Proceedings of the 36th Chinese Control Conference

July 26-28, 2017, Dalian, China

A Control Strategy for Voltage Source Inverter adapted to Multi - mode

Operation in Microgrid
MENG Hao1, XIE Zhen1
1. School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
E-mail: hfutmh@126.com

Abstract: The technology of microgrid has been developed by the progress of new energy technology, the new energy connected
to the microgrid by (distributed generator) DG. Microgrid represents the new direction of the power grid as the great
complements of traditional power supply network. This paper presents that using several photovoltaic grid-connected inverters
as the DG, and control the microgrid by controlling the inverter. The control methods of inverters are P/Q control, v/f control and
droop control, because there don’t need communication among the inverters when using the droop control, so it has higher
reliability. This paper using the droop control, and introduced virtual impedance, realize the microgrid system can operate
normally with the load when the microgrid system suddenly break off from the grid, and ensure the system can switch, when
connecting to the grid current source and switch to the voltage source . Finally it verifies the feasibility of the control method by
using building the simulation in Simulink.
Key Words: microgrid; inverter; voltage source; virtual impedance; droop control;


In this paper, the output voltage control loop and droop

1 Introduction control loop are added to the inverter based on the original
Microgrid is one of the important forms of distributed current loop control, and the virtual impedance [11] is also
generation. It refers to the organization of distributed power introduced. In order to ensure connect the grid smoothly, a
supply in a certain area to supply the local loads or connect to novel method of connecting to grid is proposed, switching
the traditional grid. The microgrid can be operated in parallel the inverter from the current source mode to the voltage
with the large-scale power grid through the distribution source mode. And also can switch inverter from connected
network, and can also supply the power demand for the local and off-connected to the grid the smoothly. And can also
loads independently and so that it can improve the power achieve a smooth switch of connection between the grid
supply reliability on loads side [4]. When the microgrid connecting and disconnecting state.
system is connected to the grid, the control method is 2 Analysis of Droop Control
relatively simple. Only the voltage, amplitude and phase of
the PCC are controlled synchronous with the grid [5]. The In microgrids with multiple distributed power supplies, it
loads can obtain electric energy either from the grid or from is necessary to maintain the voltage and frequency stable and
the microgrid. When the microgrid system is running distribute power wisely when system off grid. With P-f and
off-grid, the loads can only obtain the electric energy from Q-V droop control, multiple distributed power supplies will
the microgrid. To control amplitude and phase of the PCC simultaneously participate in the regulation of the power and
output voltage effectively and stably, the control methods frequency of the micro-grid, generally requiring no more
include P / Q control, V / F control and droop control [1-4]. than ± 2% frequency variation and no more than ± 5%
With the rapid development of photovoltaic power change in voltage amplitude. Droop control diagram shown
generation, compared with other new energy sources, it has in Figure 1, the control block diagram shown in Figure 2.
high reliability and stability, smaller power fluctuations. It Z0
Pref  Z 1
©
can be used as an ideal power supply in microgrid. In this m
s X ZL
 Es Es ‘T Eg Eg ‘T g
paper, multiple PV grid-connected inverters are used in P E0
parallel as the voltage source of micro-grid. At present, the Qref  Es
n P Q
requirements of grid-connected new energy are becoming 
Q
more stringent in our country, and the power dispatching
center has strict power restriction to the new energy, which Figure. 1 Droop control diagram
results in the waste of some distributed PV energy. Through Z0
our off-grid control, working as voltage sources, or even Pref
m
'Z  Z 1© Es E g P
work with the energy storage system, supply power to the  s
 X
local loads directly. It is not only improve the economic Tg
efficiency, but also improve the stability of the loads power
supply [6-8].
E0
Qref 'E  Es Eg Q
n
X
Q
 
The work is sponsored by State Grid Corporation of China science and Eg2 1
technology project˖Research and application of key technologies for X
active support and coordination control of renewable energy generation.
Figure. 2 Control block diagram

