MODELLING GRID-CONNECTED VOLTAGE SOURCE INVERTER OPERATION Erika Twining & Donald Grahame Holmes Power Electronics Group

Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering Monash University, Clayton Abstract This paper presents the first stage of a research program that aims to explore interactions between multiple power electronic converters connected to weak distribution networks. The paper describes a simple averaging inverter model which allows converter systems to be rapidly and accurately simulated. The model has been verified against both a switched inverter simulation and an experimental system. It has also been used to tune a synchronous frame PI regulator to achieve an improved response when operating into a distorted AC supply. 1. INTRODUCTION predictive current regulation (PCR) (ie. deadbeat control) [6]. However, synchronous frame PI current regulation is still commonly used in many applications, as it is effective and relatively simple to implement. It was therefore deemed useful to investigate its limitations, as an example of the use of average modelling at a practical level. In Section 3, the averaging model, referred to here as an Average Switching Model (ASM), is developed and shown to achieve accurate simulation results whilst being significantly faster to execute than a full switched model. In Section 4, the effects of supply distortion on the harmonic performance of the inverter system are investigated through stability analysis techniques and ASM simulations. It is shown that the synchronous frame PI controller can be tuned to achieve improved harmonic response. The influence of this result on AC filter design is explored. Finally, in Section 5, the accuracy of the ASM is verified against experimental results. 2. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The electrification of rural and remote areas presents significant challenges to Australian distribution companies. Rural distribution networks are typically characterised by very low X/R ratios because of the long distances involved, and consequently power quality issues such as poor voltage regulation, voltage dips and harmonic distortion are common in these networks. With growing demand and increased use of sensitive electronic equipment, the need to address these issues has become a priority. Recent developments in power electronic and digital control technologies have seen the design of a range of power electronic based conditioning equipment, including FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission Systems) devices (such as STATCOMs, UPFCs etc) and active interfaces for distributed generation systems (eg. PV, wind etc.). However, despite their potential to improve the power quality of weak grid environments [1-3], there remains a reluctance to incorporate power electronic plant into distribution systems. This is in part due to unresolved issues relating to their interaction with the existing distribution network [4]. This paper presents the first stage of a research program which aims to explore interactions between multiple power electronic converters connected to weak distribution networks. The paper describes a simple averaging inverter model which allows gridconnected converter systems to be rapidly and accurately simulated without requiring the complexity of full switched inverter models. In [5] a similar averaging model was shown to be a convenient tool for the evaluation of a systems dynamic performance. The inverter system described in this paper is a threephase grid connected Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) configuration commonly used in STATCOM devices and distributed generation interfaces. A synchronous frame PI current regulator was chosen to control the inverter. There has been some debate in literature regarding the performance of this control strategy in relation to other strategies such as hysteresis and

The grid-connected VSI configuration modelled in this paper is shown in Figure 1. For the purposes of this initial work, the DC side of the converter system was connected to a resistive load and so the inverter acts as an active rectifier. However, since the converter is bi-directional, the developed models can be applied to any type of inverter application without loss of generality. 2.1 Control Strategy As noted in the introduction, a synchronous frame PI current regulator was chosen to control the inverter. Synchronous frame controllers operate by transforming the three-phase AC currents ia , ib and ic in the stationary frame, into the DC components id and iq in the synchronously rotating frame. This allows the steady-state error that is normally associated with the application of PI control to AC quantities [7] to be eliminated, and also provides

analog and digital control functions available in Simulink, the PSB contains built-in models for power systems components, such as transmission lines, and power electronics devices such as inverters. It is therefore possible to accurately simulate VSI systems such as the one described above. However, each of the non-linear switching devices is modelled explicitly. Therefore very small time steps, and consequently long simulation times, are required to accurately represent the VSI operation. Tests have shown that even with appropriate starting conditions, Figure 1: Grid-connected VSI times in the order of several minutes are required to simulate the inverter operation over one or two independent control of real and reactive power flow. fundamental cycles. It is clear that such a The synchronous transformation is: computationally intensive model would not be feasible for distribution system applications involving multiple 2 2 ia cos + cos( ) cos id 2 3 3 (1) inverters. It was therefore necessary to find an ib iq = alternative which would accurately represent the 2 2 3 sin ( ) sin ic sin + dynamic interaction between inverters and distribution 3 3 systems without the high level switching detail. Once in the synchronous frame, the quantities 3.2 Average Switching Model id and iq are regulated using two conventional PI In most cases, it is reasonable to assume that the VSI feedback control loops one for each current. switching frequency is significantly higher than the A third PI controller is used to maintain the DC link power system frequency and will have negligible voltage at a specified value. This controller acts as an impact on the inverter control loop dynamics. outer control loop, providing part of the real current Therefore, the inverter switches can be replaced by a demand to the inner current control loop as shown in function representing their averaged value [5]. Figure 2. (Note that in a complete system, the Providing the VSI does not saturate, the output of the remainder of the real and reactive current references control loops then command the average value of the would be generated by higher level control loops. VSI output voltage phasor, u , and the operation of the 1 However, the operation of such higher level control entire inverter and its output filter system can be loops is beyond the scope of this paper). The operation modelled using a continuous state space model. of the DC voltage control loop is decoupled from the current regulator by giving it a significantly longer The following (conventional) state-space model represents the AC filter in the synchronous dq frame: time constant.
 X = AX + BU

Y = CX

(2)

3.

