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3, SEPTEMBER 2006
Abstract—Voltage source inverters (VSI) have been widely used numerous functions that require a minimum number of power
in uninterruptible power supplies, unified power flow controllers conversions [7]–[11].
or unified power quality conditioners, and distributed generation The parallel processing DGS controls power flow and qual-
systems (DGS). VSIs are inherently efficient, compact, and eco-
nomical devices used to control power flow and provide quality ity by controlling the power conversion between the dc bus
supply. VSIs can be classified as voltage-controlled VSIs (VCVSIs) of bi-directional VSIs and the available grid [12], [13]. The
and current-controlled VSIs (CCVSIs), depending on their con- bi-directional VSIs can be further classified into VCVSIs and
trol mechanism. In this paper, a detailed comparison of VCVSIs CCVSIs, depending on their control mechanism [14]. In DGS,
and CCVSIs for DGS applications is presented. This paper exam- VCVSIs use the amplitude and phase of an inverter out-
ines the advantages and limitations of each control technique in
a single-phase DGS, without incorporating additional hardware put voltage relative to the grid voltage to control the power
and/or extra complex control techniques. Discussions on the con- flow [15]. In VCVSIs, the desired current flow is generated
cepts, hypotheses, and computer simulations of different VSIs in by controlling the voltage across the decoupling inductor. The
the presence of different loads and conditions are presented. The CCVSI uses switching instants to generate the desired current
experimental results confirm the validity of the analysis and simu- flow in the VSI’s inductor filter, using instantaneous current
lations outlined. The paper provides design recommendations for
the use of VCVSIs and CCVSIs in various applications. feedback [16].
There are advantages and limitations associated with each
Index Terms—DC–AC power conversion, energy conversion, control mechanism. For instance, VCVSIs provide voltage sup-
power conditioner, power electronics.
port to the load (the VSI operating as a voltage source), while
CCVSIs provide current support (the VSI operating as a cur-
I. INTRODUCTION rent source). The CCVSI is faster in response compared to the
VCVSI, as its power flow is controlled by the switching instant,
UE to improvement in technologies, electrical power can
D be generated more efficiently and closer to the point
of consumption. Additionally, distributed generation systems
whereas in the VCVSI, the power flow is controlled by adjusting
the voltage across the decoupling inductor. Active and reactive
power is controlled independently in the CCVSI, but are coupled
(DGS) enable alternative energy sources (AES) to easily utilize in the VCVSI. Generally, the advantages of one type of VSIs
and supplement fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources (RES) are considered as a limitation of the other type. In this paper,
(e.g., solar, wind, biomass, wave, hydropower, etc.) can play a a detailed comparison of VCVSIs and CCVSIs is investigated
major role in the preservation of our underground resources and for DGS under various conditions. The experimental results on
the reduction of air pollutants. DGS based on RES have been a scaled-down version (1 kVA) of DGS, confirm the validity of
known to be one of the most cost-effective, reliable, and durable theoretical and simulation studies. The design consideration and
power systems to provide energy saving and noninterrupted summary of different VSI controls is presented in Section V.
power with high power quality [1]–[5]. DGS can be classi-
fied further into stand-alone and grid connected systems (series
and parallel processing), according to the output of the voltage II. PARALLEL PROCESSING DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
source inverters (VSIs) and connection to other ac sources and SYSTEMS
loads [6]. Typical examples of other ac sources are any avail-
able grid (strong, weak, or diesel grids) or other DGS sources. A typical configuration of the parallel processing DGS using
VSIs are inherently efficient, compact, and economical and offer a VSI is shown in Fig. 1. This system consists of a VSI, which
is connected in parallel to the grid for a CCVSI and through a
decoupling inductor for a VCVSI. It is generally expected that
Manuscript received October 25, 2005; revised February 7, 2006. This work the VSI performs the following functions in DGS [7], [17]–[19]:
was supported in part by the Australian Research Council under Grant LP 1) Load voltage stabilization (±5% voltage regulation) in
0348994 and in part by the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of the Ministry of both parallel processing and stand-alone modes;
Commerce, Industry & Energy (MOCIE). Paper no. TEC-00360-2005.