9163
 After deduction P, Q expression can be obtained: F, Q / V curve to work in the new stability point, and can
­ mEs Eg Es E g Es E g achieve the output active power and reactive power
°P Pref  Z0  Zg distribution.
° Xs  mEs Eg Xs  mEs Eg Xs  mEs Eg (1)
The power droop control loop obtains the reference
®
° nEg Eg Eg value of the voltage frequency, phase and amplitude of the
Q Qref  E0  Eg
° X  nEg X  nEg X  nEg output terminal according to the preset droop characteristic
¯ curve, depending on the output power. According to the
­ ­[m( Pref  P )  Z0 ] ½E E droop formula (3), the frequency and voltage can be
°P ® Tg ¾ s g
° ¯ s ¿ X calculated referring to Pref Q w E value.
®
(2) ǃ ref ǃ on ǃ on
[ n(Qref  Q)  E0 ]E g  E g2 When the micro-grid inverter with droop control is
°
°̄ Q connected to the grid, it can be analyzed with the equivalent
X circuit shown in Figure 4. The grid is the ideal infinite
The above equation can be simplified: power grid, with voltage, phase and frequency unchanged
­
°w won  mn ( Pref  P ) and does not change with the loads, the expression of the
® (n 1, 2......) (3) micro-grid system output power to shown in equation (4).
°̄ E Eon  nn (Qref  Q )
6 3M4
Z
Z* '*9 ; *5,'

Zon
Zmin Figure. 4 Inverters in grid-connected operation

­ VV
P1 P2 Pmax °P
1 2
sin T
P ° X (4)
 ®
°Q VV 1 2
cos T  V2 2
(a) °̄ X
(
E* Among them, V1 is the distributed power supply voltage,

Eon V2 is the grid voltage, X is the line impedance.

Emin Micro-grid inverter with droop control in off-grid
operation, need to maintain the PCC voltage state remains
unchanged effectively, as shown in Figure 5.

0 Q1 Q2 Qmax Q 5 /
'*9 3&&
6 3M4
.
E
Figure. 3 Power distribution of inverters 5 / /RDGV
'*9
As can be seen from Figure 3, the inverters in parallel
adjust the output frequency and amplitude according to P / Figure. 5 Inverters in off-grid operation

impedance is introduced, the inverter output current is

3 Droop control based on virtual impedance and obtained by sampling, and the voltage drop is calculated by
multiplying the virtual impedance. Then, the voltage
multi - mode operation
reference value is obtained from the droop control strategy.
The traditional droop control strategy has some Voltage reference value minus the voltage drop, resulting in
shortcomings. High-voltage power lines exhibit inductive a new reference voltage, in order to achieve the role of
characteristics, but in low-voltage microgrids the lines are simulation of the actual impedance. The expression is as in
resistive, and there is a strong coupling relationship between Equation 4~6.
active and reactive power, which can affect the droop control U I Z U (4)
droop o v ref
performance. When the micro-grid is connected to the grid,
the imbalance between the line impedance and the output
impedance of the micro-grid can seriously affect the reactive
power. When the multiple inverters are connected in parallel,
the power distribution is affected. Therefore, the virtual

9164
 ª ia º From (10) can be seen, the virtual impedance Z v has no
«d dt »
ª ea 0 º ªia º « » ª ea º effect on the stability of the inverter system. A set of
« e »  R «i »  L « d ib » « e » (5) operating parameters is chosen: kvp 5 , kvi 100 ,
« b0 » v « b » v
« dt » « b»
« » « » «
¬ ec »
e
¬ c0 ¼ i
¬c¼ «
«d
»
ic » ¼ kip 10 . Draw the Bode diagram of G  s  and Z 0 are
«
¬ dt »
¼ shown in Fig7 and Fig8. It can be seen that the inverter
output impedance has increased.
­ did
° ed 0  ed * Rvid  Lv  Z Lviq
° dt
® (6)
°e  e * diq
Rviq  Lv  Z Lvid
°̄ q 0 q dt

Where U is the reference voltage getting from

droop

droop control strategy, Z v is the virtual output impedance,

U ref is the new reference voltage considered the virtual
impedance voltage.
Z1ref
Zv io
 Fig .7 Bode diagram of G s
uref K  
i  ic
1 l 1
uo
Kvp  vi Kip Kpwm
 S ssL  ssC
  

