Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on
Applied Superconductivity and Electromagnetic Devices
Beijing, China, October 25-27, 2013
Improved High Performance Control Strategy for
Micro Grid Islanded Operation
Yun Hong Zhang Wei Xu
Qinan Power Supply Bureau of Chongqing School of Electrical and Electronic
Electric Power Corporation, Engineering,
Chongqing, China Huazhong University of Science and
bingozhang1987@163.com Technology,
Wuhan, China
weixuforhappy@gmail.com
AbstractWith the grid-connected mode turning into the isolation
mode, the control strategy of micro-grid is changed into voltage
control from current control. The control strategy with load voltage
in outer loop and inductance current in inner loop is able to make
micro grid into isolation operation rapidly and steadily. In this
paper, an accurate simulation model of micro grid connection
operation with an LCL grid-connected filter is built based on the
platform of MATLAB/SIMULINK. Then the simulation model
works from grid-connected state to isolation state. In the isolation
operation, an improved control strategy of load voltage in outer
loop and inductance current in inner loop is applied so as to get
more rapid dynamic response and comparatively better steady
performance. Simulations and theoretical analysis fully verify that
the proposed control strategy can safely guarantee the micro-grid
operates with the isolation state from the grid connection state very
smoothly.
Keywords-islanded operation; voltage/current control; LCL grid-
connected filter
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays human beings are confronted with the increasingly
serious energy and environment issues, and the utilization of new
energy sources has being promoting the development of
distributed generation. In the form of micro grid, these distributed
power systems are connected with the large-scale power grid.
When the large-scale power grid breaks down, the micro grid is
in disconnection and would stay in the islanded mode. A control
algorithm for utility interactive pulse width modulation (PWM)
inverters to maintain a continuous, uninterrupted voltage across
critical and sensitive loads in the event of a fault on the grid was
proposed in [1]. Micro grid should go into intentional islanded
operation to back up private emergency loads when the main grid
is out of electric power. Conventional utility interactive inverters
which are normally operated in current mode must change their
operation into voltage mode to ensure stable supply voltage for
emergency loads when intentional islanded operation occurs in
micro grid systems. During the transition between current mode
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(NSFC) 51377065 and 61301035.
978-1-4799-0070-1/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE 291
ID3110
Jian Xun Jin
School of Automation Engineering,
University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China,
Chengdu, China
jxjin@uestc.edu.cn
and voltage mode, a serious transient problem may occur on the
output terminal voltage of utility interactive inverters. A new
inverter system and its control algorithm for seamless transfer
during intentional islanded operations in micro grid systems were
proposed in [2]. A point of common coupling (PCC) seamless
transfer control strategy with adjustment of frequency and phase
was presented in [3]. With dual-mode inverter, when in grid-
connected operation and islanded operation, the traditional PV
control and v-f control strategies are applied to the micro grid
system, respectively [4,5]. For other control strategies, in
islanded operation, the droop control is used in the micro grid
system in order to meet the demand of plug and play [6].
Although the introduced control strategies meet the needs of
micro grid operation, their control algorithms are relatively
complex. With the load voltage in the outer loop and the
inductance current in the inner loop, the proposed control
strategy is with simpler algorithm and good control performance.
If the control strategy is applied to micro gird, it will greatly
reduce the hardware costs.
In this paper, a micro grid connection model is analyzed
firstly, and then built on the basis of MATLAB/SIMULINK, in
which the LCL filter is employed for the grid-connection
interface. Investigations indicate the LCL filter has a strong
ability to remove high-order harmonics. Based the grid-
connected model, the micro grid turns into isolation state apart
away gird connection state with disconnecting from the large-
scale power grid. The micro grid uses the isolation control
strategy with the load voltage in the outer loop and the
inductance current in the inner loop. Simulation shows that the
micro grid can provide the stable power supply to the load in the
mode of isolated operation quickly. Comprehensive
investigations on the proposed control strategy demonstrate very
good dynamic and steady control performance.
II. GRID-CONNECTED MODEL OF MICRO GRID
The structure of the grid-connected model of micro grid is
shown in Fig. 1. As is seen from this figure, L1 and L2 are the
filter inductances, and C is the filter capacitor. The LCL filter III. ISOLATION MODEL OF MICRO GRID
consists of L1, L2 and C, and i1 is the current near the inverter, i2 is
the in-grid current, and ic is the capacitor current. A. Isolation Model
According to the Kirchhoffs law, the circuit transient The structure of the micro grid isolation model is very simple,
equation of LCL filter is given in (1) (here it ignores the because it is separated from the large-scale power grid, which is
parasitical resistance) based on the grid-connected model. As is seen from Fig. 3,
because of disconnection with the large-scale power grid, the
grid-connected inductance of the LC filter is ineffective.
di1 (t )
ui (t ) = L1 dt + uC (t )

u (t ) = L di2 (t ) + u (t )
C 2 g
(1)
dt
i1 (t ) = i2 (t ) + iC (t )

i (t ) = C duC (t )
C dt
where ui(t) is the output voltage of the inverter, uC(t) is the
capacitor voltage, and ug(t) is the output voltage of the LCL filter.

Figure 3. The structure of isolation model of micro grid.

Similar with the LCL filter, the block diagram of the LC filter
is drawn as Fig. 4, in which G4(S) and G5(S) are RL and sC,
respectively.

Figure 1. Structure of grid-connected model of micro grid.