S.-H. Ko and S. R. Lee are with the School of Electronic & Information 2) Uninterruptible power supply (UPS);
Engineering, Kunsan National University, Kunsan 573-701, Korea. 3) Reactive power support—grid power conditioning includ-
H. Dehbonei and C. V. Nayar are with the Department of Electrical and ing power factor correction (>0.9) and harmonics miti-
Computer Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, Perth 6854, Australia
(e-mail: dehbonei@ieee.org). gation (THD<5%) (only in parallel processing mode) as
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEC.2006.877371 per IEEE standard 1159 [17];
Fig. 3. Phasor diagram of a VCVSI-based DGS with resistive load and grid
is responsible for supplying the active power.
Fig. 7. Control block diagram of the CCVSI-based DGS used in the simula-
tions and experiments.
TABLE I
SIMULATION CONDITIONS AND SELECTED PARAMETERS WHERE L m IS THE
DECOUPLING INDUCTOR, L f IS THE FILTER INDUCTOR, AND C f IS THE FILTER
CAPACITOR
Fig. 10. The harmonic spectrum of the grid current in the absence and presence
of VSIs supplying nonlinear load. (a) Without power conditioning. (b) VCVSI.
loads (Fig. 11). It was assumed that at 30 ms the grid fails and (c) CCVSI.
both VSIs had to supply the load. As it is shown, before grid
failure the VCVSI supplied the reactive power demanded by
the nonlinear load and the rest of the reactive power demanded nonlinear loads, without extra feedback and complex control
by the decoupling inductor supplied by the grid (when both the algorithms [8].
grid and the VCVSI voltages were identical). This figure shows
that the VCVSI picked up the load rapidly after the grid failed
C. DSM Function in DGS
[Fig. 11(a)]. Fig. 11(b) shows that the CCVSI provides/absorbs
almost all the nonlinear current to/from the load before grid In RES-based DGS, it is required to give priority of supply
failure and full load current afterwards to supply the load. It is to the RES and reduce the share of the grid to supply the load.
shown in the presence of a nonlinear load that a CCVSI cannot If the RES is not enough, then both the RES and the grid will
provide and maintain a sinusoidal voltage waveform even with supply the load demand. Fig. 12 illustrates the case that the grid
extra voltage feedback [Fig. 11(b)]. However, the VCVSI can is the only available source to supply the required active power
provide the required voltage support and UPS function, even in demanded by the linear load (100% of 1 kw) and suddenly,
the presence of a nonlinear load and without the need for extra when the RES becomes available (50%), allows the RES to
feedback or load estimation control algorithms. take part and supply 50% of the load demand. Fig. 12(a) shows
It is shown that in the presence of a nonlinear load, the VCVSI that the VCVSI maintains load voltage while the RES begins to
can maintain the load voltage VTHD at 11.2% while the load supply 50% of the load demand. In this case, the grid current is
current ITHD is 50.7%. These values can be read as high as reduced to 50% while the load current is maintained at 100%.
36.3% load voltage VTHD and as low as 0.7% load current Hence, the load does not detect any abnormality in the supply.
ITHD in CCVSI and stand-alone operations. The significance Fig. 12(b) shows that a CCVSI can perform DSM and supply
of this data is that both the VCVSI and the CCVSI cannot the load (at 50%) in the same way as a VCVSI. The delay in the
compensate low-order harmonics of the load voltage in order power waveforms in Fig. 12 are due to the existence of a low
to meet IEEE standards (eg., 1159 and 944) in the presence of pass filter in the power meter used for power measurements in
KO et al.: APPLICATION OF VOLTAGE- AND CCVSIs FOR DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SYSTEMS 787
Fig. 11. UPS mode waveform results of a DGS in the presence of nonlinear
load. (a) VCVSI. (b) CCVSI.
Fig. 12. Waveform results of demand side management in DGS (grid supplies
linear load from 100% to 50%). (a) VCVSI. (b) CCVSI.
C. Reactive Power Support, Active Filtering and Power Factor VSI’s control techniques in the presence of different loads and
Correction provides design recommendations for the use of VCVSIs and
As the active and reactive powers are coupled in a VCVSI, CCVSIs in various applications. The experimental results verify
the theoretical analysis and computer simulations.
it generally offers poor power factor correction performance at
low load, or when the grid voltage is different from the volt-
age of the load/VCVSI. In contrast, a CCVSI provides good ACKNOWLEDGMENT
reactive power support and decoupling from the active power. The authors are grateful to Curtin University of Technology
This capability enables CCVSIs to perform at unity power fac- for providing opportunities to carry out this research. This work
tor and to mitigate low-order harmonics effectively. Therefore, was supported in part by the Australian Research Council un-
CCVSIs are recommended for those applications where reactive der Grant LP 0348994 and partly by the Post-doctoral Fellow-
power support, including unity power factor operation or active ship Program of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy
filtering is the main goal, (i.e., active power line conditioners (MOCIE).
