Search Results (23)

The safe and stable operation of distribution networks relies on the real-time monitoring, analysis, and feedback of power quality data. However, with the continuous advancement of distribution network construction, the number of distributed power electronic devices has increased significantly, leading to frequent power quality issues such as voltage fluctuations, harmonic pollution, and three-phase unbalance in distribution terminals. Therefore, the augmentation and processing of power quality data have become crucial for ensuring the stable operation of distribution networks. Traditional methods for augmenting and processing power quality data fail to consider the differentiated characteristics of burrs in signal sequences and neglect the comprehensive consideration of both time-domain and frequency-domain features in disturbance identification. This results in the distortion of high-frequency fault information, and insufficient robustness and accuracy in identifying Power Quality Disturbance (PQD) against the complex noise background of distribution networks. In response to these issues, we propose a power quality data augmentation and processing method for distribution terminals considering high-frequency sampling. Firstly, a burr removal method of the sampling waveform based on a high-frequency filter operator is proposed. By comprehensively considering the characteristics of concavity and convexity in both burr and normal waveforms, a high-frequency filtering operator is introduced. Additional constraints and parameters are applied to suppress sequences with burr characteristics, thereby accurately eliminating burrs while preserving the key features of valid information. This approach avoids distortion of high-frequency fault information after filtering, which supports subsequent PQD identification. Secondly, a PQD identification method based on a dual-channel time–frequency feature fusion network is proposed. The PQD signals undergo an S-transform and period reconfiguration to construct matrix image features in the time–frequency domain. Finally, these features are input into a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a Transformer encoder to extract highly coupled global features, which are then fused through a cross-attention mechanism. The identification results of PQD are output through a classification layer, thereby enhancing the robustness and accuracy of disturbance identification against the complex noise background of distribution networks. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves optimal burr removal and disturbance identification accuracy. Full article

Voltage notches are steady-state sub-cycle waveform distortions caused by the normal operation of line-commutated power converters, significantly impacting power quality in industrial low-voltage (LV) networks. Despite their common occurrence, research on this phenomenon is still incipient, and realistic simulation platforms are lacking. This paper introduces a detailed MATLAB (R2024a)/Simulink-based simulation platform that models a benchmark low-voltage industrial installation, including a six-pulse controlled rectifier, linear loads, and a capacitor bank for power factor correction. Systematic simulations are performed with the platform to examine the sensitivity of notch characteristics to key parameters within plausible ranges, such as short-circuit power at the point of common coupling, commutation reactance, firing angle, snubber circuits, and rated power of the rectifier. In addition, parameters such as the rated power of linear loads and the compensation power of the capacitor bank are examined. Other influencing parameters including background voltage unbalance and distortion are also modeled and considered. A comparative analysis with field measurements from German industrial LV networks validates the plausibility and suitability of the simulations. Building upon this platform, a Monte Carlo simulation approach is adopted to generate extensive datasets of realistic voltage notch waveforms by randomly varying these key parameters. A case study conducted under conditions typical of German LV networks demonstrates the applicability of the simulations. To support further research, the simulation platform and exemplary synthetic waveforms are provided alongside the paper, serving as a valuable tool for testing and designing strategies for analysis, detection, and monitoring of voltage notches. Full article

The growth of renewables in public energy networks requires suitable strategies to assess the stable operation of the respective power electronic devices, e.g., inverters. Different assessment methods can be performed with regard to the available knowledge and the assessment objective, e.g., a specific frequency range or the input signal characteristics that are typically classified into small-signal and large-signal disturbances. This paper addresses the limits of the measurement-based small-signal stability analysis in the harmonic frequency range of commercially available single-phase inverters for photovoltaic applications. The harmonic stability is analyzed, and the results for a sinusoidal background voltage and distorted background voltages are assessed based on measurements. The measurements prove that even in the harmonic frequency range, the harmonic stability analysis can only provide a sufficient but not a necessary condition in terms of the statement towards an instable operation. Full article

AC/DC converters, controlled by pulse width modulation (PWM) and used as power factor correction (PFC), is considered one of the main contributors to emissions in the range 2 kHz–150 kHz, recently known as the supraharmonic (SH) range. This study looks at the impact of SH grid distortion on the LF (<2 kHz) and HF (>2 kHz) emission of an AC/DC converter. The PFC boost converter is used as a particular case for validation of the results. It is observed that the AC/DC converters emit additional LF interharmonics and subharmonics when the grid voltage contains interharmonic components in the SH range. A mathematical analysis is provided to study and assess the interference between the SH in the background distortion and the AC/DC converters. Experimental studies are then performed for a PFC boost setup based on dSPACE MicroLabBox for the purposes of validating the mathematical analysis. Full article

