A combined active anti-islanding method for photovoltaic systems

In a modern power system, photovoltaic as distributed generated source is growing larger and it can cause a variety of problems. The most important problem is that of the islanding phenomenon. In order to prevent islanding phenomenon, three kinds of active islanding detection methods have been studied. These are, respectively, to change magnitude, frequency, and the start phase of inverter output current. Among those, both a frequency variation method and a start-phase variation anti-islanding method make the islanding frequency drift away from the trip window of the frequency relay if islanding occurs. This paper presents a novel combined active anti-islanding method, which consists of a frequency variation method active frequency drift (AFD) and a start-phase variation method slip-mode frequency shift (SMS). Clearly, the proposed anti-islanding method shows the islanding detection ability to IEEE 1547 Standard. To validate the performance of the proposed method, simulations and experiments were performed. Possible islanding conditions are implemented with a unity quality factor by the IEEE Standard 1547. The methodology presented can be extended to the other active anti-islanding methods.     

Modeling and design of phase shift anti-islanding method using non-detection zone

Islanding phenomenon of a grid-connected independent generator like a photovoltaic (PV) system occurs when a section of a utility system is disconnected from the main utility voltage source, but the independent generator continues to energize the utility lines in the isolated section. Since islanding causes a safety hazard to utility service personnel and damage to power supply facilities as a result of unsynchronized reclosure, PV inverter is required to have anti-islanding function. In order to prevent this phenomenon, various anti-islanding methods have been studied. Even though phase shift anti-islanding method including slip mode frequency shift (SMS) method and reactive power variation (RPV) method has been regarded as a highly effective anti-islanding method, the analytical design method of that has not been cleared. This paper proposes a design guideline of the phase shift anti-islanding method based on non-detection zone (NDZ). As leading phase shift anti-islanding methods, both SMS and RPV methods are discussed to verify the validity of the proposed method. Both methods are derived analytically through the modeling and verified visually by simulation and experiment under IEEE Std. 929-2000 test condition. It is shown that both methods designed by the proposed method have effectiveness to detect islanding within 2 s and good power quality above 0.99 power factor. The presented methodology in this paper can be extended to design other active anti-islanding methods.     

A review of current anti-islanding methods for photovoltaic power system

Islanding phenomenon is undesirable because it leads to a safety hazard to utility service personnel and may cause damage to power generation and power supply facilities as a result of unsynchronized re-closure. Until now, various anti-islanding methods (AIMs) for detecting and preventing islanding of photovoltaic and other distributed generations (DGs) have been proposed. This paper presents an overview of recent anti-islanding method developments for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) power generation, focusing on the concept and operating principle, mainly based on single phase system. For the performance comparison, the experimental results of the various AIMs with 3 kW PV inverter are provided based on the islanding detection capability and power quality. As a result, the active AIMs have better islanding detection capability rather than the passive one. However, the active AIMs have power quality degradation on harmonic distortion or displacement power factor based on the injected active signal type. In addition to the evaluation and comparison of the main anti-islanding methods, this paper also summarizes the related anti-islanding standards to evaluate anti-islanding capability for PV system. This paper can be used as a useful anti-islanding reference for future work in DG like PV, and wind turbine.     

Virtual inductor-based islanding detection method for grid-connected power inverter of distributed power generation system

An islanding detection method is proposed for a distributed power generation system that comprises a DC power source and a grid-connected power inverter connected in parallel to the utility. Besides serving to generate the fundamental real power, the grid-connected power inverter also acts as a virtual inductor when the frequency is slightly higher than the fundamental voltage frequency of the utility. The distributed power generation system is the only source supplying power to the load when the utility is interrupted; consequently, the amplitude or frequency of the load voltage changes because of the operation of the virtual inductor. Hence, the proposed method can immediately detect the islanding operation. A prototype was developed and tested to demonstrate the performance of the proposed islanding detection method. Experimental results show that the proposed method can detect islanding operations effectively.     

光伏并网系统孤岛检测与防止

分析了光伏并网发电系统的孤岛效应现象.按照孤岛效应的国际通行标准,结合逆变器并网的等效电路给出了相位超前的反孤岛检测方法及其基本原理和实现过程.在孤岛效应下对光伏并网发电系统进行的试验分析表明,超前相位的检测方法能有效地检测出孤岛效应,并且固定的超前相位能有助于缩短阻性和感性负载时的检测时间,达到反孤岛效应的目的.     

