Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

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Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/simpat

A three-level space vector modulated grid connected inverter with

control scheme based on instantaneous power theory
Georgios Tsengenes, Thomas Nathenas ⇑, Georgios Adamidis
Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 67100 Xanthi, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper the control scheme of a three-level three-phase inverter for grid integration of
Received 16 September 2011 distributed generation (DG) units is investigated. Furthermore, the inverter compensates
Received in revised form 9 February 2012 the reactive power of the load. The presented control scheme is based on instantaneous
Accepted 13 February 2012
power theory in order to generate the appropriate inverter reference currents. In the outer
Available online 4 April 2012
DC bus voltage control loop and in the inner current control loop, the fuzzy logic (FL) con-
trol and the Proportional-Resonant (PR) control is applied respectively. The switching pat-
Keywords:
tern generation is achieved using Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation technique. The
Three-level inverter
p–q Theory
steady state and dynamic response of the proposed electric power system has been evalu-
Fuzzy logic controller ated under various operating conditions. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the
Neutral point balancing proposed control system.
Reactive power compensation Ó 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Over the last years the release of energy market in combination with the need of environmentally friendlier energy
sources has led to the rapid development of distributed generation (DG) units [18]. The DG units include renewable and
non-renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) cells, wind generators and microturbines [2,17]. Concerning the
integration of renewable energy sources into the grid, power electronics appear to be very important; especially the voltage
source inverter (VSI). During the last few years, the research around the area of new control schemes in order to maximize
the performance and simplify the control system of the inverter is intense. In [23] a simple control scheme for voltage source
inverters is presented for single stage grid connected PV systems. Moreover fuzzy logic (FL) techniques [6,13] and neural net-
work algorithms [10] have been applied in power electronics control.
In order to achieve more efficient control and better performance of the inverter, complex control schemes are required
[8,19]. On the other hand the use of simple reference signal generation methods and current control techniques simplifies
the control system but reduces the performance of the inverter. In this paper a simple and efficient control system of the
inverter for grid connection of renewable energy sources (such as PV panels and wind generators) is proposed. The a–b trans-
formation is applied for the control scheme design and aims to generate the inverter reference currents directly to a–b ref-
erence frame [1,5]. The DC bus voltage of the inverter is controlled by FL [12,20], due to its robustness comparing to a
conventional PI controller. An important part of the control scheme is the chosen triggering method [3,4,14]. The Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) technique which is selected in this paper is SVPWM applied in a three-level VSI [21]. To overcome
the problem of current control in a–b reference frame, a Proportional-Resonant (PR) controller is used [11,24,25].
This work is the evolution of the control system presented in [23], where a two-level inverter was used. In this paper a
three-level inverter is investigated and as a result the output voltage and current contain less harmonic distortion [22].

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 6945807142.

E-mail addresses: gtseng@ee.duth.gr (G. Tsengenes), tnathena@ee.duth.gr (T. Nathenas), adamidis@ee.duth.gr (G. Adamidis).

1569-190X/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.simpat.2012.02.004
 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 135

Furthermore, the switching pattern in this work is generated via Space Vector Modulation (SVM) instead of hysteresis band
current control technique. Consequently, constant switching frequency is achieved [3,4,15]. Additionally, the use of a FL con-
troller in the DC bus increases the robustness and improves the transient response of the control system [12]. The proposed
system surpasses other similar control schemes which use the instantaneous power theory (also known as ‘‘instantaneous
reactive power theory’’ or ‘‘p–q theory’’) in combination with SVM [19] due to the fact that d–q transformation and PLL [9] is
avoided. To overcome the absence of the previous mentioned components the PR controller is used instead of the conven-
tional PI controller in the proposed system. The applied PR controller, is able to control the current in a–b reference frame
with zero steady state error. As a result no mathematical equations for the d–q transformation are required in case of a PR
controller. Consequently the proposed control system introduces simple algebraic equations without the use of PLL. Never-
theless, the proposed method compared to the control method presented in [19] retains the ability of active and reactive
power control both in steady state and transient response. As a result the proposed control system can be used to supply
the grid with active power and compensate the reactive power of the load.

