A General Wireless Strategy for Load Sharing Among Dissimilar

Paralleled Inverters

Ebrahim Farjah, Sadegh Mahmoodi, Teymoor Ghanbari

Shiraz University
Department of ECE, Eng. Building No. 1, Zand Ave.
Shiraz, Iran
Tel.: +98 /(917) – 311.62.78
Fax: +98 / (711) – 230.30.81
E-Mail: farjah@shirazu.ac.ir
URL: http://www.shirazu.ac.ir

Keywords
«Load sharing control», «Microgrid», «Parallel operation», «Voltage Source Inverters (VSI)».

Abstract
In this paper a general improved wireless load sharing controller for a modular inverter system is
proposed. Unlike conventional approaches, the proposed method is able to shares power accurately
between N dissimilar paralleled inverters. Furthermore, it could remove high dependency on inverter
output impedance and provide good output voltage regulation. Different simulation and experimental
results are provided to validate the performance of the proposed method.

Introduction
Nowadays, due to some requirement such as high reliability, flexibility, and large capacity, interest in
modular power system is rapidly increasing [1]. In modular structure system, for a fixed power
capability the power density handled by each module and also device stress can be degraded by
increasing the number of inverter units. Various control schemes for such a parallel inverter system
have been recommended in literature [2]. In general, considering the use of control wire
interconnections, these control techniques can be classified into the methods based on active load
sharing [3-7] and the methods based on droop scheme [8-14].
Although, the active load sharing techniques provide precise load sharing and good output voltage
regulation, their intercommunication links reduce the system reliability and expandability. The droop
control method, known as wireless or independent method, is a very interesting scheme because it
does not depend on intercommunication signals among the inverters, and also constitutes a truly
distributed system.
Parallel operation of N inverters with different both power ratings and parameters is one of the main
challenges of the conventional wireless approaches. In this case, one or more modules may handle an
excessive load current. Conventional scheme has some other weaknesses such as high dependency on
the inverter output impedance and trade-off between accurate load sharing and voltage regulation [11].
In this paper, a general efficient wireless controller for paralleled inverters is proposed, which rectifies
the aforementioned problem relevant to the conventional schemes. In the proposed strategy, not only
power sharing is achieved without any communication links among the paralleled inverters, but also
an accurate power sharing between different modules and good output voltage regulation are provided.
Furthermore, the high dependency on output impedance is removed.
Rest of the paper is organized as follows: The principle of load sharing among the paralleled inverters,
the proposed strategy, and simulation and experiment results are given in the next sections. Finally,
conclusions are presented in the last section.
Main Concept of Load Sharing Among Paralleled Inverters
A Distributed Generation (DG) system is made up of different kind of resources, such as solar panels,
fuel cells, speed wind turbines, and Power Electronic Interfaces (PEIs) which transfer energy to the
local AC busbar. Fig. 1 depicts the equivalent circuit of an inverter connected to a load bus.

Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of an inverter connected to a common AC bus.

According to this figure the active and reactive power injected to the load can be expressed as follows
[11]:
EV V2 EV
P=( cos δ − ) cos θ + sin δ sin θ (1)
Z Z Z

EV V2 EV
Q=( cos δ − ) sin θ − sin δ cos θ (2)
Z Z Z
Considering (1) and (2), output impedance angle (θ) determines the control strategy as shown in
Table I [11].
Table I: Output impedance angle impact on control strategy
Output impedance Control strategy m n
ω = ω * − mP δω δE
Inductive (θ=90) *
E = E − nQ P* 2Q*
ω = ω* + mQ δω δE
Resistive (θ=0) *
*
E = E − nP 2Q P*

Due to the Table I, for parallel operation of N inverters with different parameters, different controller
must be designed. In the next section, a general wireless scheme will be introduced, which is able to
provide an accurate power sharing between dissimilar inverters.

Proposed scheme
A configuration of N paralleled single-phase inverters and the proposed control schemes are shown in
Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, respectively. In this technique the capacitor of LC filter regarded as a load so
inductor currents and capacitors voltage are measured and used.
According to Fig. 2 and virtual output impedance loop in Fig. 3 the following equation will be
realized:

voi = vref i − ( Routput i + sLi + rLi )ii (3)

Therefore:

Zoutput i = Routput i + sLi + rLi (4)

Above equation implies that the large gain value of Routput i degraded the effect of the inductance and
the output impedance forces become resistive with a desired value. Also, it is conceivable to design
the output impedance to fulfill the following condition:
 S1Routput 1 = S2 Routput 2 = ... = Si Routput i (5)

where Si is the power rating.

Load

Fig. 2. Power stage of N paralleled single-phase inverters.