This paper presents a current control design for stabilizing an inductive-capacitive-inductive (LCL)-filtered grid-connected inverter (GCI) system under uncertain grid impedance and distorted grid environment. To deal with the negative impact of grid impedance, LC-type grid impedance is considered in both the system model derivation and controller design process of an LCL-filtered GCI system. In addition, the integral and resonant control terms are also augmented into the system model in the synchronous reference frame to guarantee the reference tracking of zero steady-state error and good harmonic disturbance compensation of the grid-injected currents from GCI. By considering the effect of grid impedance on the control design process, an incomplete state feedback controller will be designed based on the linear-quadratic regulator (LQR) without damaging the asymptotic stabilization and robustness of the GCI system under uncertain grid impedance. By means of the closed-loop pole map evaluation, the asymptotic stability, robustness, and resonance-damping capability of the proposed current control scheme are confirmed even when all the system states are not available. In order to reduce the number of required sensors for the realization of the controller, a discrete-time current-type full-state observer is employed in this paper to estimate the system state variables with high precision. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme are demonstrated by the PSIM simulations and experiments by using a three-phase GCI prototype system under adverse grid conditions. The comprehensive evaluation results show that the designed control scheme maintains the stability and robustness of the LCL-filtered GCI when connecting to unexpected grids, such as harmonic distortion and L-type and LC-type grid impedances. As a result, the proposed control scheme successfully stabilizes the entire GCI system with high-quality grid-injected currents even when the GCI faces severe grid distortions and an extra grid dynamic caused by the L-type or LC-type grid impedance. Furthermore, low-order distortion harmonics come from the background grid voltages and are maintained as acceptable limits according to the IEEE Std. 1547-2003. Comparative test result with the conventional one also confirms the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme under LC-type grid impedance thanks to the consideration of LC grid impedance in the design process. Full article

With the ongoing development of electronic power technologies, harmonic pollution in the power grid has become a topic of great concern. This study takes a substation as its background. The safe and steady operation of the station’s equipment was impacted by a 10 kV bus’s harmonic current, which was significantly higher than the required amount. We propose a sliding-mode current decoupling control strategy based on an internal model to address the problems of complex harmonic current detection and distortion in the power supply current when there are nonlinear load changes in hybrid active power filters. By establishing a mathematical model for a HAPF, our proposed strategy can be used for inner current loops with the goal of stability, decoupling control between the d- and q-axes, fast-tracking harmonic reference currents, and optimizing the controller by enhancing the system’s anti-jamming performance to ensure that the system operates stably when line parameter ingressions or step changes in the load demand occur. The outer voltage loop uses the fractional-order sliding-mode control method to keep the capacitor voltage smooth and to dynamically adjust when the load changes suddenly. Finally, this filter is compared with a filter controlled by a PI in MATLAB/Simulink, and the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy are verified based on a diode-embedded three-level parallel-type HAPF platform. The simulation and experimental results show that our sliding-mode current decoupling control strategy based on the internal mode is characterized by simplicity, stability, and fast responses. Full article

This paper discusses the issues of assessing the influence of external distortion sources on the functioning of a shunt passive harmonic filter. In this study, we evaluated the overload of a passive harmonic filter based on determining the contributions of distortion sources. A method was proposed for assessing the contributions of distortion sources, which allowed us, regardless of background distortions, to determine the contributions of consumer loads, as well as the contribution of background distortions. The simulation was carried out using the Simulink MatLab software (version R2023a). Several scenarios were considered in which the following values were varied: supply feeder impedance, level of background distortions, consumer electrical load composition, and passive filter parameters. It was found that the contribution of the background distortion source decreases with increasing impedance of the supply grid. It was determined that the consumer load contribution is independent of background voltage harmonics and can be used to estimate the overload of a passive harmonic filter. It was shown that it is necessary to take into account the overload of the passive filter by currents from background distortion sources, which did not exceed 135% of the rated rms current for the conditions under consideration. A mathematical model was proposed to estimate the overload of a passive filter in the presence of background voltage distortions. This model was obtained during analytical studies and allows one to evaluate the overload of a passive filter, taking into account the short circuit ratio, detuning frequency and power of the passive filter, and the share contribution of background distortion sources. Full article

