Grid Current Regulation of a Three-phase Voltage Source Inverter
with an LCL Input Filter.
E. Twining and D.G. Holmes
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering,
Monash University
Wellington Road, Clayton, 3168, AUSTRALIA
--
Abstract Many grid comected power electronic system,
sucb as STATCOM's, UPFC's and distributed generation
system interfaces, use a Voltage Source Inverter (VSI)
connected to the snpply network tbmugh a 6lter. This filter,
typically a series indudanee, acts to reduce the switching
harmouics entering the distribntion network. An alternative
filter is a LCL network, wbicb can acbieve reduced levels of
harmonic distortion at lower switching frequencies and with
less inductance, and therefore has potential benefits for bigher
power applications. However, systems ineopratiug LCL
Blters require more complex control strategies and are not
cnmmody presented In literature.
This paper proposes a robust strategy for regulating the
grid cnrrent entering a distribution network from a three-
phase VSI system e ~ ~ e ~ via t e ad LCL fiter. The strategy
integrate an outer loop grid current regulator with inner
capaator cnrreut regulation to stabilise the system. A
Synchronous Frame PI current regnlation strategy is used for
the outer grid cumut mntml loop. Linear analysis, simulation
and experimental results are used to verify the stabllity of the
cnntrol algorithm a m s a range of operating couditious.
Finally, expressions for ‘"nit impedance" of the system
are derived to study the effects of supply voltage distortion on
the harmonic performance of the system.
I. INTRODUC~ON
Power electronic converters are now used in many grid-
connected applications including STATCOM's, UF'FC's
and active interfaces for distributed generation systems (e.g.
PV, wind etc). These converters are commonly based on a
Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) connected to the supply
network, operated to achieve objectives such as power flow
regulation or power factor optimisation by regulating the
current into the grid using schemes such as Synchronous
Frame controllers, Predictive Current deadbeat control, or
hysteresis-based strategies. Typically, simple series
inductors are used as the filter interface between the VSI
and the grid network. However, these filters require high
switching frequencies to acceptably attenuate switching
harmonics, particularly in weak-grid applications where the
supply is sensitive to these harmonics.
In contrast, the alternative LCL form of low-pass filter
offers the potential for improved harmonic performance at
lower switching frequencies, which is a significant
advantage in higher-power applications [1,2]. However,
systems incorporating LCL filters require more complex
current control strategies to maintain system stability, and
are more susceptible to interference caused by grid voltage
harmonics because of resonance hazards and the lower
harmonic impedance presented to the grid.
0 2002 IEEE
C-7803-7262-W~/$10.02 1189
~
Reference [3] has shown how an inner 'lag-lead'
compensation loop on the capacitor voltage of the LCL
filter of a three-phase grid-connected VSI actively damps
the filter resonance and improves the stability of the control
system. Similar results have been achieved for single and
three-phase grid-connected VSI systems using an inner
capacitor current feedback loop [4], and in a number of
single-phase UPS (Unintemptible Power Supply)
applications 1.51. However, these systems control the filter
capacitor output voltage rather than the grid current and are
therefore not directly applicable for grid power flow
control. Multi-variable control strategies have been
proposed to regulate the grid current for VSI's connected
through LCL filters [I], but these strategies are complex
and sensitive to variations in system parameters. More
recently, an analytical study of grid connected active
rectifiers with LCL input filters incorporating PI-based
controls has been presented [Z].However, this work still
only considers the regulation of the AC current out of the
inverter, rather than the current into the grid after the tilter.
This paper proposes a robust strategy for regulating the
grid current of a converter connected to an electrical
network through a LCL filter. The essence of the scheme is
to use a Synchronous Frame PI (SRFPI) controller to
regulate the grid current, together with a simple inner
capacitor current regulating loop to stabilise the system.