Fig. 6 Based on the virtual impedance of inverter control

Based on the virtual impedance of the inverter control

strategy shown in Figure 6, the inverter voltage outer loop
using PI regulator, because the accuracy of current inner
loop to the current tracking is not high, so the inner loop
using P regulator. Based on traditional voltage outer loop
and current inner loop, virtual impedance is introduced,
which can effectively improve the inverter output impedance. 
In the control strategy shown in Figure 6, the inverter output Fig .8 Bode diagram of Z 0
voltage is:
u0 (s) G(s)uref (s)  Z0 (s)i0 (s)  In this paper, the virtual impedance strategy is based on
d / q coordinate system, and a low-pass filter is added. Fig.9
G( s)
shows the droop control structure after the simplified virtual
skvp kip k pwm  skvi kip k pwm  impedance control loop is introduced.
In the initial working condition, as shown in Figure 9, all
s 3 LC  s 2Ckip k pwm  s (1  kvp kip k pwm )  kvi kip k pwm
the switches are at position 0. The inverter adopts the
Z 0 (s) phase-locked loop (PLL) to make the inverter connects with
the grid in the form of current source, making the amplitude
s 2 L  s(( Rv  sLv )kvp  1)kip k pwm  ( Rv  sLv )kvi kip k pwm  of output voltage, phase and frequency keep the same with
s3 LC  s 2Ckip k pwm  s (1  kvp kip k pwm )  kvi kip k pwm the power grid and then switch to droop control mode
smoothly. After the above process, the inverter successfully
Z 0 is the output impedance of inverter. connected to the grid. When the inverter disconnect with the
D s :
grid through breaker1. Inverter supplies power to the loads
System characteristic equation is independently and all switches remain at the position 1.
D( s)

s 3 LC  s 2Ckip k pwm  s (1  kvp kip k pwm )  kvi kip k pwm

9165
 E0 Voltage Loop
Q / V Droop Id*
0
ird* Current Loop U rd DC
 Es 1 
PI S abc
n PI  u sd 
  
switch1
Q ref
Q u sd Iq*
0 irq* U rq
2r/2s 2s/3s PWM

0 1 PI

 
PI switch2   u sq 

u sq ird ia
irq 2s/2r 3s/2s ib
Virtual Impedance
P / f Droop ZLv ss switch3
1 0
m 1/S PLL
Pref 
ZLv T
P u oa
u ob
2s/2r 3s/2s
u oc
Zf ioa
S Zf
Zf
P/Q isd 2s/2r 3s/2s iob
S Zf
isq brea ker2
loads
brea ker1

~
GRID

Fig. 9 Integrated control strategy structure

Table 1 Simulation Parameters

4 Simulation Verification Parameters Value
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control
Grid Voltage/V 110
strategy, the simulation studies have been done with
MATLAB/Simulink. Using two inverters in parallel, the
Filter Inductance/mL 2
inverter parameters used in the simulation are shown in
Table 1. Filter Capacitor/­F 30
The inverters is connected in parallel with the current
source mode in the initial state and switch to the voltage DC Voltage/V 200
source mode at 0.15s. At 0.7s, the PCC of inverters
disconnect with the grid, taking off-grid operation mode, the Load Resistance/Ω 2
inverter supplies power to the loads alone. Two inverters
adopt the control strategy proposed in this paper to carry on Inverter 1 rated power/W 3000
the simulation analysis, the simulation results of voltage and
current at PCC are shown in Fig10. Inverter 2 rated power/W 4000