The proportion of distributed generation systems in power grids is increasing, leading to the gradual emergence of weak grid characteristics. Moreover, using voltage-sourced grid-connected inverters can enhance the stability of a weak grid. However, due to the presence of background harmonics in weak grids, the grid voltage can cause significant distortions in the grid-connected current, which adversely affects the quality of the grid-connected current. This paper begins by briefly introducing the principle of the virtual synchronous generator (VSG). Then, the output current of the voltage source inverter is analyzed to elucidate the mechanism of harmonic current generation. Considering the distortion in the grid-connected current of the voltage source grid-connected inverter caused by background harmonics in the grid voltage, a harmonic current suppression strategy based on an adaptive virtual harmonic resistor is proposed. The proposed strategy employs a signal separation module based on multiple second-order generalized integrators connected through a cross-feedback network. This module effectively separates the fundamental and harmonic currents from the grid-connected current, extracts the amplitudes of the fundamental and harmonic currents through coordinate transformation, and adaptively adjusts the virtual harmonic resistance magnitude through the negative feedback control of the harmonic content (the ratio of the harmonic current amplitude to the fundamental current amplitude). These measures are used to enhance the quality of the grid-connected current. Additionally, the stability of the system is analyzed using the root locus of the open-loop transfer function. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through a combination of MATLAB/Simulink simulations and experimental results. Full article

In response to the problems of impedance variation and rich background harmonics in the weak grid environment of traditional LCL grid-connected inverters, which cause distortion of the grid-connected current and reduce the stability of the entire grid-connected system, this paper proposes a passive fuzzy-active disturbance rejection control strategy. Firstly, passivity-based control (PBC) is introduced into the grid-connected inverter system to ensure the global stability of the entire system. Secondly, in order to solve the problem of difficult selection of inverter-side current, active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is used to directly track the grid-connected current, avoiding the tracking error of AC signal and suppressing the interference of background harmonics of grid voltage. The combination of fuzzy control and ADRC simplifies the system parameter tuning process, and the FUZZY-ADRC grid-connected current outer loop and PBC inductance current inner loop are combined to form a multi-loop control system. Finally, simulation comparison verifies that the proposed control strategy can effectively suppress the harmonics of grid-connected current, improve the quality of grid-connected current, and enhance the stability of the entire grid-connected system in a weak grid environment. Full article

Background: Grid-tied inverters play an efficient role in the integration of renewable energy resources with utility grids. Motivation: However, the interconnection between power converters and the grid has been seen to be responsible for various stability issues such as weak grid, and under weak grid conditions the injection of power to the grid becomes a challenging task due to continuously varying grid impedance affecting the stability margins as a result. Additionally, the grid impedance-related issues boost the voltage harmonics which further devalue its performance. These voltage harmonics propagate through the Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) circuit to the control unit of the inverter which in turn amplifies the low order harmonics of the inverter. Method: The aim of this research is to introduce a novel strategy that decreases the effect of grid impedance-variations on the performance and stability of an inverter. Hence, an adaptive hybrid mode control technique consisting of two parts is proposed in this research. The current regulator part is implemented in a synchronous reference frame for its gain and time parameters to improve the performance, stability, and response time. The adaptive harmonic compensators are implemented in a stationary reference frame for harmonic compensation purposes. This adaptive nature of harmonic compensator can effectively work in the case of frequency variation where the fixed value based harmonic compensator fails. Results: The adaptive harmonic compensators improve the performance by reducing total harmonic distortion (THD), reduce computation and improve stability when the grid has distorted voltage, variation in grid impedance and frequency. Impact and utility: Our results show that the system becomes less sensitive to grid impedance variations which makes the proposed technique very relevant to the stability performance applications. Full article

Harmonic modeling of low-voltage networks with many devices requires simple but accurate models. This paper investigates the advantages and drawbacks of such models to predict the current harmonics created by single-phase full-bridge rectifiers. An overview is given of the methods, limiting the focus to harmonic analysis. The error of each method, compared to an accurate numerical simulation model, is quantified in frequency and time domain considering realistic input scenarios, including background voltage distortion and different system impedances. The results of the comparison are used to discuss the applicability of the models depending on the harmonic studies scale and the required level of detail. It is concluded that all models have their applicability, but also limitations. From the simplest and fastest model, which does not require a numerical solution, to the more accurate one that allows discontinuous conduction mode to be included, the trade-off involves accuracy and computational complexity. Full article