2. Proposed control scheme

In Fig. 1 the proposed electric power system is shown. It consists of a DG unit (such as photovoltaic and wind generator), a
three-level neutral point clamped inverter, an R–L load and the grid. The control system illustrated in Fig. 1 consists of the
following:

 The reactive power of the load is calculated using the a–b reference frame.
 The active power of the DG unit is estimated using a FL controller.
 The reference current generation is achieved using the p–q theory.
 PR controller is applied to the internal current control loop.
 SVM generates the switching signals to the IGBTs.

From the structure of the proposed control scheme it can be obtained that using simple calculations as a basic structure
(a–b transformation and p–q theory) the active and the reactive power of the inverter can be controlled independently. Be-
low, the mathematical model of the proposed control scheme is analyzed.

2.1. Reactive power control

Initially, the currents of the load (iL,a, iL,b, iL,c) and the voltages of the grid (us,a, us,b, us,c) at the point of common coupling
(PCC) are measured. Then, they are transformed according to Eq. (1) in a–b reference frame. The load currents and grid volt-
ages in a–b reference frame are calculated by Eqs. (2) and (3) respectively.

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the proposed electric power system.

136 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

2 3
rffiffiffi " 1 1
# fa
2 1 2 2 6 7
fab ¼  pffiffi pffiffi  4 fb 5 ð1Þ
3 0 3
 23
2 fc

iL;ab ¼ fab ðiL;abc Þ ð2Þ

us;ab ¼ fab ðus;abc Þ ð3Þ

For reactive power calculation of the load (qL), Eq. (4) is used.
 
iL;a
qL ¼ ½ us;b us;a   ð4Þ
iL;b
For the reactive power compensation of the load, the reference reactive power of the inverter (qref,inv) must be equal to
reactive power of the load due to Eq. (5):

qref ;inv ¼ qL ð5Þ

2.2. DC bus voltage control

The FL controller has been selected for DC bus voltage control due to its advantages over the conventional PI controller.
These advantages are briefly summarized below [20]:

(a) FL controller does not require a precise model of the system.

(b) Operates under uncertainties and is able to handle non-linear systems.
(c) FL controller outperforms the PI controller during transient response.

Fuzzy logic theory was applied in the control scheme of grid connected inverters, in order to improve the power quality
and compensate the reactive power of the load [6,13,20].
Controlling the reference active power of the inverter (pref,inv) the DC bus voltage can be controlled as well. In order to
calculate the reference active power of the inverter, the fuzzy controller shown in Fig. 2 is used. The two inputs of the con-
troller are: the error ‘e’ of the DC bus voltage (e = VDC,ref  VDC) and the derivation of the error ‘De’. The pref,inv is the output of
the FL controller.
The membership functions are triangular and they are presented in Fig. 3. Fig. 3a illustrates the membership functions for
the input ‘e’ and ‘De’ and Fig. 3b presents the membership functions for the output Dpref,inv. The fuzzy rules applied to the
proposed fuzzy logic controller are determined using common fuzzy rules formed as: IF e is Ai and De is Bj, THEN Dpref,inv is
Cij, where Ai, Bj and Cij are fuzzy subsets. Table 1 shows fuzzy rules used by the FL controller. The FL controller presented in
Fig. 2 uses Mamdani’s system to export conclusions and max–min synthesis, Eq. (6). The centroid method in Eq. (7) is used
for defuzzification.
n  
F¼ _ lA ðei Þ ^ lB ðDei Þ ð6Þ
i¼1

PN
i¼1 F i  Dpinv ;i
Dpinv ;ref ðkÞ ¼ PN ð7Þ
k¼1 F i

where Fi(ei), Fi(Dei) is the degree of membership (values between 0.0 and 1.0) of inputs ei, Dei respectively. The value ‘Dpref,inv’
is a crisp value, ‘i’ refers to the number of the rule and ‘k’ refers to the sample time.

Fig. 2. Block diagram of the proposed FL controller.

 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 137

Fig. 3. Membership functions for (a) input and (b) output variables.

Table 1
Fuzzy rules.