Automatic phase-shift method for islanding detection of grid-connected photovoltaic inverters

The traditional frequency-shift methods for islanding detection of grid-connected PV inverters-the active frequency drift method and the slip-mode frequency-shift method-become ineffective under certain paralleled RLC loads. The automatic phase-shift method is proposed in this paper to alleviate this problem. The method is based on the phase shift of the sinusoidal inverter output current. When the utility malfunctions, the phase-shift algorithm keeps the frequency of the inverter terminal voltage deviating until the protection circuit is triggered. Simulation and experiments are performed for verification.     

Study on islanding of dispersed photovoltaic power systems connected to a utility power grid

Photovoltaic (PV) systems and other dispersed power systems need to be connected to a utility power grid for the systems to work effectively as energy sources. Protection against islanding is one of the most important techniques to develop for the dispersed power systems supplying surplus power back to the utility power grid. It is considered that active methods where the outputs of the power systems are actively perturbed are necessary to detect islanding. Various active methods have been developed. It has been shown that these methods work when a single power system is connected to one power distribution line. However, most of these methods have a limit in detecting islanding when multiple power systems are connected to one distribution line. In this paper, we compare the detection characteristics of typical active methods, frequency shift methods, a pulse perturbation method and a method using a correlation technique by simulation analysis for the case of multiple PV power systems. The study shows that the method using the correlation technique is the most promising when multiple power systems are operated on one distribution line.     

Grid-tie three-phase inverter with active power injection and reactive power compensation

This paper proposes a methodology for the active and reactive power flow control, applied to a grid-tie three-phase power inverter, considering local and/or regionalized power flow control necessity in the forthcoming distributed generation scenario. The controllers are designed by means of robust pole placement technique, which is determined using the Linear Matrix Inequalities with D-stability criteria. The linearized models used in the control design are obtained by means of feedback linearization, aiming to reduce system nonlinearities, improve the controller's performance and mitigate potential disturbances. Through multi-loop control, the power loop uses active and reactive power transfer adapted expressions to obtain the magnitude of the voltage and power transfer angle to control the power flow between the distributed generation and the utility grid. The methodology main idea is to obtain the best controllers with the lowest gains as possible placing the poles in the left-half s-plane region, resulting in fast responses with reduced oscillations. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposal a 3 kVA three-phase prototype was implemented and a comparison with conventional controller is performed to demonstrate the proposed methodology performance. In addition, anti-islanding detection and protection against over/under voltage and frequency deviations are demonstrated through experimental results.     

一种具有解耦能力的反激式电流型逆变器

单级微型逆变器因结构简单、成本低而广泛应用于光伏发电。但存在的二倍工频脉动势必造成光伏侧电压、电流较大波动,导致最大功率点跟踪（Maximum Power Point Tracking, MPPT）控制器设计困难。现有采用电解电容的无源解耦方案导致逆变器使用寿命缩短。对此,文章提出一种具有功率解耦能力的反激电流型微型逆变器。该拓扑通过创造功率解耦路径,有效降低了母线电压对电容的依赖,为薄膜电容替换电解电容提供了可能。同时,通过拓扑推演,获得拥有较小电流应力的电路连接方式。最后,搭建100 W的实验样机,证明了所提逆变器的正确性和可行性。     

基于随机森林分类的直流微电网孤岛检测

提出一种基于随机森林分类的直流微电网孤岛检测方法.该方法首先对原始数据进行清洗并提取特征,选择直流母线侧的电压、电流、输出有功功率及3者的一阶后向差分等6个孤岛特性指标作为检测特征,生成特征向量集,然后基于随机森林分类建立直流微电网的孤岛检测模型,实现了孤岛的准确检测,最后与决策树分类法进行比较,随机森林分类法在处理大...     

Photovoltaic solar system connected to the electric power grid operating as active power generator and reactive power compensator

In the case of photovoltaic (PV) systems acting as distributed generation (DG) systems, the DC energy that is produced is fed to the grid through the power-conditioning unit (inverter). The majority of contemporary inverters used in DG systems are current source inverters (CSI) operating at unity power factor. If, however, we assume that voltage source inverters (VSI) can replace CSIs, we can generate reactive power proportionally to the remaining unused capacity at any given time. According to the theory of instantaneous power, the inverter reactive power can be regulated by changing the amplitude of its output voltage. In addition, the inverter active power can be adjusted by modifying the phase angle of its output voltage. Based on such theory, both the active power supply and the reactive power compensation (RPC) can be carried out simultaneously. When the insolation is weak or the PV modules are inoperative at night, the RPC feature of a PV system can still be used to improve the inverter utilisation factor. Some MATLAB simulation results are included here to show the feasibility of the method.     