(APLC) [25], [26]).
[16] L. J. Borle, M. S. Dymond, and C. V. Nayar, “Development and testing Seong R. Lee received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees
of a 20-KW grid interactive photovoltaic power conditioning system in in electrical engineering from Myong-Ji University,
Western Australia,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 502–508, Seoul, Korea in 1980 and 1982, respectively, and
Mar.–Apr. 1997. the Ph.D. degree from Chonbuk National University,
[17] Monitoring Electric Power Quality, IEEE Standard 1159, 1995. IEEE Jeonju, Korea, in 1988.
Standards Board. From 1997 to 1998, he was the Visiting Professor
[18] The Application and Testing of Uninterruptible Power Supplies for Power with the Department of Electrical and Computer En-
Generating Stations, ANSI/IEEE Standard 944, 1985. gineering at Virginia Tech, VA. From 2002 to 2004,
[19] M. Ashari, W. W. L. Keerthipala, and C. V. Nayar, “A single phase par- he was the Director of Engineering Research Institute
allel connected uninterruptible power supply/demand side management at Kunsan National University, Kunsan, Korea. Since
system,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 97–102, Mar. 1990, he is a Professor with the School of Electron-
2000. ics and Information Engineering at Kunsan National University Currently, he is
[20] P. C. Loh, M. J. Newman, D. N. Zmood, and D. G. Holmes, “Improved working as a Visiting Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer
transient and steady state voltage regulation for single and three phase Engineering at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia. His current re-
uninterruptible power supplies,” presented at the IEEE 32nd Annu. Power search interests include soft-switching inverter, power factor correction, switch
Electronics Specialists Conf. (PESC’01), Jun. 17–21, vol. 2, pp. 498–503. mode power supply, and renewable energy based distributed generation systems.
[21] D. N. Zmood and D. G. Holmes, “Improved voltage regulation for current-
source inverters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 1028–1036,
Jul.–Aug. 2001.
[22] H. Dehbonei, C. V. Nayar, and L. Borle, “A multifunctional power pro-
cessing unit for an off-grid PV diesel hybrid power system,” presented at
the IEEE 35th Ann. Power Electronics Specialists Conf. (PESC’04), Jun.
21–25, vol. 3, pp. 1969–1975. Hooman Dehbonei (S’01–M’03) received the B.Sc.
[23] R. L. Vasquez-Arnez and L. C. Zanetta, Jr., “Compensation strategy of and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the
autotransformers and parallel lines performance, assisted by the UPFC,” Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran,
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 20, no. 2, pt. 2, pp. 1550–1557, Apr. 2005. Iran in 1992 and 1997, respectively, and Ph.D. de-
[24] H.-L. Jou, J.-C. Wu, C. Tsai, K.-D. Wu, and M.-S. Huang, “Novel line- gree from Curtin University of Technology, Perth,
interactive uninterruptible power supply,” δ/b Proc. IEE Elect. Power Australia, in 2003.
Appl., vol. 151, no. 3, pp. 359–364, May 2004. Presently, he is an Australian Research Council
[25] P. Salmeron and J. R. Vazquez, “Practical design of a three-phase active Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Electri-
power-line conditioner controlled by artificial neural networks,” IEEE cal and Computer Engineering at Curtin University
Trans. Power Del., vol. 20, no. 2, pt. 1, pp. 1037–1044, Apr. 2005. of Technology. He is a Chartered Professional En-
[26] H. C. Lin, “Intelligent neural-network-based adaptive power-line condi- gineer and National Professional Engineers Register
tioner for real-time harmonics filtering,” IEE Proc. Gen., Transm. Distrib., with the Institute of Engineers, Australia. His current research interests include
vol. 151, no. 5, pp. 561–567, Sep. 13, 2004. power systems (design, analysis, quality, and control), power electronics (its
application in power systems and renewable energy), renewable energy, and
hybrid/distributed generation systems.