SYSTEM MODELLING

where:

3.1 Switched Model A complete switched model of the inverter system has been developed using the Power Systems Blockset (PSB) available in the Matlab Simulink package. This package uses numerical integration to solve differential equations. In addition to the range of
Vdc Vdc error Vdc* Id*

[ U = [u1d
X = i1d

i1q u1q

i2 d u2 d

i2 q

]T u2 q ]T Y = [i2 d
ucd ucq
0 0 1 0 1 L1 0 0

i2 q
L1

]T
1 L1 0 1 L2 0 0

PI Controller Id

PI Controller dq PI Controller abc

Demanded Voltage PWM Modulator

Measured Currents

abc

dq

R1 0 L1 R 0 1 L1 R 0 0 1 L1 A= 0 0 1 0 1 Cf Cf 1 0 0 Cf

R1 0 1 Cf

L2

Iq

Iq*

Figure 2: Synchronous Frame Control Strategy

 B=

L1 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 L1 0 0 1 L2 1 0 0 L2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 C= 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

As mentioned above, the inverter system is non-linear and cannot be solved analytically. Therefore Equations (2) to (6) have been used to create a closed loop model of the system in Simulink. As the high frequency switching operations are not included in the ASM the computation requirements are significantly less than those of the switched model, resulting in a greatly reduced simulation time. 3.3 Comparison of Simulation Models The system parameters used in these simulation studies are given in Table 1. Figures 3 and 4 show the phase currents obtained from the switched model and the averaged model respectively for a step change in * demanded reactive current, i q . It can be seen that the

where R1 , R2 = resistance values associated with L1 , L2 The DC voltage is defined by Equation 3. u1d i1d + u1q i1q dVdc i = l dt CdcVdc Cdc

switched model phase current contains high frequency (3) components due to the switching operation. However, the average value of this current is in close agreement The overall inverter system may be represented by the with the results from the ASM. Furthermore, the time state-space equation: taken for the ASM to simulate the system operation  X = f ( X ,U ) (4) was approximately 5 seconds compared to 6 minutes for the switched model. This is a significant where: improvement of nearly two orders of magnitude. From these results, it may be concluded that the ASM X = [i1d i1q i 2d i 2 q u cd u cq V dc i l ]T is a suitable tool for studying the application of U = u1d u1q u2 d u2 q T multiple power electronic converters connected to a power distribution network. The inverter system defined by Equation 4 is nonPWM Converter linear because f ( X , U ) is a non-linear function. This Rating 10kVA is because the differential equation defining the stateSwitching Frequency 5kHz variable V dc includes an inverse relationship (ie. AC Supply Voltage, u2 415V(l-l) 1 / V dc ) and two terms which involve a product AC Filter between a state-variable and a system input (ie. u1d i1d 6.5mH (0.12 p.u.) Inverter inductance, L1 and u1q i1q ) (ref. Equation 3). 1mH (0.02 p.u.) Supply Inductance, L2 Shunt Capacitance, Cf 15F (615 p.u.) To obtain the closed loop response, the inverter DC Link outputs (filter inputs), u1d and u1q, are taken from the 700V DC Voltage, Vdc outputs of the inner loop PI controllers, as: DC Capacitance, Cdc 2200F Ki * 0 Table 1: VSI System parameters i1d i1d u1d K p + s (5) * u = K i i1q i1q 1q 0 Kp + 4. PERFORMANCE OF INVERTER UNDER s DISTORTED SUPPLY CONDITIONS * * where i1d and i1q are the reference currents. K p and Initially, the gains of the PI controllers described K i are the proportional and integral gain constants above were tuned for fundamental response using the respectively. These gain constants are set by tuning full switched simulation model and assuming a sinusoidal supply voltage. However, experimental the controller for optimal response. investigations carried out for this work indicated that The DC voltage is maintained at a constant value small levels of supply voltage distortion can result in using a PI controller which provides the real current significant harmonic current distortion from the VSI reference of: with these tuning conditions. Stability analyses and ' ASM simulations have been used to develop a K i' * * (6) theoretical and practical understanding of the system i1d = K p + Vdc Vdc s robustness and its response to such low order * harmonic distortion. The results are presented in the where Vdc is the DC voltage target. following sections.