Derived from the transient equation, the block diagram of the

LCL filter is drawn as Fig. 2. G1(s), G2(s) and G3(s) are 1/sL1,
1/sC and 1/sL2 respectively. For this control system, ui and i2 are
the input voltage and output current, and ug is seen as a
disturbance.
Figure 2. Block diagram of LCL filter.
In the case of low frequency, it can be seen that the
performance of the LCL filter is similar with one of a single
inductor filter with its inductance as L (L = L1 + L2). According to
Mason formula, the open-loop transfer function of the input ui
and the output i2 is inferred as (2) from Fig. 2.
Figure 4. Block diagram of LCL filter.
B. Control Strategy of Islanded Operation
When the large-scale power grid fails, in order to provide the
local load with the stable power source, a new control strategy
with the load voltage in the outer loop and the inductance current
in the inner loop is proposed. Its block diagram is shown in Fig. 5,
in which Gu(S) and Gi1(S) are Kp + Ki / s and Kp + Ki / s,
respectively. The load current of micro grid is as the inductance
currents feed-forward compensation, and the reference current
of the inductance current is derived. Consequently, the control
system is also looked as a double-closed-loop control system.

I 2 ( s) 1
G (s) = = 3 (2)
U i ( s ) s L1 L2C + s ( L1 + L2 ) Figure 5. Block diagram of the islanded operation control strategy.

292
C. Stability Analysis of Islanded Operation Control Strategy
According to Fig. 5, its signal flow diagram is illustrated as
a 0' > 0
Fig. 6.
'
a1 > 0
'
a 2 > 0
' (4)
a3 > 0
'
a 4 > 0
'
b1 > 0
Figure 6. Diagram of the signal flow.

Based on the signal flow diagram and the Mason Formula, its c ' > 0
open-loop transfer function is derived as 1
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
uL Gu ( s)Gi1 ( s )G1 ( s )G4 ( s )
GL ( s ) = = The models of the grid-connected operation and the islanded
uref u L 1 + G1 ( s )G4 ( s ) + G4 ( s)G5 ( s ) + G1 ( s )G42 ( s )G5 ( s)
(1) operation are built based on the platform of
R K K ' L s 2 + RL ( K P K I' + K P' K I ) s + RL K I K I' MATLAB/SIMULINK. In the grid-connected operation model,
= L P P 1
RL L1Cs 4 + ( L1 + RL2 C ) s 3 + RL s 2 the key parameters are chosen in the following: Udc = 400 V, ug =
And its closed-loop transfer function is got by 311 V (50 Hz), L1 = 2 mH, L2 = 1 mH, C = 2 F, Kp = 2.7, Ki =
100, and KC = 100. And in the islanded model, the key
RL K P K P' L1s 2 + RL ( K P K I' + K P' K I ) s + RL K I K I' parameters are: Udc = 400V, L1 = 2 mH, C = 2 F, R = 4.84 , Kp
GL* ( s) =
RL L1Cs + ( L1 + RL2 C ) s 3 + RL (1 + K P K P' L1 ) s 2 + RL ( K P K I' + K P' K I )s + RL K I K I'
4
= 91, Ki = 0.01, Kp = 30, and Ki = 1.
RL K P K P' L1s 2 + RL ( K P K I' + K P' K I ) s + RL K I K I' It can be seen from Fig. 7 that the grid-connected current is
=
a4' s 4 + a3' s 3 + a2' s 2 + a1' s + a0' under the condition of the same phase as the one of the grid
(2) voltage. In Fig. 8, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the
where a4 is RLL1C, a3 is (L1+RL2C), a2 is RL(1+KPKp L1), a1 is grid-connected current by the fast Fourier transformation method
RL(KPKI +KPKI), and a0 is RLKIKI. (FFT) is 0.04 %. So in the case of grid-connected mode of the
micro grid, the system is able to suppress the harmonics well and
Its characteristic equation is expressed as to ensure a high in-grid power factor.
D( s ) = a '4 s 4 + a3' s 3 + a '2 s 2 + a1' s + a 0' (3)
It can be known that the control system is a fourth-order
linear system. And the stability conditions are derived based on
the Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion as shown in Table I.

TABLE I. ROUTH CRITERION

s 4
a4 a2 a0
3
s a3 a1 0
s2 b1=( a3a2-a4a1)/a3 a0 0
s1 c1=( b1a1-a3a0)/b1 0
s0 d1= a0

At last, to ensure the stability of the control system, the

coefficients of the characteristic equation must meet the Figure 7. Curves of the grid voltage and grid-connected current in the grid-
inequalities as follows connected operation.

293

Figure 8. Diagram of the grid-connected current harmonic analysis with FFT
algorithm in the grid-connected operation.
From the result in Fig. 9, when the micro grid turns its mode
from the grid-connected operation to the islanded operation, the
voltage and the current of the load are not with large fluctuations.
It can be seen from Fig. 10 that the THD of the load voltage is
0.04 %, which is able to fulfill the requirement of the load on the
power quality.
Figure 9. Curves of the load voltage and current when in the islanded operation.
(iL is phase current, and uL is line voltage)
Figure 10. Diagram of the load voltage harmonic analysis with FFT algorithm
when in the islanded operation.
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V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, simulation models of the grid-connected
operation and the islanded operation are built in the platform of
MATLAB / SIMULINK. In the case of stand-alone mode of the
micro grid, the control strategy is not only able to provide the
stable voltage for the load, but also to filter out most harmonics
of the load voltage. In the switching process between the modes
of grid-connected and islanded, the proposed control strategy is
able to ensure the quality of the load voltage and current, which
are of less fluctuations and fewer harmonics. The results
demonstrate that the parameters are rational, and it also verified
that the proposed control strategies as effective.
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