ROutput i

1 Ei
Ke i
s

1 ω i t + δ i vref i = 2 Ei sin(ω i t + δ i )
Kf i
s

1
2π
s
Fig. 3. Block diagram of the proposed strategy

It is confirmed that the output impedances of inverters with different parameters could be designed as
a virtual resistive type. From (1), and (2) the active and reactive powers for inverter with resistive
output impedance can be calculated as:

EV V2
P= cos δ − (6)
R R

EV
Q=− sin δ (7)
R

The input of the integrator in the steady state should be zero, so considering voltage regulation parts in
Fig. 3:

Voi = E* (8)
The above equation indicates that the recommended controller is able to preserve the output voltage at
the preferred values in different conditions such as load change.
Active power sharing
In the proposed method, if the gains Ke and Kf are selected the same for paralleled inverters (i.e.
Ke1=Ke2=…=Kei and Kf1=Kf2=…=Kfi) then:

E1 = E2 = .... = Ei = E (9)

ω1 = ω2 = ... = ωi = ω (10)

δ1 = δ 2 = ... = δ i = δ (11)

Due to (6), (8), (9), and (11):

1 output 1 = P2 Routput 2 = ... = PR

PR i output i
(12)

Thus, (5) and (12) express that the active powers share accurately in proportion to their power rating
i.e.:

P1 P2 P
= = ... = i (13)
S1 S 2 Si

Reactive power sharing

From (7), (8), (9), and (11):

Routput 1Q1 = Routput 2Q2 = ... = Routput i Qi (14)

According to (5) and (14)

Q1 Q2 Q
= = ... = i (15)
S1 S2 Si

Equation (15) represents that the reactive powers share precisely in proportion to their power rating. It
is verified that the proposed method is able to shares power accurately among N paralleled inverter
with different both ratings and parameters.

Simulation and Experimental Results

In order to prove the performance of the proposed scheme, four dissimilar single-phase paralleled
inverters are simulated. Inverters and controller parameters for power sharing are tabulated in Table II,
and III, respectively.
The simulations were carried out for a load step change. In the first step, a load which is listed in
Table II was connected to the inverters. In order to create a step change in the load, at t=4 sec. a load
of about previous load is connected in paralleled with the pervious load as the load step change. At
t=7 sec. the load step change is removed.
Fig. 4 shows the relevant results for the same power sharing ratio of the inverters (1:1). Fig. 4a depicts
the active power of the four inverters. This figure shows that the four inverters have the same active
power about 2 kW. It can be observed that at t=4 sec. the active power of all inverters become 4 kW
with a fast response time, and at t=7 sec. when paralleled load is removed the active powers quickly
reach to their first value.
Since in the proposed method the capacitor of each inverter is regarded as a part of the load, the
reactive powers relevant to these capacitors will be added to the load. Fig. 4b shows the reactive
powers of the inverters. This figure depicts that all inverters have the same reactive power about
1kVar and also shows that during the load change the reactive powers of all inverters are

Table II: Parameters of four dissimilar inverters

Inverters parameters #1 #2 #3 #4
DC input (V) 320 320 320 320
Inductor (mH) 3.3 3 4.5 5
Inductor resistance (Ω) 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.5
Capacitor (μF) 22 24 20 18
Capacitor resistance (Ω) 0.2 0.25 0.15 0.28
Switching frequency (kHz) 10 10 10 10
Load
RMS nominal voltage (V) 220
P (W) 8000
QC (Var) 323
QL (Var) 5600

Table III: Control parameters for load sharing among four dissimilar inverters
Inverter parameters #1 #2 #3 #4
Nominal frequency (Hz) 50 50 50 50
RMS output voltage (V) 220 220 220 220
Ke 50 50 50 50
Kf 2 2 2 2
Same power sharing ratio
Routput 12 12 12 12
Different power sharing ratio
Routput 9 10.8 18 27

about 2319.25 Var. Fig. 4c shows the currents of the four inverters. Because the output impedances of
all inverters force to be resistive, the currents are in phase with the same amplitude. Fig. 4d depicts the
output voltage of the inverters. As shown in this figure, load voltage remains constant during the load
step change, so the output voltage regulation has been preserved.
To approve the performance of the proposed technique other power sharing ratio is investigated,
which the corresponding results are shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5a shows the active power of the four
inverters. This figure depicts that the active power of the inverter #1, #2, #3, and #4 are 3 kW, 2.5 kW,
1.5 kW, and 1 kW, respectively. At t=4 sec., when the load step change occurs, the active powers of
the inverter #1, #2, #3, and #4 become 6 kW, 5 kW, 3 kW, and 2 kW, respectively. At t=7 sec., the
load step change is removed and these values rapidly decreased to their first values. Fig. 5b shows that
the reactive power of the inverter #1, #2, #3, and #4 are 1.5 kVar, 1.25 kVar, 0.75 kVar, and 0.5 kVar,
respectively. Furthermore, this figure shows that during the load step change, the reactive powers of
all inverters are quickly increased proportionally. Fig. 5c and Fig. 5d show the current and output
voltage, respectively. It can be observed that the proposed controller is able to preserve the output
voltage at the preferred values in different conditions such as load change. These figures denote that
the step changes in the active and reactive power are only related to the step change in the inverters
current.
In order to show the practical feasibility of the proposed technique, a set of single-phase paralleled
inverters is implemented experimentally in lab for a low power case. Inverters and controller
parameters for different power sharing ratio (for instance 2:1) are given in Table IV.
 Table IV: Inverter and controller parameters for load sharing among two inverters
Parameters Inverter #1 Inverter #2
DC input (V) 35 35
Nominal frequency (Hz) 14 14
RMS Output voltage 50 50
Inductor (mH) 3.3 5
Inductor resistance (Ω) 0 1
Capacitor (μF) 22 22
Ke 60 60
Kf 4 4
Routput 40 80