De (pu) e (pu)
NB NM NS ZE PS PM PB
NB NB NB NB NB NM NS ZE
NM NB NB NB NM NS ZE PS
NS NB NB NM NS ZE PS PM
ZE NB NM NS ZE PS PM PB
PS NM NS ZE PS PM PB PB
PM NS ZE PS PM PB PB PB
PB ZE PS PM PB PB PB PB

2.3. Reference current generation

In Sections 2.1 and 2.2 the reference signals of active power of the inverter (pref,inv) and the reactive power of the load (qL)
were calculated respectively.
Using pref,inv and qref,inv in Eq. (8) reference currents ic,ref,a and ic,ref,b can be calculated in a–b reference frame.

    " #
ic;ref ;a 1 us;a us;b pref ;inv
¼ 2 2
  ð8Þ
ic;ref ;b us;a þ us;b us;b us;a qref ;inv

The VSI is controlled using two different principles. The former is called voltage controlled VSI (VCVSI) and the latter cur-
rent controlled VSI (CCVSI) [7,16]. On the one hand the CCVSI uses direct quadrature current components (d–q), in an inter-
nal current control loop, to generate the reference current in the VSI coupling filter. On the other hand the VCVSI uses the
amplitude and the phase angle of the inverter AC voltage, in relation with the grid voltage to achieve power flow control.
There are pros and cons associated with each control mechanism. The CCVSI has faster transient response compared to
the VCVSI, as its power flow is controlled by active and reactive components of the current. Whereas in the VCVSI, the power
flow is controlled by adjusting the voltage across the coupling filter. Active and reactive power are controlled independently
in the CCVSI, but are coupled in the VCVSI. For a grid connected DG unit, the interface VSI is conventionally controlled as
CCVSI [7,8]. The main features of the current controlled strategy are as follows:
138 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

(a) Active and reactive power components are controlled independently.

(b) During grid faults, it inherently saturates the VSI AC current.

From the above mentioned features, the current control strategy is selected to control the VSI in this paper.
For current control and reference voltage generation of the inverter two PI controllers (one for each axis) could be applied
as usual. The d–q transformation of the currents is required according to Eq. (9), due to the fact that a PI controller can handle
DC quantities.

     
ic;ref ;d cos Hgrid sin Hgrid ic;ref ;a
¼  ð9Þ
ic;ref ;q  sin Hgrid cos Hgrid ic;ref ;b
Observing Eq. (9), it is essential to know angle ‘Hgrid’ which indicates the angle between grid voltage vector and a-axis.
Therefore, a PLL is required.
The PI controller is not able to track a sinusoidal reference signal without steady state error. This leads in turn to the pres-
ence of harmonics in the current waveform. Thus, a poor THD of the current will typically be obtained. In order to get a good
steady state performance a more sophisticated current regulator must be applied. In the literature the PR regulator has been
proposed as an alternative to the PI controller [11,24,25]. In order to verify the performance of the PR controller compared to
the PI controller, the steady state operation of the current control loop is illustrated in Fig. 4. The simulation response of the
PI current controller in case of an R–L load is depicted in Fig. 4a. In addition, Fig. 4b shows the simulation response of the PR
current controller under the same operating system. From the simulation results of Fig. 4 it can be concluded that the steady
state error is eliminated when the PR controller is used. Therefore, the PR regulator has been chosen for the internal current
control loop.

Fig. 4. Steady state operation for stationary: (a) PI current regulator and (b) PR current regulator applied to an R–L load.
 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 139

Fig. 5. Closed current control loop.

The transfer function GPR(s) of an ideal PR current controller is shown in Eq. (10) [11]. A stationary frame controller imple-
mented using the transfer function GPR(s) will have an equivalent frequency response to a synchronous frame controller
implemented using the transfer function of the conventional PI controller. Therefore the transient response of the two con-
trollers will be identical regardless of implementation in the stationary frame as an AC compensator or in the synchronous
frame as a DC compensator.
K i;PR  s
GPR ðsÞ ¼ K p;PR þ ð10Þ
s2 þ x20
where Kp,PR and Ki,PR are the gains of the PR controller and x0 is the angular frequency of the grid voltage (x0 ¼ 2pf ¼ 314 rad s
,
in case grid frequency equals to f = 50 Hz). The advantage of the PR controller over PI controller is that it can handle AC
quantities.
From Eq. (10) it can be seen how the term (s2 þ x20 ) in the denominator, creates infinite forward controller gain at xo. For
higher frequencies it gradually returns to the same transfer function as the simple PI regulator, hence a similar high fre-
quency response is expected for these controllers.
In this paper currents ic,ref,a and ic,ref,b are AC quantities and a PR controller can be applied in order to avoid d–q transfor-
mation. Plenty of methods have been proposed for tuning the PR gains. According to [25], the gains of the PR controller can
be calculated by Eq. (11).
K p;PR ¼ K p
ð11Þ
K i;PR ¼ 2  K i
where Kp and Ki are the gains of PI controller.
In order to calculate the gains of the PI controller, the current control loop as shown in Fig. 5 is used. This results in the
transfer function of Eq. (12).
   
