The introduction of microgrids in distribution networks based on power electronics facilitates the use of renewable energy resources, distributed generation (DG) and storage systems while improving the quality of electric power and reducing losses thus increasing the performance and reliability of the electrical system. The hierarchical control structure, which consists of primary, secondary, and tertiary levels for microgrids that mimic the behavior of the mains grid, is reviewed. The main objective of this article is to give a description of state of the art for distributed power generation systems (DPGS) based on renewable energy and explore the power converters connected in parallel to the grid which are distinguished by their contribution to the formation of the grid voltage and frequency and are accordingly classified in three classes. This analysis is extended focusing mainly on the three classes of configurations: grid-forming, grid-feeding, and grid-supporting. The article ends up with an overview and a discussion of the control structures and strategies to control distribution power generation system (DPGS) units connected to the network.

/pdf/a-survey-on-control-of-electric-power-distributed-generation-16eexny94f.pdf

A Survey on Control of Electric Power Distributed Generation Systems for Microgrid Applications

In a modular multilevel converter (MMC), the interaction between switching actions and fluctuating capacitor voltages of the submodules results in second- and other even-order harmonics in the circulating currents. These harmonic currents will introduce extra power loss, increase current stress of power devices, and even cause instability during transients. Traditional methods for circulating current harmonic suppression have problems such as limited harmonic rejection capability, limited application area, and complex implementation. This paper presents a plug-in repetitive control scheme to solve the problem. It combines the high dynamics of PI controller and good steady-state harmonic suppression of the repetitive controller, and minimizes the interference between the two controllers. It is suitable for multiple harmonic suppression, easy to implement, and applicable for both single-phase and three-phase MMCs. Simulation and experimental results on a single-phase MMC inverter proved the validity of the proposed control method.

A Repetitive Control Scheme for Harmonic Suppression of Circulating Current in Modular Multilevel Converters

Repetitive control (RC), which can achieve zero steady-state error tracking of any periodic signal with known integer period, offers active power filters (APFs) a promising accurate current control scheme to compensate the harmonic distortion caused by nonlinear loads. However, classical RC cannot exactly compensate periodic signals of variable frequency and would lead to significant performance degradation of APFs. In this paper, a fractional-order RC (FORC) strategy at a fixed sampling rate is proposed to deal with any periodic signal of variable frequency, where a Lagrange-interpolation-based fractional delay (FD) filter is used to approximate the factional delay items. The synthesis and analysis of FORC systems are also presented. The proposed FORC offers fast online tuning of the FD and the fast update of the coefficients, and then provides APFs with a simple but very accurate real-time frequency-adaptive control solution to the elimination of harmonic distortions under grid frequency variations. A case study on a single-phase shunt APF is conducted. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the validity of the proposed FORC.

Frequency-Adaptive Fractional-Order Repetitive Control of Shunt Active Power Filters

In this paper, a frequency adaptive selective harmonic control (FA-SHC) scheme is proposed. The FA-SHC method is developed from a hybrid SHC scheme based on the internal model principle, which can be designed for grid-connected inverters to optimally mitigate feed-in current harmonics. The hybrid SHC scheme consists of multiple parallel recursive (nk ± m)-order (k = 0,1,2,. . ., and m ≤ n/2) harmonic control modules with independent control gains, which can be optimally weighted in accordance with the harmonic distribution. The hybrid SHC, thus, offers an optimal tradeoff among cost, complexity, and also performance in terms of high accuracy, fast response, easy implementation, and compatible design. The analysis and synthesis of the hybrid SHC are addressed. More important, in order to deal with the harmonics in the presence of grid frequency variations, the hybrid SHC is transformed into the FA-SHC, being the proposed fractional-order controller, when it is implemented with a fixed sampling rate. The FA-SHC is implemented by substituting the fractional-order elements with the Lagrange-polynomial-based interpolation filters. The proposed FA-SHC scheme provides fast on-line computation and frequency adaptability to compensate harmonics in grid-connected applications, where the grid frequency is usually varying within a certain range (e.g., 50 ± 0.5 Hz). Experimental tests have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed FA-SHC scheme in terms of accurate frequency adaptability and also fast transient response.

