Balance control of grid currents for UPQC under unbalanced loads based on matching-ratio compensation algorithm

Abstract In three-phase four-wire systems, unbalanced loads can cause grid currents to be unbalanced, and this may cause the neutral point potential on the grid side to shift. The neutral point potential shift will worsen the control precision as well as the performance of the three-phase four-wire unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), and it also leads to unbalanced three-phase output voltage, even causing damage to electric equipment. To deal with unbalanced loads, this paper proposes a matching-ratio compensation algorithm (MCA) for the fundamental active component of load currents, and by employing this MCA, balanced three-phase grid currents can be realized under 100% unbalanced loads. The steady-state fluctuation and the transient drop of the DC bus voltage can also be restrained. This paper establishes the mathematical model of the UPQC, analyzes the mechanism of the DC bus voltage fluctuations, and elaborates the interaction between unbalanced grid currents and DC bus voltage fluctuations; two control strategies of UPQC under three-phase stationary coordinate based on the MCA are given, and finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy are verified by experiment results

Impedance Matching-Based Power Flow Analysis for UPQC in Three-Phase Four-Wire Systems

Different from the extant power flow analysis methods, this paper discusses the power flows for the unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) in three-phase four-wire systems from the point of view of impedance matching. To this end, combined with the designed control strategies, the establishing method of the UPQC impedance model is presented, and on this basis, the UPQC system can be equivalent to an adjustable impedance model. After that, a concept of impedance matching is introduced into this impedance model to study the operation principle for the UPQC system, i.e., how the system changes its operation states and power flow under the grid voltage variations through discussing the matching relationships among node impedances. In this way, the nodes of the series and parallel converter are matched into two sets of impedances in opposite directions, which mean that one converter operates in rectifier state to draw the energy and the other one operates in inverter state to transmit the energy. Consequently, no matter what grid voltages change, the system node impedances are dynamically matched to ensure that output equivalent impedances are always equal to load impedances, so as to realize impedance and power balances of the UPQC system. Finally, the correctness of the impedance matching-based power flow analysis is validated by the experimental results