HPI  HF ðsÞ K p þ Ksi  Lc sþR
1
c s  Kp þ Ki
HCL ðsÞ ¼ ¼    ¼ 2 ð12Þ
1 þ HPI  HF ðsÞ 1 þ K p þ K i  1 s  Lc þ s  ðK p þ Rc Þ þ K i
s Lc sþRc

where HPI is the transfer function of the PI controller and the HF is the transfer function of the coupling filter.
Taking into account Eq. (12) and root locus, the gains Kp and Ki are exported.

3. SVPWM technique for three-level inverter

In this paper a three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) Inverter has been applied instead of a two-level inverter. The
attractive features of the three-level NPC topology can be briefly summarized as follows [22]:

(a) Multilevel inverters generate the output voltage with very low harmonic distortion.
(b) Multilevel inverters draw output current with low harmonic distortion.
(c) At switching frequencies above 5 kHz, the three-level inverters always feature lower losses.
(d) Substantial reduction in filter size/weight and cost is possible.

Three-level NPC inverter has 27 switching states as shown in Fig. 6a. The switching pattern generation technique used for
the inverter is Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM).
According to the SVPWM method applied [21], the external three-level hexagon is divided into six smaller two-level
hexagons, as it can be seen in Fig. 6b. By knowing the reference voltage, we can determine in which two-level hexagon
the tip of the reference voltage vector lies. Specifically, if we subtract the reference voltage vector from the center vector
which connects the center of the external hexagon with the center of the two-level hexagon (Fig. 6a), we create a new
two-level reference vector. Then, triggering the three-level inverter is as simple as in a conventional two-level inverter.
For example, the reference voltage vector ~ V ref in Fig. 6a is expressed as:
1 0 0—1 1 0—2 1 0—2 1 1—2 1 0—1 1 0—1 0 0
140 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

Fig. 6. Three-level space vector diagram: (a) switching states and (b) simplification.

The switching times are the same as in a conventional two-level inverter and are shown below:

T 0 þ T k þ T kþ1 ¼ T S ð13Þ

~
V ref  T S ¼ ~
V k  Tk þ ~
V kþ1  T kþ1 ð14Þ

" #

Tk pffiffiffi j~
V ref j sin k3p  cos k3p cos xt
¼ 3  TS  p p
 ð15Þ
T kþ1 V DC  sin ðk1Þ cos ðk1Þ sin xt
3 3

where Tk is the time of state j, T0 is the time of zero state and Tk+1 is the time of state k + 1.
Another important issue for multilevel inverters is the neutral point balancing. In this paper the two capacitors C1 and C2
are balanced using the redundant states. Redundant states are considered for example the states 211 and 100. Using the state
211 capacitor C1 is discharging and C2 is charging, while using the state 100 capacitor C1 is charging and C2 is discharging.

Table 2
Effect of redundant states on the voltage of the capacitors.

Redundant states Voltage of the capacitors

Inverter Rectifier
211, 221, 121 V C1 ; & V C2 " V C1 " & V C2 ;
122, 112, 212
100, 110, 010 V C1 " & V C2 ; V C1 ; & V C2 "
011, 001, 101
 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 141

Fig. 7. Switching transitions for even sectors.