In this paper, primary and secondary emissions in wind power plants are studied by using transfer admittance and current transfer functions between turbines and the public grid. The use of such transfer functions allows harmonic propagation studies without knowledge of the emission from individual turbines or the background voltage distortion. The transfer functions are calculated for one synthetic and one existing wind power plant, and results are discussed. Primary emission, secondary emission from other turbines and secondary emission from the public grid are shown to be of the same order of magnitude. Furthermore, the paper addresses the impact of turbine converter modelling, public grid impedance and the change in the aggregation exponent with frequency on the propagation. All three are shown to have a significant impact and should be considered. The main challenge for future studies is in obtaining relevant models for turbine impedance versus frequency. Full article

Traditional electrical power theories and one of their most important concepts—apparent power—are still a source of debate, because they present several flaws that misinterpret the power-transfer and energy-balance phenomena under distorted grid conditions. In recent years, advanced mathematical tools such as geometric algebra (GA) have been introduced to address these issues. However, the application of GA to electrical circuits requires more consensus, improvements and refinement. In this paper, electrical power theories for single-phase systems based on GA were revisited. Several drawbacks and inconsistencies of previous works were identified, and some amendments were introduced. An alternative expression is presented for the electric power in the geometric domain. Its norm is compatible with the traditional apparent power defined as the product of the RMS voltage and current. The use of this expression simplifies calculations such as those required for current decomposition. This proposal is valid even for distorted currents and voltages. Concepts are presented in a simple way so that a strong background on GA is not required. The paper included some examples and experimental results in which measurements from a utility supply were analysed. Full article

Electroluminescence (EL) measurements allow one to detect damages and/or defective parts in photovoltaic systems. In principle, it seems possible to predict the complete current/voltage curve from such pictures even automatically. However, such a precise analysis requires image corrections and calibrations, because vignetting and lens distortion cause signal and spatial distortions. Earlier works on crystalline silicon modules used the cell gap joints (CGJ) as calibration pattern. Unfortunately, this procedure fails if the detection of the gaps is not accurate or if the contrast in the images is low. Here, we enhance the automated camera calibration algorithm with a reliable pattern detection and analyze quantitatively the quality of the process. Our method uses an iterative Hough transform to detect line structures and uses three key figures (KF) to separate detected busbars from cell gaps. This method allows a reliable identification of all cell gaps, even in noisy images or if disconnected edges in PV cells exist or potential induced degradation leads to a low contrast between active cell area and background. In our dataset, a subset of 30 EL images (72 cell each) forming grid ($5\times 11$) lead to consistent calibration results. We apply the calibration process to 997 single module EL images of PV modules and evaluate our results with a random subset of 40 images. After lens distortion correction and perspective correction, we analyze the residual deviation between ideal target grid points and the previously detected CGJ after applied distortion and perspective correction. For all of the 2200 control points in the 40 evaluation images, we achieve a deviation of less than or equal to 3 pixels. For 50% of the control points, a deviation of of less than or equal to 1 pixel is reached. Full article

This paper presents application of a resonant power frequency converter for high-voltage (HV) and partial discharge (PD) test of a voltage transformer. The rating voltage, power, and frequency of the system are 70 kV_rms, 40 kVA, and 200 Hz, respectively. The testing system utilized the converter feeding to an HV testing transformer connected to a conventional partial discharge detection system. The converter system comprising a rectifier and insulated-gate bipolar (IGBT) switches with the H-bridge configuration was applied as a low-voltage source instead of a conventional motor-generator test set which requires large space and high cost. The requirements of the test according to the standards are quality of the test voltage and the background noise level. The required voltage must have the different voltage (DV) and total harmonic distortion (THD_v) in the acceptable values of less than 5%. The DV is defined as the difference of the root mean square and peak voltages in percent. The required background noise level must be lower than 2.5 pC. Simulations and experiments were performed for verification of the developed system performance in comparison with those of the previously developed system based on the pulse width modulation converter. It is found that the developed system can provide the testing voltage with the DV and the THD_v of lower than 1% and the background noise level of lower than 1 pC. Considering this achievement of promising performance, the developed system is an attractive choice for the HV and PD testing of voltage transformers in real practice. Full article