10

1 100
8

Phase Current (A)

88 6

Phase Current (A)

66 44 22 00 -2 -2 -4 -4 -6 -6 -8 -8

4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10

Ia (A )

0.05

0.1

0.15

Time (sec)

-10 0 -1 00

0.05 5 0 .0

0.1 0 .1

0.15 5 0 .1

Time (sec)

Figure 3: Switched model simulation results phase current 4.1 Stability Analysis In order to apply classical stability analysis techniques, the non-linear system described in Section 3.4.2 has to be linearised around a given operating point. This may be achieved with small-signal analysis. However, by making some reasonable assumptions about the system operation, the analysis is greatly simplified as shown below. Assuming a balanced system and ignoring crosscoupling terms, the synchronous frame PI controller transformed into the stationary frame can be approximated by single-phase resonant controllers which are described by the following transfer function [7]:

Figure 6 ASM simulation results phase current Figure 4: ASM simulation results phase current Under these conditions the open loop transfer function of the system is linear and is defined by:

H ol ( s ) = V dc * G AC ( s) * H f ( s )

(9)

The frequency response of the open loop system is shown in Figure 5. As expected, there is a large gain at the fundamental frequency caused primarily by the integral term of the PI controller. This gain eliminates steady-state error at the system frequency. There is also a resonance point introduced by the AC filter. It should be noted that the digital sampling introduces additional phase delay which is not included here. The harmonic performance of the system relates to the bandwidth of the controller ie. the higher the bandwidth the lower the current distortion. The 2K i s bandwidth is determined by the magnitude crossover G AC ( s ) = K p + 2 (7) 2 point (gain = 0dB) on the bode plot (ref. Figure 5). It s + 0 can be seen that increasing the proportional gain increases the bandwidth of a PI controller. The limit where 0 is the AC angular frequency, 100 rad/s. This approximation is justified by the fact that it is the on stability is the phase at the crossover point. Clearly proportional gain which dominates the response of the there is a tradeoff between stability and level of controller at the frequencies of interest (ie. harmonic current distortion. Finding an acceptable compromise frequencies) whereas the resonant and cross-coupling between harmonic performance and transient stability both simulation and experimental terms only impact the system response at near the requires investigation to suit a particular case. system frequency [7]. For a balanced system the transfer function of the AC filter for each phase is given by: H f (s) = i1 C f L2 s + C f R2 s + 1 = u1 as 3 + bs 2 + cs + d
2
Magnitude (dB)
300 200 100 0 -100 100

(8)

where: a = C f L1 L2

Phase (deg)

b = C f L1 R 2 + C f L2 R1 c = L1 + L2 + C f R1 R 2
d = R1 + R 2

0 To : Y( 1) -100

Then the DC voltage is assumed to be constant. This is a reasonable assumption if the DC capacitance is large or if DC compensation is included in the control algorithm.

-200 10-2

10-1

100

101

102

103

104

105

Frequency ( rad/sec)

Figure 5: Open loop frequency response of simplified VSI system.

Traditionally, more complex current regulation schemes, such as hysteresis and predictive current regulation, have been employed in applications where supply distortion is an issue. However, the observations detailed above suggest that an additional compensation controller could be used to introduce a phase lead at the crossover point, which would in principle allow an increased bandwidth. The advantage of such a controller would be its simplicity and ease of implementation. This concept will be the subject of future investigations. 4.2 Simulation Results The ASM was used to further investigate the performance of the three-phase system under distorted supply conditions. Two values of proportional gain were considered, Kp and 5Kp, where Kp is the value tuned for fundamental response. In both cases, 2% of 5th harmonic distortion was added to the supply voltage and the system parameters were taken as those given in Table 1. The resulting phase currents are shown in Figure 6. It can be seen that the phase current distortion (9.2%) for the original value of proportional gain is significantly greater than that with the increased proportional gain (5.5%). It should be noted that the 5th harmonic was dominant and the percentage distortion decreased with increasing load. These results confirm that it is possible to achieve an improved current regulation response under distorted supply conditions by simply increasing the proportional gain of the PI controllers. 4.3 Filter Design The primary function of the AC filter is to filter out the high frequency components caused by the inverter switching operation. However, the filter also affects the low order harmonic performance of the system. The design of AC filters for grid-connected inverter systems is not well covered in literature. In Section 4.2 it was observed that the AC filter introduces a point of resonance above the system frequency. The AC filter should be designed such that this resonance point does not occur at a harmonic
10 Phase Current (A) 5 0 -5 -10 Kp ITHD =9.2% 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Time (sec) 0.06 0.07 0.08