Depending on the operation of the converter, the neutral point balancing technique changes. In Table 2 we can see how the
redundant states can affect the neutral point for an inverter and a rectifier.
The time of zero state is considered as the sum of two separate times according to Eq. (16) [21]:
T 0 ¼ T up þ T down ð16Þ
where Tup and Tdown is the time where one phase of the inverter (at least) is connected to terminal 2 (positive terminal) and
terminal 0 (negative terminal) respectively.
Basically, the voltages of the two capacitors V C 1 and V C 2 are compared and the result is an error. This error indicates their
voltage difference. If capacitor C1 is charged more than capacitor C2, then error has a positive value, otherwise the error has a
negative value. Then the error value is normalized to a new variable named l, where 1 6 l 6 1 depending on the sign of the
error. Variable l affects times Tup and Tdown according to Eq. (17)–(20) for inverter and rectifier operation respectively [21].
ð1 þ lÞ
T up ¼ T o  ; 1 6 l 6 1 ð17Þ
2
ð1  lÞ
T down ¼ T o  ; 1 6 l 6 1 ð18Þ
2
ð1  lÞ
T up ¼ T o  ; 1 6 l 6 1 ð19Þ
2
ð1 þ lÞ
T down ¼ T o  16l61 ð20Þ
2
In Fig. 7 we see the pulse technique used for the ~V ref shown in Fig. 6a, considering that Tup and Tdown are expressed by the Eq.
(17) up to (20).
As a result, the ~
V ref shown in Fig. 6a consists of the zero times Tup = T211 and Tdown = T100.

4. Simulation results

In this section the electric power system of Fig. 1 will be simulated. The behavior of the system in steady state and dy-
namic response will be studied. The parameters of the proposed electric power system are shown in Table 3.
Initially the behavior of the system in steady state is investigated. At time t0 = 0 s the DG unit is connected to the grid and
feeds the electric power system with active power 50 kW (PDG = 50 kW). In Fig. 8a the active power of the inverter (Pinv), the
grid (Ps), the load (Pl) and the reactive power of the inverter (Qinv), the grid (Qs) and the load (Ql) are illustrated. In Fig. 8b the
line to line voltage of the inverter (vinv,ab) and the fundamental harmonic of this voltage (vinv,ab,fun) are shown. In Fig. 8c we
observe the voltage of the inverter in phase a (vinv,a), the fundamental harmonic of this voltage (vinv,a,fun) as well as the volt-
age at the point of common coupling (PCC) (vs,a) and the output current of the inverter (iinv,a). Fig. 8d shows the DC bus volt-
age of the inverter, and the capacitors voltages (V C 1 ) and (V C 2 ) when the neutral point balancing algorithm is applied.
From Fig. 8a we observe that the active and reactive power flow in the electric power system is established from Eqs. (21)
and (22) respectively.
142 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

Table 3
Parameters of the electric power system.

VDC = 1000 V fs = 7.5 kHz vs = 230 V (rms)

C1 = C2 = 1.5 mF PR Kp = 25.8, Ki = 84 815 R2 = Rl = 9.068 X
Lc = 2.08 mH Rc = 0.064 mH L2 = Ll = 24.55 mH

Fig. 8. (a) Active and reactive power, (b) line to line output voltage of the inverter, (c) phase voltage, current of the inverter and voltage of the grid and (d)
voltages of the DC bus and the capacitors.

Pinv þ Ps þ P l ¼ 0 ð21Þ
Q inv þ Q s þ Q l ¼ 0 ð22Þ
From Fig. 8a it is obvious that the inverter operates as a reactive power source. The active and the reactive power ex-
change between the inverter and the grid is given from Eqs. (23) and (24) respectively:

3  V s  V inv  sinðThetaÞ
Pinv ¼ ð23Þ
2  X LC
3  V s  ðV inv  cosðThetaÞ  V s Þ
Q inv ¼ ð24Þ
2  X LC
The angle ‘‘Theta’’ > 0 means that Pinv > 0. Since Vinv  Vs > 0, it means that Qinv > 0. Also from Fig. 8c it is concluded that the
inverter operates as a reactive power source because of the phase shifting ‘‘Gamma’’ between the vinv,a,fun and the iinv,a. Fig. 8d
illustrates that the neutral point balancing algorithm operates with great success for the balancing of the NP.
 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 143

Fig. 8 (continued)

