Influence of the ICFF decoupling technique on the stability of the current control loop of a grid-tied VSC

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The control scheme of grid-tied converters is often implemented in the dq-frame due to simplicity of design. However, with this transformation, there exists an inherent cross-coupling term between the d-and q-channels which is often compensated for by using a feed-forward term in the current-control loop. It is shown, by applying the generalized Nyquist criterion (GNC) to the dq-frame ac impedance of the converter, that the inclusion of this decoupling term, in fact, degrades the stability of the controller when increasing the bandwidth of the synchronous reference frame phase-locked loop (SRF-PLL). Harware-in-the-loop (HIL) experiments are also conducted and verify these results.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Induction motor control: multivariable analysis and effective decentralized control of stator currents for high performance applications

Adequate control of the stator currents is a fundamental requirement for several high-performance induction motor (IM) control schemes. In this context, classical linear controllers remain widely employed due to their simplicity and success in industrial applications. However, the models and methods commonly used for control design lack valuable information –which is fundamental to guarantee robustness and high performance. Following this line, the design and existence of linear fixed controllers is examined using individual channel analysis and design. The studies here presented aim to establish guidelines for the design of simple (time-invariant, low order, stable, minimum-phase and decentralized), yet robust and highperformance linear controllers. Such characteristics ease the implementation task and are well suited for engineering applications, making the resulting controllers a good alternative for the stator currents control required for high-performance IM schemes; e.g., field oriented, passivity-based and intelligent control. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the analysis and controller design of an IM, with results validated in a real-time experimental platform. It is shown that it is possible to completely decouple the stator currents subsystem without the use of additional decoupling elements

Disturbance-Observer-Based PBC for Static Synchronous Compensator under System Disturbances

© 2019 IEEE. Passivity-based control (PBC) relies on an accurate mathematical model and thus its performance will be degraded by the weak robustness against parameters uncertainties, modeling error, and external disturbances. Moreover, it cannot achieve zero tracking error of the steady-state current under parameter uncertainties and modeling error. This paper proposes a novel disturbance-observer-(DO) based PBC (DO-PBC) for static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) to achieve better stability and dynamic performances against disturbances. A DO that has been introduced into the PBC current loop is used to compensate system disturbances, which can improve the robustness of the control system and eliminate the steady-state tracking error. Moreover, the proposed DO-PBC provides faster responses in handling various kinds of disturbances. Then, the detail design process, stability and robustness analysis, and parameters tuning method are investigated and presented. Also, the proposed method is simple to be implemented by the separation principle. The performance comparisons among the proportional integral, the conventional PBC, and the proposed DO-PBC are carried out to show the effectiveness of the proposed method against disturbances and the precise current tracking, via simulation tests and experimental tests based on a down-scale laboratory prototype experiment of 380 V STATCOM

A generalized approach for design of contingency versatile DC voltage droop control in multi-terminal HVDC networks

The non-deterministic nature of power fluctuations in renewable energy sources impose challenges to the design of DC voltage-droop controller in Multi-Terminal High-Voltage DC (MTDC) systems. Fixed droop control does not consider converters’ capacity and system operational constraints. Consequently, an adaptive droop controller is counseled for appropriate power demand distribution. The previous adaptive droop control studies based on the converters’ Available-Headroom (AH) have lacked the demonstration of the droop gain design during consecutive power disturbances. In this paper, the design of the adaptive DC voltage droop control is investigated with several approaches, based on the permitted converters’ global and/or local AH and Loading Factor (LF). Modified adaptive droop control approaches are presented along with a droop gain perturbation technique to achieve the power-sharing based on the converters’ AH and LF. In addition, the impact of Multi-Updated (MU), Single-Updated (SU), and Irregular-Updated (IU) droop gains is investigated. The main objective of the adaptive droop control design is to minimize the power-sharing burden on converters during power variations/consecutive disturbances while maintaining the constraints of the DC grid (i.e., voltage and power rating). The presented approaches are evaluated through case studies with a 4-terminal and 5-terminal radial MTDC networks.Qatar Foundation; Qatar National Research FundScopu

Local and Central Controllers for Microgrids

The main objective of this thesis is to serve as a guide, so readers are able to learn about microgrids and to design simple controllers for different AC microgrid applications. In addition, this thesis has the objective to provide examples of simulation cases for the hierarchical structure of a basic AC microgrid which can be used as a foundation to build upon, and achieve more complex microgrid structures as well as more sophisticated power-converter control techniques. To achieve these objectives, the modeling of voltage source converters and control design in the z-domain are presented. Moreover, the implementation and transient analysis of the power-converter operating modes are executed through MATLAB/SimulinkTM simulations. Then, an energy management case for the central controller of the AC microgrid is performed utilizing real-time simulation tools, Typhoon HIL software and hardware devices in addition to Texas instruments digital signal processors as local controllers

