become oscillatory which shows
small signal instability of the system.
Fig. 10. Current sharing between DC sources
The simulation results show that a low value of Į (which
means a high droop gain) in both AC and DC sides will lead to
an unstable system, which is consistent with the conclusions of
stability analysis in Section III. So, time domain simulation in
Matlab/Simulink verified the conclusions of stability analysis.
Hence, the hybrid model built in this paper is correct.
V. CONCLUSION
A novel hybrid model of droop-controlled AC/DC MG is
developed in this paper with dynamic phasor model applied in
the AC side and state-space averaging model applied in the DC
side. The application of dynamic phasor in the AC side of this
hybrid system makes the modeling procedure much easier. To
investigate the small signal stability of the system, the hybrid
model was linearised near the operating point. Root locus plots
were obtained to find the stability margin of the system. The
simulation results verified the conclusions of stability analysis.
It was observed that higher values of droop gains bring the

dominate eigenvalues of both AC and DC sides into unstable
region. Therefore, the choice of droop values of both AC and
DC sides affects the system stability margin. In conclusion, the
hybrid model developed in this paper has a great practical
value.
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