At time t1 = 0.4 s the output power of the DG unit is increased from PDG = 50 kW to PDG = 100 kW. The active and the reac-
tive power of the inverter, the grid and the load are illustrated in Fig. 9a. In Fig. 9b, we observe the DC bus voltage (VDC) and
the capacitors voltages V C 1 and V C 2 , when the neutral point balancing algorithm is enabled.
In Fig. 9a it is observed, that the increased power of the DG unit leads to an increment of the active power which is
absorbed from the grid (Ps). Also from Fig. 9b, it is confirmed that the neutral point balancing algorithm works flawlessly
during the transient response.
At time t2 = 0.8 s an extra load (Load 2) is connected to the grid, while the DG unit constantly feeds the system with
PDG = 100 kW. In Fig. 10 the active and reactive power of the inverter, the grid and the load for this transient response,
are shown.
From Fig. 10, it is observed that when the load increases, the inverter fully compensates the reactive power of the load and
feeds it with the required active power. Therefore the absorbed active power of the grid is decreased.
At time t3 = 1.2 s the power of the DG unit is zeroed (PDG = 0 kW), due to lack of wind, sun or outages. In Fig. 11 the active
and reactive power of the inverter, the grid and the load for this transient state are shown. Fig. 12a and b show the inverter
and grid current, respectively.
From Fig. 12a, we observe that the phase angle between the inverter current and the grid voltage has changed. After the
transient response the phase angle is 90°. From this phase angle it is concluded that the inverter feeds the electric power
system with reactive power. From Fig. 12b, we notice that the phase angle between the grid voltage and the current before
the transient response is 0°. This phase angle shows that the grid absorbs active power from the electric power system.
Moreover, from Fig. 12b after the transient response we can observe that the phase angle is 180°. This angle is generated
because the grid changes from the active power absorption operation to the active power feeding operation. During the sim-
ulation the reactive power of the grid is zero.
In Fig. 13 all the investigated test cases both in steady state and transient response of the proposed electric power system
are summarized. Fig. 13a illustrates active power versus reactive power of the proposed electric power system. Fig. 13b
144 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

Fig. 9. (a) Active and reactive power and (b) voltages of the DC bus and the capacitors.

Fig. 10. Active and reactive power.

depicts changes in active and reactive power of the proposed electric power system versus simulation time. Studying one
indicative case of Fig. 13a, the behavior of the electric power system will be explained.
At time t1 = 0.4 s the active power of the inverter is changed from 47 kW to 95 kW. The reactive power of the inverter
remains constant because the load is constant. From Fig. 13a we can observe that the load remains constant during the tran-
sient response at time t1 = 0.4 s. Consequently the grid changes from active power feeding operation to active power absorp-
 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 145

Fig. 11. Active and reactive power.

Fig. 12. (a) Output current of the inverter and (b) current of the grid.

tion operation. The active power produced from the DG unit exceeds the active power consumed from the load. As a result
the surplus of active power is absorbed from the grid.
146 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147

Fig. 13. Active and reactive power diagram of the electric power system: (a) active power versus reactive power and (b) power versus time.

From Fig. 13, we conclude that the reactive power of the grid during the simulation remains zero, because the inverter
continuously compensates the reactive power of the load. Until time instant t3 the grid absorbs active power, while after
the moment t3 the grid feeds the load with the required active power. Also the grid compensates the active power losses
of the inverter. It feeds the inverter with the necessary amount of active power in order to keep the DC bus voltage constant.

5. Conclusion

In this paper the control system of a three-phase inverter for grid integration of a DG unit has been presented and ana-
lyzed. In the literature the robustness of the DC bus voltage has been enchased using FL control. Moreover, for the reference
current generation and the current control loop simple control methods have been applied. In multilevel converters the neu-
tral point potential has been controlled using voltage balancing algorithms. Taking into account all the above scientific re-
search, authors propose a simple and efficient power electronics control system. The proposed electric power system has
been investigated and verified during steady state and transient response.
In detail, the proposed control system incorporates DC bus voltage FL controller and results smother transient response.
Instantaneous reactive power theory and PR current controller decouple and control independently both active and reactive
power. The independent control of reactive power, results to the uninterrupted reactive power supply from the inverter. The
neutral point balancing algorithm combined with SVM ensures the stabilization of the capacitors voltages. All in all, the pro-
posed control scheme can be used for grid integration of DG units in case reactive power compensation is required.
 G. Tsengenes et al. / Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory 25 (2012) 134–147 147

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