25 Supply Current THD (%) 20 15 10 5 0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 L1 (p.u.) 0.2 0.25

Kp

5*Kp

Figure 7: Effect of filter inductance, L1, on current distortion. frequency and thereby introduce an undesirable harmonic resonance condition. In the previous sections it was shown that supply voltage distortion can cause significant levels of phase current distortion. While it is possible to reduce current distortion by increasing the size of the filter inductance, this also increases the system cost. It is therefore of interest to know the minimum inductance required to achieve an acceptable low order harmonic performance. Using the ASM, the inverter inductance, L1, was varied between 0.05 p.u. and 0.20 p.u. for two values of proportional gain, Kp and 5Kp. 2% of 5th harmonic distortion was again added to the supply. The results are summarised in Figure 7, where it can be seen that for the original value of proportional gain, the harmonic distortion in the supply current is sensitive to the value of inductance in the AC filter. The current distortion recorded for the higher value of proportional gain was less sensitive to filter inductance and was significantly lower across the range considered. However, in this case the system was unstable for inductance values below 0.07 p.u. 5. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

Phase Current (A)

10 5 0 -5 -10 5Kp ITHD =5.5% 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Time (sec) 0.06 0.07 0.08

Figure 6: ASM simulation results with 5% of 5th harmonic distortion added to supply.

The results presented in the previous sections have been confirmed experimentally. The experimental system was based on a DSP inverter control card and the system parameters were those specified in Table 1. The PI constants were matched to the simulation studies. Tests showed that there was a low level (approximately 1.5%) of harmonic distortion in the supply, with the 5th and 7th harmonics dominating. Using the original value of proportional gain, Kp, the supply current distortion measured at approximately 8%. When the proportional gain was increased to 5Kp, the current distortion decreased to below 4% as expected. In both cases, the 5th and 7th harmonics were dominant.

20

15

10

-5

-10

-15

-20 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1

Time (sec)

These results confirm the value of the averaging technique in studying the operation of multiple power electronic converters connected to power distribution systems. Using the developed model, it has been shown that synchronous frame PI current regulators can be tuned to achieve an improved response when operating into a distorted supply. If the regulator is tuned for a distorted supply rather than a sinusoidal supply, an acceptable harmonic performance can be achieved with a lower value of inductance in the AC filter thus reducing system costs. 7. REFERENCES

Phase Current (A)

Figure 8: Experimental results for step load change

15

Phase Current (A)

10

-5

-10

-15

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

Time (sec)

Figure 9: ASM simulation results for step load change Figure 8 shows the experimental results obtained for a step change in load using the proportional gain of 5Kp. The ASM was used to simulate this transient response. The results, shown Figure 9, are in close agreement with the experimental results. The harmonic current distortion recorded for the ASM simulation was also similar to the measured result. The minor differences between the experimental and simulation results can be explained by phase imbalance and the inaccuracies associated with measurement of model parameters such as supply impedance and supply distortion. 6. CONCLUSION

This paper has described an averaging inverter model which allows converter systems to be rapidly and accurately simulated. The accuracy of the averaged model for a grid-connected converter system has been verified against both a switched inverter model and an experimental system. Furthermore, it has been shown that the averaged model is close to two orders of magnitude faster than the equivalent switched model.

[1] H. C. van Nierkerk and I. W. Hosajer, "The Use of Series Injection to Eliminate Voltage Distortion in Low and Medium Voltage Network", Proceedings of the Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Technical Conference, pp. 1-6, 2000. [2] Z. Saad-Saoud, M. L. Lisboa, J. B. Ekanayake, N. Jenkins, and G. Strbac, "Application of STATCOMs to wind farms," IEE Proceedings. Generation, Transmission & Distribution, vol. 145, pp. 511-518, 1998. [3] S. Thiel, C.-H. Mostert, and J. H. R. Enslin, "Universal power electronic solution to low-cost rural electrification", Proceedings of the 4th IEEE AFRICON Conference, pp. 335-340, 1996. [4] G. Ledwich and H. Sharma, "Connection of Inverters to a Weak Grid", Proceedings of the IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2000, vol. 2, pp. 1018-1022, 2000. [5] M. B. Lindgren, "Analysis and simulation of digitally-controlled grid-connected PWMconverters using the space-vector average approximation", Proceedings of the 5th IEEE Workshop on Computers in Power Electronics, pp. 85-89, 1996. [6] N. Abdel-Rahim and J. E. Quaicoe, "Modeling and analysis of a feedback control strategy for threephase voltage-source utility interface systems", Proceedings of the 29th IAS Annual Meeting, Part 2 (of 3), pp. 895-902, 1994. [7] D. N. Zmood, D. G. Holmes, and G. Bode, "Frequency domain analysis of three phase linear current regulators", Proceedings of the IEEE IAS Annual Meeting. V 2 pp. 818-825, 1999.