In this experiment the inverters are controlled by a PCI_1711U. Because of the hardware limitation,
the switching frequency was set at 1050 Hz. The experiments were carried out for a load step change
as well. Primarily, a load of about 10 Ω was connected to the inverters. In order to create a step change
in the load, at t=3.2 sec. a resistance load of about 10 Ω is connected in paralleled with the previous
load. At t=6.8 the step load change is removed. The experimental results related to the proposed
scheme are given in Fig. 6. These figures represented that this approach is able to shares the power
accurately among dissimilar paralleled inverters.

Conclusion
In this paper a general wireless load sharing controller for dissimilar paralleled inverters is proposed.
In this strategy, proportional load sharing among N different paralleled inverter is accurately achieved.
Simulation and experimental results confirm the performance of the general proposed control
approach.

8000 7000 7000 4000 3000 3000

6000
5000
6000
5000
P1 Q1
7000 4000 4000
P2
2000 2000
Q2
3000 3000
2000 2000
P3 1000 1000
Q3
Reactive Power [Var]

6000 1000 1000 3000

Active Power [W]

0
3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2
0
6.8 6.9 7 7.1 7.2 P4 0
3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2
0
6.8 6.9 7 7.1 7.2 Q4
5000
4000 2000
3000
2000 1000
1000
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time [sec.] time [sec.]

a) Active Power b) Reactive Power

75 45 45 900 450 450
30 30 i1 300 300

60 15
0
15
0 i2 750 150
0
150
0
-15
-15
i3 600
-150 -150

45 -30 -30 -300 -300

-45 -45
i4 -450 -450
3.9 3.95 4 4.05 4.1 6.9 6.95 7 7.05 7.1
450 3.9 3.95 4 4.05 4.1 6.9 6.95 7 7.05 7.1
Current [A]

Voltage [V]

30
300
15
150
0
0
-15 -150
-30 -300
-45 -450
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time [sec.] time [sec.]

c) Current d) Output voltage

Fig. 4. Simulation results related to four dissimilar inverters with load step change. (Same power sharing
ratio)
 10000 7000 7000 6000 4000 4000
6000 6000
P1 Q1
9000 5000 5000 3000 3000
4000
3000
4000
3000
P2 5000 2000 2000 Q2
8000 2000 2000
P3 Q3

Reactive Power [Var]

1000 1000
1000 1000
Active Power [W]

7000 0 0
P4 0 0
Q4
3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 6.8 6.9 7 7.1 7.2
4000 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 6.8 6.9 7 7.1 7.2

6000
5000 3000
4000
2000
3000
2000
1000
1000
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time [sec.] time [sec.]

a) Active Power b) Reactive Power

90 45 45
900 450 450

30 30 i1 300 300

75 15 15 750 150 150

0 0 i2 0 0
-150 -150
60
-15
-30
-15
-30 i3 600 -300 -300
-45 -45
i4 450
-450
3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2
-450
6.8 6.9 7 7.1 7.2
45 3.9 3.95 4 4.05 4.1 6.9 6.95 7 7.05 7.1

Voltage [V]
Current [A]

30 300
15 150
0 0
-15 -150
-30 -300
-45 -450
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time [sec.] time [sec.]

c) Current d) Output voltage

Fig. 5. Simulation results related to four dissimilar inverters with load step change. (Different power Sharing
ratio)

50 30 2 2
25 30 P1 4 0 0 Q1
20
15
20 P2 -2
-2 Q2
40 10 10 -4
-4

2 -6
Reactive Power [Var]

5
3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 7 -6
Active Power [W]

3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 7

30 0

20 -2

-4
10

-6
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time [sec.] time [sec.]

a) Active Power b) Reactive Power

5 2
50 30 30
2
i1 20 20
10
10
4 0 0 i2 40 0 0
-10
-10
-20
-2 -2 -20
3 -30 -30
3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 7 30 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 7
Output voltage [V]

3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

2
Current [A]

20

1 10

0 0

-1 -10

-2 -20

-3 -30
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time [sec.] time [sec.]

c) Current d) Output voltage

Fig. 6. Experimental results related to two dissimilar inverters with load step change. (Different power
Sharing ratio)
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