/pdf/frequency-adaptive-selective-harmonic-control-for-grid-28737mozc6.pdf

Frequency Adaptive Selective Harmonic Control for Grid-Connected Inverters

Today, conventional power systems are evolving to smart grids, which encompass clusters of AC/DC microgrids, interfaced through power electronics converters. In such systems, increasing penetration of the power electronics-based distributed generations, energy storages, and modern loads provide a great opportunity for power quality control. In this paper, an overview of the power quality control of smart hybrid AC/DC microgrids is presented. Different types of power quality issues are studied first, with consideration of real-world hybrid microgrid examples, including data centers, electric railway systems, and electric vehicles charging stations. It shows that compared to traditional centralized power quality compensations, smart interfacing power converters from distributed generations, energy storages, and loads, and the AC and DC subgrids interfacing converters are promising candidates for power quality control. To realize the smart interfacing converters' power quality control, both primary converters control and secondary system coordination are required. In this paper, a thorough review of the primary control of interfacing converters to integrate the power quality compensation are presented, with a focus on the hybrid AC/DC microgrid harmonics compensation and unbalance compensation. For multiple interfacing converters, the secondary control with system-level coordination and optimization for harmonics and unbalance compensation (considering both unbalance and harmonics in single-phase and three-phase systems) are also presented. Challenges like low switching frequency of interfacing converters, parallel interfacing converters operation, and interfacing converters communications are discussed, and typical solutions for primary and secondary controls to deal with them are presented. The paper also includes rich case study results.

/pdf/power-quality-control-of-smart-hybrid-ac-dc-microgrids-an-357agim5xw.pdf

Power Quality Control of Smart Hybrid AC/DC Microgrids: An Overview

The power quality of grid-connected inverters has drawn a lot of attention with the increased application of distributed power generation systems. The repetitive control technique is widely adopted in these systems, due to its excellent tracking performance and low output total harmonic distortion (THD). However, in an actual system, the ratio of the sampling frequency to the grid frequency cannot always maintain an integer, and then, the resonant frequencies of the repetitive control technique will deviate from the real grid fundamental and harmonic frequencies. This will degrade the performance of the system, particularly when the grid frequency varies. Even if the ratio is a fixed integer, the auxiliary function for stabilization in the conventional repetitive control technique will also increase the steady-state tracking error and THD of the system. In this paper, an improved repetitive control scheme with a special designed finite impulse response (FIR) filter is proposed. The FIR filter cascaded with a traditional delay function can approximate the ideal repetitive control function of any ratio. The proposed scheme varies the FIR filter according to varied grid frequency and maintains its resonant frequencies matching the grid fundamental and harmonic ones. Finally, the simulation and experimental results show that the improved repetitive control scheme can effectively reduce the tracking error and compensate harmonics of the inverter systems.

An Improved Repetitive Control Scheme for Grid-Connected Inverter With Frequency-Adaptive Capability

The repetitive control technique is widely adopted in ac systems, because of its excellent steady-state tracking performance and low total harmonic distortion. The repetitive control method with one-sixth of the system fundamental period T 0 as the delay time has been proposed to achieve fast transient response. In this study, an improved control scheme based on the T 0/6 repetitive control is proposed for three-phase grid-connected inverters. The proposed scheme adopts T 0/6 as the delay time in the positive-rotating and negative-rotating synchronous reference frames to suppress the 6n ± 1 harmonics. Meanwhile, the proportional-integral regulator and the plug-in repetitive controller are combined to reinforce the system performance. A new auxiliary function based on the linear interpolation is proposed to maintain the ideal repetitive control performance when one-sixth of the ratio of the sampling frequency to the grid fundamental frequency is non-integer. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme on improving the T 0/6 repetitive control is confirmed by simulation and experimental results finally.

https://ietresearch.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1049/iet-pel.2012.0348

Research on fast transient and 6n ± 1 harmonics suppressing repetitive control scheme for three-phase grid-connected inverters

The repetitive control technique is widely adopted in AC systems, because it can achieve excellent tracking performance and low total harmonic distortion (THD) when regulating periodic signals. This paper proposes an improved repetitive control scheme for three-phase systems. The proposed scheme adopts one-sixth of the fundamental period as the delay time in the positive-rotating and negative-rotating synchronous reference frames (SRF), and can achieve fast transient response and 6n±1 harmonics compensation. In this paper, the proportional-integral (PI) regulator and the plug-in repetitive control are combined in the control loop, to improve the even harmonics compensation under the unbalanced system. And the design methodology for the auxiliary function of the repetitive control is discussed to maintain its performance when one-sixth of the ratio of the sampling frequency to the fundamental frequency is not an integer. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is confirmed by simulation and experimental results finally.

Dong Chen

Papers

An Improved Repetitive Control Scheme for Grid-Connected Inverter With Frequency-Adaptive Capability

Research on fast transient and 6n ± 1 harmonics suppressing repetitive control scheme for three-phase grid-connected inverters

Research on fast transient and 6n±1 harmonics compensating repetitive control scheme for three-phase systems