Grid-connected photovoltaic power systems: Technical and potential problems—A review

Traditional electric power systems are designed in large part to utilize large baseload power plants, with limited ability to rapidly ramp output or reduce output below a certain level. The increase in demand variability created by intermittent sources such as photovoltaic (PV) presents new challenges to increase system flexibility. This paper aims to investigate and emphasize the importance of the grid-connected PV system regarding the intermittent nature of renewable generation, and the characterization of PV generation with regard to grid code compliance. The investigation was conducted to critically review the literature on expected potential problems associated with high penetration levels and islanding prevention methods of grid tied PV. According to the survey, PV grid connection inverters have fairly good performance. They have high conversion efficiency and power factor exceeding 90% for wide operating range, while maintaining current harmonics THD less than 5%. Numerous large-scale projects are currently being commissioned, with more planned for the near future. Prices of both PV and balance of system components (BOS) are decreasing which will lead to further increase in use. The technical requirements from the utility power system side need to be satisfied to ensure the safety of the PV installer and the reliability of the utility grid. Identifying the technical requirements for grid interconnection and solving the interconnect problems such as islanding detection, harmonic distortion requirements and electromagnetic interference are therefore very important issues for widespread application of PV systems. The control circuit also provides sufficient control and protection functions like maximum power tracking, inverter current control and power factor control. Reliability, life span and maintenance needs should be certified through the long-term operation of PV system. Further reduction of cost, size and weight is required for more utilization of PV systems. Using PV inverters with a variable power factor at high penetration levels may increase the number of balanced conditions and subsequently increase the probability of islanding. It is strongly recommended that PV inverters should be operated at unity power factor.     

不平衡电网电压下T型三电平光伏并网逆变器的有限集模型预测控制

为实现电网电压不平衡时对T型三电平光伏并网系统输出功率和电流质量的控制,以达到入网功率平稳或电流正弦为控制目标,结合光伏阵列输出功率前馈,在两相静止坐标系下提出一种直流母线电压外环PI控制、并网电流内环有限集模型预测控制的控制策略,并在电压外环中引入2倍频陷波器以获得平滑的入网功率参考值。仿真结果表明:当电网电压不对称时,采用所提控制策略能够实现对入网有功、无功功率2倍频脉动及负序电流的分别抑制或协调控制,且并网电流谐波畸变小、入网电能质量高,同时实现T型三电平逆变器的中点电位平衡。     

相关技术在并网发电孤岛检测中的应用研究

提出一种基于相关技术的主动式孤岛检测方法,该方法引入一个二进制伪随机信号,使PWM调制正弦波紧随着该信号做相应变化,从而使输出并网公用连接点(PCC)电压具有优良的自相关特性.当并网时,由于PCC点电压受控于电网电压,其自相关函数值很小;当孤岛出现时,其自相关函数值明显变大,根据PCC点电压自相关函数值的大小确定孤岛.实验和仿真结果表明,该方法能有效检测出孤岛,且算法简单,易于实现.     

Unified power quality conditioner based on a three-level NPC inverter using fuzzy control techniques for all voltage disturbances compensation

This paper presents a novel and efficient control scheme for unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) based on three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter using fuzzy logic techniques. The proposed UPQC is capable of mitigating source current harmonics and compensate all voltage disturbances such as voltage sags, swells, unbalances and harmonics. It is designed by the integration of series and shunt active filters (AFs) sharing a common DC bus capacitor. The DC voltage is maintained constant using proportional integral voltage controller. The synchronous reference frame (SRF) theory is used to get the reference signals for shunt active power filters (APFs) and the power reactive theory (p-q theory) for series APFs. The shunt and series APF reference signals derived from the control algorithm and sensed signals are injected in two controllers to generate switching signals. To improve the UPQC capability, fuzzy logic techniques are introduced to control the series APF. The performances of the proposed UPQC system are evaluated in terms of power factor correction, mitigation of voltage or current harmonics and all other voltage disturbances compensation using Matlab-Simulink software and SimPowerSystem toolbox. The simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed UPQC at the common connection point of the nonlinear load to improve the power energy quality.     