To determine the transient performance of the system, a
P+Resonant controller is considered fmt. Unlike the SRFPl
conmller, the P+Resonant controller can be easily reduced
to a single-phase equivalent system so that conventional
stability analysis techniques may be applied. Stable
operation of this controller at fundamental frequency is
confirmed using a linearised model of the inverter/grid
system. Then, using the knowledge that the P+Resonant
controller has similar performance characteristics to the
SRFPI controller [6],stability analysis for this controller is
shown to be sufficient to predict the stability of a SRFPI
controller.
Next, reduced quality current regulation caused by grid
supply voltage harmonics is investigated by determining the
harmonic impedance of the proposed control strategy, and
methods of tuning the current regulator to mitigate this
distortion are considered.
Finally, the experimental results obtained using a DSP
contml platform are presented to verify the robustness of
the proposed control algorithm and to study the system's
harmonic performance at a practical level.
 t 4 t
Figure 1: k - P h a s e VSI System
U. SYSTEM MODELUNG.
Figure 1 shows the converter system considered in this
investigation, comprising a standard three-phase VSI driven
from a constant voltage DC bus and connected to the grid
through a E L filter. Note that the assumption of a constant
DC voltage is reasonable if the DC capacitance is large or if
DC bus voltage ripple compensation is included within the
PWM control algorithm. For this investigation, it is further
assumed that the system is balanced, and that the VSI
switching frequency is sufficiently high that it will have
negligible effect on the inverter control loop dynamics.
Under these assumptions, the converter system can be
represented using a liearised “Average Switching Model
(ASM)”, where the inverter switches are replaced by a
function representing their averaged value over each carrier
interval. Provided the controller does not saturate the VSI
output, this linearised inverter model has been shown to
achieve very accurate results in this type of application [7].
Furthermore, the ASM approach allows classical stability
analysis techniques to be used to investigate the system
fundamental, transient and harmonic responses, and it is
easily implemented in a simulation package such as Matlab
Simulink with greatly reduced simulation times compared to
full switched models.
III.CONTROL STRATEOY.
The primary aim of the control scheme is to modulate the
inverter to regulate the magnitude and phase angle of the
grid supply current, so that the real and reactive power
entering the network can be controlled. It is known already
Contmller & VSI
Figure 2 Single phase representationof proposed conml shategy (notation defined in Figun 1).
1190
that direct feedback control of the grid current is unstable
[4]. However, control of this current should be possible in
the same way as voltage regulation for a U P S is achieved
[ 5 ] , by making an outer grid current feedback controller
drive an inner capacitor current regulating loop.
Figure 2 shows an ASM single-phase equivalent
representation of the controlledinverter system, where i;
represents the grid current reference signal. From this
figure, it can be seen how the ‘outer’ grid current feedback
loop provides a reference value, :i , to the ‘inner’ capacitor
current feedback Imp and the output of the inner loop then
determines the VSI output voltage, vc. Representing the
system with this single-phase model allows it to be analysed
using conventional stability analysis techniques.
The inner loop has a simple proportional gain transfer
function, since it only stabilises the control system and its
steady-state errors do not affect the accuracy of the outer
control loop. The outer loop is shown in Figure 2 as a
generic transfer function Gc(s). This transfer function could
be the single phase equivalent of a SRFPI controller, but
this has the complication of being difficult to model because
of dependencies between the three phases. For simplicity, it
would be preferable to use a current regulation scheme that
is independent between phases, such as a P+Resonant
controller, which is equally applicable to single or three
phase systems. This also has the benefit that since these two
controllers are known to have almost identical stationary
frame performance characteristics [6], single-phase stability
analysis of a P+Resonant scheme can then directly be
 K, +- Kis -_
K , +-1/2Kis-&/2Kimo
s2 + W O2 2 s 2 + W O2
GP(s)=
_ _- ~ / ~ K , S + & / ~ K ~ W ~
K p +
2 2 2
s +WO
_K2,_
+-I/2Kis-&/2Kiwo
_ _+ - I / 2 K i s + & / 2 K i w o
Kp
s2 +o; 2 2
Stationary a-b-c h
applied to determine the transient performance of a SRFPI
controller. This is the approach used here.