Advanced Control Strategies for Voltage Source Converters in Microgrids and Traction Networks

Increasing concerns regarding global warming caused by greenhouse gases, which are mainly generated by conventional energy resources, e.g., fossil fuels, have created significant interest for the research and development in the field of renewable energies. Such interests are also intensified by the finitude availability of conventional energy resources. To take full benefit of renewable energy resources, e.g., wind and solar energy, interfacing power electronics devices are essential, which together with the energy resources form Distributed Generation (DG) units. If properly controlled and coordinated, the optimal and efficient operation of DG units, which are the main building block of rapidly emerging microgrid technologies, can be ensured. In fact, the optimal and efficient operation of any energy conversion systems, e.g., microgrids, traction networks, etc., necessitates some sorts of control strategies. Being structured into two main parts and exploiting two-level Voltage Source Converters (VSCs), this thesis introduces several control strategies in the context of microgrids and electrified traction networks. Although the proposed approaches of this thesis are mainly tailored for two-level VSCs, the methods are equally applicable to other converter technologies. In the first part, adopting an optimization-based loop shaping approach, a vector current control strategy for three-phase grid-tied VSCs is proposed. The proposed control strategy is able to independently regulate the direct and quadrature (dq)-components of the converter currents in a fully decoupled manner and shows very fast dynamic response similar to the existing methods. In order to extend the applicability of the proposed vector control method to single-phase systems, a countermeasure is also proposed. In single-phase systems, to form the orthogonal component of the current needed to create the dq-axes, the converter current is phase-shifted a quarter of a fundamental period. This phase-shift is the reason of strongly coupled dq-axes and oscillatory dynamic response in such systems. To obviate the need for the problematic phase-shifting, adopting a Fictive Axis Emulator (FAE), the orthogonal fictive current is created concurrent to the real one. In such a case, utilizing the proposed decoupled vector control strategy and the FAE, the dq-currents of single-phase converters are also regulated in a fully decoupled manner. Moreover, in this part, using a generalized version of the optimization-based loop shaping approach, three voltage control schemes are proposed for the voltage regulation of islanded microgrids. Since the dedicated loads of islanded microgrids are not fixed, the loop shaping is simultaneously carried out for various operating points of interests, i.e., for various combinations of the load parameters. Two single-stage control strategies and a cascade one are proposed: (i) a single-stage PI-based Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) controller, (ii) a single-stage PI-based MIMO controller in conjunction with resonant terms, which is able to compensate for the adverse impacts of nonlinear loads, and (iii) a cascade PI-based MIMO controller. The cascade control scheme utilizes the proposed decoupled vector control strategy as its inner loop for regulating the converter current. In the second part, this thesis focuses on electrified traction networks and addresses a power quality problem in such networks, i.e., catenary voltage fluctuations. The Active Line-side Converter (ALC) of modern locomotives is utilized as STATic COMpensator (STATCOM) in order to inject reactive power to compensate for the adverse effects of catenary line voltage fluctuations. To determine the proper amount of reactive power, several control strategies belonging to the PI-controllers family are proposed: (i) a P-controller, (ii) a PI-controller, and (iii) a gain-scheduled PI-controller. Among the proposed approaches, the gain-scheduled strategy provides the best performance. The gain-scheduling is performed through identifying the catenary inductance at the connection point of the locomotive to that. The inductance identification is carried out by the injection of harmonic current through the ALC and monitoring its effect on the locomotive voltage. Despite its acceptable performance, the gain-scheduled approach shows several shortcomings. Therefore, utilizing the optimization-based loop shaping technique, a high-order voltage support scheme is also proposed. The proposed high-order scheme does not need any online tuning and/or modification while provides excellent performance for various operating points

Controlled Power Point Tracking for Grid Connected and Autonomous Operation of PMSG based Wind Energy Conversion System

With continuous depletion of conventional sources of energy, Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS) are turning out to be one of the major players with immense potential to meet the future energy demands. It is one of the most preferable source, as it can be installed onshore as well as offshore. But with the increasing penetration of wind energy into power system, wind energy conversion systems (WECSs) should be able to control the power flow for limited as well as maximum power point tracking. Apart from tracking desired power, there are some other issues which needs to be addressed for stable and reliable operation of WECS in grid connected as well as islanded mode. In the grid connected mode synchronization of the system to the grid and maintenance of dc-link voltage in absence of ESS are the main control requirements apart from controlled power extraction from the wind turbine. Unlike the grid connected mode, where most of the system level dynamics are imposed by the grid and hence load voltage magnitude an frequency are dictated by the grid itself, in the autonomous operation of WECS the load voltage magnitude and frequency control comes in as additional control requirements other than controlled power extraction from Wind Turbine. However the usage of batteries in the system is unavoidable due to stability and reliability issues. In contrast to the traditional pitch angle control, this work focusses on field oriented speed control of permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) for controlling the active power flow based on the wind turbine characteristics. A back to back AC/DC/AC topology is implemented for interfacing the WECS to the distribution network with various power electronic interfaces providing the necessary control over the power flow. By maintaining the dclink voltage constant and by deploying PLL, power balance and grid v synchronization are attained respectively in grid connected operation of WECS. For the standalone operation of WECS, however the ideology for controlled power extraction from WECS remains same but the load voltage magnitude and frequency control are attained by carrying out the analysis and design exercise in synchronously rotating reference frame so that linear control techniques can be employed easily and sinusoidal command following problem gets transformed to an equivalent dc command tracking thus yielding desired performance with zero steady state error. The motive behind using batteries in the system is to facilitate transient stability and enhance reliability. Proper decoupling and feed forward techniques have been deployed to eliminate crosscoupling and mitigate the effect of load side disturbances. Simulations are carried out under varying load demand as well as changing weather conditions to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed control strategies for grid connected as well as standalone WECSs. Overall, the project work involves study, design, modelling and simulation of grid connected as well as standalone Wind Energy Conversion System