New control strategy for 2-stage grid-connected photovoltaic power system

This work deals with the performances and responses of a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) plant in normal and disturbed modes. The system is composed of a solar array, a dc–dc converter and a three-phase inverter connected to the utility grid. On the one hand a suitable control of the dc–dc converter is developed in order to extract the maximum amount of power from the PV generator. On the other hand an active and reactive power control approach (PQ) has been presented for the inverter. This method can provide a current with sinusoidal waveform and ensure a high power factor. Therefore, the grid interface inverter transfers the energy drawn from the PV into the grid by ensuring constant dc link voltage. Modeling and controlling were carried out using the informational graph of causality and the macroscopic energy representation methods. The simulation under MATLAB/SIMULINK and the experimental results show the control performance and dynamic behavior of grid-connected PV system in normal and disturbances modes.     

Evaluation of operation characteristics in multiple interconnection of PV systems

A method for evaluating the operation characteristic of grid-connected PV systems in multiple interconnection was proposed and a suppression of PV electric energy which is reduced by an automatic voltage control unit was estimated using a yearly scale simulation. The automatic voltage control unit is one of the PV inverter functions. In Japan, PV systems must be provided with this function to maintain within 101 V±6 V for the standard voltage of 100 V according to the technical recommendations. The automatic control voltage unit adjusts the distribution-line voltage at a connected point using leading reactive power or active power. Especially, the adjustment of active power will cause a suppression of PV electric energy.     

Digital power factor control and reactive power regulation for grid-connected photovoltaic inverter

The overall efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems connected to the grid depends on the efficiency of direct current (DC) of the solar modules to alternate current (AC) inverter conversion. The requirements for inverter connection include: maximum power point, high efficiency, control power injected into the grid, high power factor and low total harmonic distortion of the currents injected into the grid. An approach to power factor control and reactive power regulation for PV systems connected to the grid using field programmable gate array (FPGA) is proposed. According to the grid demands; both the injected active and reactive powers are controlled.In this paper, a new digital control strategy for a single-phase inverter is carried out. This control strategy is based on the phase shift between the inverter output voltage and the grid voltage, and the digital sinusoidal pulse width modulation (DSPWM) patterns, in order to control the power factor for a wide range of the inverter output current and consequently the control and the regulation of the reactive power will be achieved. The advantage of the proposed control strategy is its implementation around simple digital circuits.In this work, a simulation study of this strategy has been realized using Matlab/Simulink and PSIM. In order to validate its performance, this control has been implemented in a FPGA. Experimental tests have been carried out demonstrating the viability of this control in order to control the power factor and the injected power into the grid.     

Direct power control of grid connected PV systems with three level NPC inverter

This paper presents the control of a three-level Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) voltage source inverter for grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. The control method used is the Extended Direct Power Control (EDPC), which is a generic approach for Direct Power Control (DPC) of multilevel inverters based on geometrical considerations. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms, that allow maximal power conversion into the grid, have been included. These methods are capable of extracting maximum power from each of the independent PV arrays connected to each DC link voltage level. The first one is a conventional MPPT which outputs DC link voltage references to EDPC. The second one is based on DPC concept. This new MPPT outputs power increment references to EDPC, thus avoiding the use of a DC link voltage regulator. The whole control system has been tested on a three-level NPC voltage source inverter connected to the grid and results confirm the validity of the method.     

Improved SMS islanding detection method for grid-connected converters

Islanding detection is a mandatory function for grid-connected converters. The popular slip mode frequency shift (SMS) and auto phase shift active islanding detection methods are investigated and an improved (IM)-SMS strategy is proposed in this study. In the proposed method, additional phase shift is introduced to help in stimulating the action of the islanding detection and the algorithm is simplified as well. When the utility grid is disconnected, the algorithm keeps the frequency of the converter output voltage deviating until the frequency protection relay is triggered. The working principle of the method is introduced and the guidance of parameters selection and optimisation is also provided. The islanding detection performance is evaluated through theoretical analysis and verified by digital simulation and experimental results. The IM-SMS method exhibits features of simplicity, easy implementation and high reliability.