A. SRFPI Controller Model
SRFPI controllers are commonly used in three-phase
systems and operate by transforming the three-phase AC
currents into DC components in the synchronously rotating
frame so that the steady-state error that is normally
associated with the application of PI control to AC
quantities can be eliminated [61. The strategy also has the
particular advantage of independent control of the real and
reactive current components, which translates directly to
real and reactive power flow control. This is advantageous
for this application, where the grid supply currents can be
directly regulated in the synchronous frame and transferred
back into the stationary frame to provide references for the
simple inner loop (single-phase) capacitor current
controllers.
The transfer function of a SRFPI controller in the rotating
frame is given by:
L S I
Using the transformation techniques described in [6], the
equivalent stationary a-b-c frame representation of the
SRFPI controller can be developed as (2). It is this form
that is used to compare the transient performances of the
SRFPI and the Pt Resonant controllers in Section IV.
The main concern with (2) is the significant off-diagonal
terms, which represent cross coupling between phases and
make an ASM single-phase representation difficult.
B. P+Resonant Controller Model
In contrast, the P+Resonant controller transfer function,
given by (3). is already in the stationary frame and is
independent between phases: This transfer function has
infinite gain at fundamental frequency and therefore also
eliminates steady state error [6], while the phase
independence means that its transient performance can be
readily analysed using classical control theory.
I d s ) --
c, f s) = 7 C,(S) -
-
I ~ ( s ) C,ifs)+l b3s5+b~s4++(b~+b~~~)s3+fbo+b~~~+KKp)sZ+(b~~~+KK~)~+(bo+KKp)O~
where: b3 = LICfL 2 , b, = LlC,R2 + L2Cf (RI+ K ),
Open-Imp and clos.ed-lwp transfer functions for single-phase ASM under a P+Resanant control strategy.
_-K , +-1/2Kis+&/2Kio0-
2 2
2 s +WO
K, +- Kis __ K, +-I/2Kis-&/2Kioo
(2)
s2 + W O2 2 S2+W;
K, +- Kis
2 2 2
s +WO s +WO ~
~
e representation of SRrm controller.
Kis
G,(s)=K , +- (3)
;+,
s2
N.STABLITY ANALYSIS OF SINGLE PHASE MODE
The open-loop and closed-loop transfer functions of a
single phase ASM of the system with a P+Resonant
controller are given by (4) and ( 5 ) respectively. Analysis of
this system has determined that its stability is primarily
determined by the outer loop proportional gain Kp, as
illustrated in Figure 3 which shows how the position of the
closed loop poles of the P+Resonant system vary with K,
for three different values of K (see Section VI for
component values). In all three cases the system is stable for
K, between zero and approximately one (per unit).
From (2), it can be seen that the diagonal terms of the
SRFPI controller are the same as the (single-phase) transfer
function of the P+Resonant controller (3). It is these
diagonal terms that lead to the same steady-state response of
zero steady-state ermr at the fundamental frequency.
However, it would be expected that the cross coupling
terms of the SRFPI controller might cause some differences
between the transient performances of the two controllers,
and hence this issue needs to be considered further, as
follows:
Figure 4 shows the open-loop frequency response for
both the P+Resonant and SRFPI controllers, where it can be
seen that the cross-coupling terms of the SRFPI system have
only a small influence on the performance of the controller
around the fundamental frequency. Outside of this region,
the frequency response of the two controllers is practically
identical. This suggests that the transient analysis of the
single-phase P+Resonant controller can be directly applied
to the SRFPI controller, and hence that the stability of the
SRFPI control algoritbm is also primarily determined by
outer loop proportional gain K,.