Active current sharing control schemes for parallel connected AC/DC/AC converters

PhD ThesisThe parallel operation of voltage fed converters can be used in many applications, such as aircraft, aerospace, and wind turbines, to increase the current handling capability, system efficiency, flexibility, and reliability through providing redundancy. Also, the maintenance of low power parallel connected units is lower than one high power unit. Significant performance improvement can be attained with parallel converters employing interleaving techniques where small passive components can be used due to harmonic cancellation. In spite of the advantages offered by parallel connected converters, the circulating current problem is still a major concern. The term circulating current describes the uneven current sharing between the units. This circulating current leads to: current distortion, unbalanced operation, which possibly damages the converters, and a reduction in overall system performance. Therefore, current sharing control methods become necessary to limit the circulating current in a parallel connected converter system. The work in this thesis proposes four active current sharing control schemes for two equally rated, directly paralleled, AC/DC/AC converters. The first scheme is referred to as a “time sharing approach,” and it divides the operation time between the converters. Accordingly, in the scheme inter-module reactors become unnecessary, as these are normally employed at the output of each converter. However, this approach can only be used with a limited number of parallel connected units. To avoid this limitation, three other current sharing control schemes are proposed. Moreover, these three schemes can be adopted with any pulse width modulation (PWM) strategy and can be easily extended to three or more parallel connected units since they employ a modular architecture. The proposed current sharing control methods are employed in two applications: a current controller for three-phase RL load and an open loop V/f speed control for a three-phase induction motor. The performance of the proposed methods is verified in both transient and steady state conditions using numerical simulation and experimental testingMinistry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Iraq

A Virtual Space Vectors based Model Predictive Control for Three-Level Converters

Three-phase three-level (3-L) voltage source converters (VSC), e.g., neutral-point clamped (NPC) converters, T-type converters, etc., have been deemed to be suitable for a wide range of medium- to high-power applications in microgrids (MGs) and bulk power systems. Compared to their two-level (2-L) counterparts, adopting 3-L VSCs in the MG applications not only reduces the voltage stress across the power semiconductor devices, which allows achieving higher voltage levels, but also improves the quality of the converter output waveforms, which further leads to considerably smaller output ac passive filters. Various control strategies have been proposed and implemented for 3-L VSCs. Among all the existing control methods, finite-control-set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) has been extensively investigated and applied due to its simple and intuitive design, fast-dynamic response and robustness against parameter uncertainties. However, to implement an FCS-MPC on a 3-L VSC, a multi-objective cost function, which consists of a term dedicated specifically to control the dc-link capacitor voltages such that the neutral-point voltage (NP-V) oscillations are minimized, must be designed. Nevertheless, selecting proper weighting factors for the multiple control objectives is difficult and time consuming. Additionally, adding the dc-link capacitor voltages balancing term to the cost function distributes the controller effort among different control targets, which severely impacts the primary goal of the FCS-MPC. Furthermore, to control the dc-link capacitor voltages, additional sensing circuitries are usually necessary to measure the dc-link capacitor voltages and currents, which consequently increases the system cost, volume and wiring complexity as well as reduces overall reliability. To address all the aforementioned challenges, in this dissertation research, a novel FCS-MPC method using virtual space vectors (VSVs), which do not affect the dc-link capacitor voltages of the 3-L VSCs, was proposed, implemented and validated. The proposed FCS-MPC strategy has the capability to achieve inherent balanced dc-link capacitor voltages. Additionally, the demonstrated control technique not only simplifies the controller design by allowing the use of a simplified cost function, but also improves the quality of the 3-L VSC output waveforms. Furthermore, the execution time of the proposed control algorithm was significantly reduced compared to that of the existing one. Lastly, the proposed FCS-MPC using the VSVs reduces the hardware cost and complexity as the additional dc-link capacitor voltages and current sensors are not required, which further enhances the overall system reliability