Virtual impedance/mL 2

9166
 Uo / V
io / A
Zo
P1 /W
P2 / W
U1ref / V
U2ref /V
Z1ref
Z 2 ref

Fig. 10: Simulation results of the proposed control strategy
When the inverter switches from current mode to voltage
source mode at 0.15s, the system frequency is stable and the
output current don’t have surge and rise steadily, the active
power reaches the rated value soon. When the PCC suddenly
disconnect with the grid at 0.7s through cut off breaker1, the
output voltage and system frequency remain stable. And the
frequency fluctuation satisfies the requirement that the
deviation does not exceed ± 0.2%. Inverters work as voltage
source and supply power to the loads directly. The system
reaches to steady-state quickly, and the inverters achieved to
the power distribution according to different rated power of
these two inverters. The stability of droop control simulation
model based on virtual impedance is verified.
9167
p ro p o sed co n tro l stra teg y w ith virtu a l im p ed a n ce
traditional droop control strategy
Fig.11 THD of the output voltage
As shown in Fig.11 with traditional droop control, the
output voltage harmonics is higher, the THD is 5.73%. The
problem of voltage harmonics after using virtual impedance
droop control is improved, and the THD of output voltage is
quite low and the value 2.46% is in the ideal range.
The simulation results show that the proposed control
strategy can not only adapt to Multi - mode Operation in
micro-grid, but also achieve better output performance.
5 Conclusion
This paper analyzes a control strategy of voltage source
inverters for micro-grid, and the droop control strategy based
on virtual impedance is adopted. In order to adapt to the
multi-mode operation of micro-grid, a novel method of
grid-connected switching is developed, and the multi-mode
operation of the inverter can be realized. Not only can make
the system output voltage and system frequency stable, meet
the load demand, but also can effectively suppress the
micro-grid harmonics.
References
[1] An Accurate Power Control Strategy for
Power-Electronics-Interfaced Distributed Generation Units
Operating in a Low-Voltage Multibus Microgrid [J].IEEE
Transactions on Power Electronics 2009,12(12).
[2] Austria: IEEE, 2013: 5280-5285. Australian Energy Market
Commission.National electricity rules [R/OL]. [2008-10-21].
[3] Song H. Nam K. Dual current control scheme for PWM
converter under unbalanced input voltage conditions [J].IEEE
Transactions on Industrial Electronicsˈ1999ˈ46 (5): 953-959ˊ
[4] N. Hatziargyriou. H. Asano, R. lravani and C. Marnay,
"Microgrids," Power and Energy Magazine, IEEE, vol. 5,
pp.78-94, July 2007.
[5] J. Rocabert, A. Luna, F. Blaabjerg, and P. Rodriguez,
"Control of Power Converters in AC Microgrids," IEEE
Trans. Power Electronics, voL27, pp.4734-4749, May 2012.
[6] Z. Liu, J. Liu and Y. Zhao, "A unified control strategy for
three-phase inverter in distributed generation," IEEE Trans.
Power Electronics, vol. 29, pp. 1 176-1 19 1, Mar. 2014.
[7] W. Yao, M. Chen, J. Matas, J. M. Guerrero, and Z. M. Qian,
“Design and analysis of the droop control method for parallel
inverters considering the impact of the complex impedance
on the power sharing,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 58, no.
2, pp. 576–588, 2011.
[8] K. De Brabandere, S. Member, B. Bolsens, S. Member, J. Van
Den Keybus, S. Member, A. Woyte, and J. Drie-sen, “A
Voltage and Frequency Droop Control Method for Parallel
Inverters,” IEEE Trans. POWER Electron., vol. 22, no. 4, pp.
1107–1115, 2007.
9168
[9] H. Jiayi, J. Chuanwen, and X. Rong, “A review on distributed
energy resources and MicroGrid,” Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev., vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 2465–2476, 2008.
[10] S. D' Arco, 1. A. Suul and O. B. Fosso. "A Virtual
Synchronous Machine implementation for distributed control
of power converters in SmartGrids," Electric Power Systems
Research, vol. 122, pp. 18 0-197, May 2015.
[11] Jinwei He, Yun Wei Li. Analysis, “Design, and
implementation of Virtual Impedance for Power Electronics
Interfaced Distributed Generation”. IEEE Trans. Ind. App.,
vol.47, no.6, pp.2525-2538, Jun.2011
[12] Y. Tao, Q. Liu, Y. Deng and X. He. "Analysis and Mitigation
of Inverter Output Impedance Impacts for Distributed Energy
Resource Interface," IEEE Trans. Power Electronics, vol. 3 0,
pp. 3563-3576, July 2015.