V. GRID CURRENT CONTROL UNDER DISTORTED SUPPLY
CONDmONS
Previous experimental investigations have shown that
even small levels of supply voltage distortion can result in
K ( K , ~ Z+ ~ , s K+, W ; )
(5)
b, = Ll + L2 +Cf ( R I+ K ) R 2 , bo = R I+ R 2
1191
 Figure 3: Variation of P+Resonant VSI system closed Imp poles with conrml p-cter
significant current distortion using current regulators that
are tuned for a fundamental response [7]. The work
reported here has identified that this distortion comes about
because the control schemes described in the previous
section have a limited bandwidth and are therefore unable to
adequately compensate for grid supply voltage harmonics. It
is noted in passing that most previous studies in this area
have assumed a sinusoidal fundamental supply, and appear
not to have considered the effect of grid network harmonic
voltages.
A. Calculating Harmonic Impedance
The sensitivity of each controller to grid harmonic
distortion can he investigated by calculating its "harmonic
impedance", i.e. the relationship between a harmonic
voltage disturbance into the system, and the resultant
injected grid current harmonic component. This impedance
provides a simple measure of the harmonic sensitivity of a
current regulation scheme, and is a useful tool to assist with
the design of AC filters to achieve acceptable levels of
harmonic distortion.
With some manipulation, the harmonic impedance for
each phase of the PtResonant system described in Section
IIIB can be shown to be (6). Similarly, from (2), the
harmonic impedance mapix for the SRFPI controller can be
derived as (7). With further algebra, the diagonal terms of
(7) can be shown to he equivalent to that of the P+Resonant
converter (6). Finally, the results from the previous section
suggest that the cross-coupling terms will have negligible
influence on the performance of the SRFPI controller at
harmonic frequencies. Hence it is reasonable to conclude
that analysis of the P+Resonant system is sufficient to
:.:
. .:
. ,.
.
. . . . i.
.
.I,:<
. . . :.:.
. : . j l :
i,:,i,: I : i
. . . . . . . . . . . .
+p*-
...... i ......................
........ L , . , L , . . . ! . . . . . .
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..,.. .. .. .. .. .., .., ......, .., .. .. .. .
i , i i ,i ,, ~ .,.:,.,. ., ., .. .: .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.......ij......................l
~, ~ ~, ~
., . ., . ., ., ., ., ,., .
, . .
., . . . . ,
. . . . . . . .i .- .Y x r , /
I I , I / ,
K,,
predict the harmonic performance of the SRFPI system also.
B. Mitigation of Harmonic Distortion
In order to minimize the harmonic current distortion
produced by the converter system under distorted supply
conditions, the harmonic impedance should ideally be
infinite for all low order harmonics. In other words, the
inverter should produce zero harmonic current for all values
of harmonic supply distortion. In practice, Figure 5 shows
the harmonic impedance magnitude and phase verses
frequency for two values of K,. It can he seen from this
figure that while the harmonic impedance goes through a
minimum close to the LCL resonant frequency, fns, its
absolute magnitude generally increases as Kp increases.
Hence the grid current distortion caused by grid supply
harmonics will decrease for a higher proportional gain K,.
But the transient system response will also become more
underdamped as this gain increases.
Figure 6 shows the SRFPI conmller transient response
for values of Kp = 0.5 and Kp = 0.75 with a 2% 5th
harmonic and a 1% 7th harmonic in the grid supply voltage.
Note that this controller reaches instability at Kp = 0.8,
which is a little less than when the PtResonant system
becomes unstable. This reflects the influence of the off-
diagonal terms of the SRFF'I controller. Also, while the
current distortion has been reduced from 6.5% to 4% as Kp
increases, the transient response is correspondingly more
oscillatory. These results show the tradeoff that can he
made between a regulator's harmonic performance and its
transient response when operating into a distorted supply.
In [8]it was shown that converter devices can he used as
"harmonic current sinks" within a distribution system and
i--"P111 40
30
n
P".
i
, I
/ I I , , , I
1192
 .
KG:"( 1.1 )+ L, s + R , L2s R, + +
KG:~~(I,z) KGp(I3)
s2C,L, + sC, ( R , + K ) s ' C f L , +&,(RI + K ) s2CfL,+ s C , ( R , + K )
KC$(Z,I) K G F f 2 2 )+Lis + RI L 2 s + R , KG:" ( 2 3 ) (7)
Z,(s)=- +

s2C,L, +sC,( RI + K ) s 2 C fL, + s C , ( R , + K ) s2C, L, + s C f ( RI + K )

KGp(3,I) K G P f3 2 ) KG,& ( 3 3 ) + L,s + RI + L,s + R ,
s2cfL, + S C , ( R , + K ) s 2 C f L ,+ s C , ( R , +K J s z ~ , ~+, s ~ , ( R, +K )

current mitigation described above, this filtering application

requires that the harmonic impedance of the converter
system be minimised. However, careful design is required
to avoid overloading the inverter and causing b&onic
voltage magtufication at other points within the dismbution
system. The harmonic impedance derived above also
provides a useful tool for further investigating these effects
of converter systems on the harmonic voltage distortion
levels within disbibution systems. However, such
investigation is beyond the scope of this paper.
VERIFICATION
VI. EXPERLMENTAL
An experimental platform based on a DSP controller was
used to confirm the accuracy of the ASM analysis described
above, and to test the practical robustness and harmonic
4
c, = 15p, cdc = 2 3 5 0 ~Fe supply v&ac inductance
Was used as inductor L, of the LCL filter). The system is
rated at lOkVA and bas a 415V supply voltage and a 700V
DC bus.
A SRFTI controller was implemented for the outer grid
current regulation, with an additional PI controller to
maintain the DC l i voltage at the specified value. This
controller acts as an outer control loop, providing the real
current demand to the SRFTI controller. (Note that in a
complete system, the bulk of the real and reactive current
references would be generated by higher-level control
loops. However, the operation of these control loops is
beyond the scope of this paper, so simple default values
were used). The operation of the DC voltage control loop
was also decoupled from the current regulator by giving it a
significantly longer time constant.
To load the system, the DC link of the converter system
was simply connected to a resistor, and the inverter then
acted as an active rectifier. However, since a VSI is of
course implicitly bi-directional, the results are readily
applicable to any type of grid-connected application.
Figure 7 shows the measured supply phase current for a
step change in DC link load, with the converter operating at
unity power factor i.e. I ; = 0. The real current reference,
1;. is supplied by the DC Voltage controller. These results
confirm that the proposed control algorithm is stable at full
supply voltage and has a good transient response as
anticipated. However, it can be seen that the measured
phase currents have significant levels of harmonic
distortion. For this test, the supply voltage distortion was
measured at approx. 1.5% with the 5" and 7" harmonics
dominating. Figure 8 shows the harmonic spectra of the
phase current distortion, with 5" and 7* harmonic distortion
caused by the supply voltage harmonics and a Total
Harmonic Distortion (THD) of 8.3%. Figures 9 and 10
show the improvement that was achieved by doubling the

-
.&
proportional gain Kp, to achieve a reduced harmonic current
-10
10
Tim. ,m.>
so distortion of THD 3.9%. Note that this increased Kp is
still well within the stability margin, since there is no
b) K , = 0.75 significant transient oscillation visible in Figure 9.
Ayre 6 V S I bdnsient response for 2% 5* and 1% lmsupply distortion.

1193
 VII. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a robust control algorithm to
regulate the grid current entering a distribution network -a .
from a three-phase VSI system via an LCL input filter.
Linear aualysis, simulation and experimental results are Y O
used to verify the stability of the algorithm across a range of v
&
operating conditions. Expressions for “harmonic -4
impedance" of the system are derived to study the effects of 4
supply distodon on the harmonic performance of the
system. It is shown that the controller can be tuned to -10
20 LO 80 BO too
achieve an improved overall response when operating into a Tim. cm.,
distorted supply, at the expense of some reduction in Figure 1 Line Cvnrnt Waveform for Kp
transient stability margins. Hence, an acceptable harmonic
performance can still be achieved with a lower value of
input inductance than would be required for a simple
inductive filter, which offers potential for significant
reductions in filter cost.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge and appreciate the support of
the Australian Research Council in funding this research.

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