2020 IEEE 4th Information Technology,Networking,Electronic and Automation Control Conference (ITNEC 2020)
Research on Adaptive Control of Virtual Synchronous
Generator
Dong Mengxue, Lin Zhisong, Xie Wei, Zou Xiaoyu, Lan Jianyu
Shanghai Institute of Space Power-sources, Shanghai 210010, China
dmx5258@163.com, 1441558007@qq.com, 394965991@qq.com, 840124913@qq.com, jianyu_lan@163.com
Abstract: Virtual synchronous machine technology, which
simulates the electromechanical transient characteristics of
synchronous generators, enables the power supply or load that
adopt a converter with a number of its external characteristics,
including inertia, damping, frequency and voltage regulation.
With the rapid increase of the installed power capacity using
clean energy, traditional virtual synchronous generator
technology cannot meet the requirements. Considering the
dynamic characteristics of primary source, such as wind energy
or solar energy, and influence of the inverter’s control strategy
on power network frequency, the demand for rotational inertia of
power grid under different working conditions as well, combined
with adaptive control technology, this paper introduces three
adaptive control strategies of virtual synchronous generator.
These control strategies can improve the flexibility, scalability
and reliability of the virtual synchronous generator.
Keywords: Virtual Synchronous Generator; Inverter; Adaptive
Control
I. INTRODUCTION
In order to solve the energy crisis and environmental
problems, renewable energy, electric cars and energy storage
systems are becoming more and more widely used. Due to the
difference from the grid voltage frequency and amplitude,
most of the distributed energy needs to be connected to the
grid through the power electronic converter. However, as more
and more new energy being connected to the grid, traditional
generators are not enough to keep the power system running.
Moreover, the distributed power generation system, which is
an interface of power electronic converters, lacks the inertia
and damping of traditional motors, so the power system is
more easily affected by power fluctuations and system failures.
As the new energy infiltrates, the power system will encounter
more serious stability problems, so it is important to solve the
problem from the source.
Synchronous generator has the advantages of being
friendly to the power grid naturally. If the grid inverter can
simulate the operating characteristics of the synchronous
generator, according to the operation mode of the power grid
system, then the friendly access of distributed power supply
can be realized, and the stability of high power system is
proposed. Scholars at home and abroad have proposed virtual
synchronous generator(virtual synchronous generator，VSG)
technology. It can simulate the operating characteristics of
synchronous generator in a certain degree, and make the grid
inverter have the excellent performance of synchronous
generator. The characteristics of VSG are also important
requirements for distributed photovoltaic power in the grid.
978-1-7281-4390-3/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mutah University. Downloaded on January 08,2024 at 19:47:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Therefore, virtual synchronous generator technology provides
a new idea and technical route to solve the problems of
large-scale distributed photovoltaic power accessing to the
power system.
However, distributed energy faces many problems. For
example, new energy resources, such as wind energy, is
susceptible to external environmental factors, making the
output power dynamic. It doesn't have the ability to plug and
play and operate automatically, and it poses a serious
challenge to the safety and stability of the grid. In view of the
fluctuation of output power, a coordinated operation mode of
distributed photovoltaic and energy storage is proposed (see,
for example in [3-4]). The basic idea is to make use of the
energy storage output power to make up for the shortage
caused by the dynamic characteristics of photovoltaic power
supply and form a combined optical storage system.
According to the photovoltaic output curve and characteristic
value, the stable operation area of photovoltaic power supply
was obtained (see, for example, [5]), and the additional
control strategy of photovoltaic power supply was designed to
provide the most effective power matching according to load
or dispatching power demand.
In terms of frequency stability, micro-grids composed of
distributed power sources and inverters usually have two
working modes. In off-grid mode, unpredictable load
disturbances bring difficulties to the control of frequency
stability (see [6]). In the grid-connected mode, the same power
oscillations will occur when the synchronous generator is
integrated into the grid, due to the improper calculation of
rotational inertia and other parameters, which seriously affects
the stability of the frequency of the micro-grid. In order to
reduce the impact of frequency instability on the power grid, a
frequency adaptive control strategy for distributed power
supply is proposed by making full use of the characteristics of
VSG (see in [7]-[8]).
In addition to the above problems, power oscillation may
occur when multiple micro-grid power supplies are operated
in parallel using VSG control strategy. When the amplitude of
the power oscillation exceeds the power range, the VSG stops
working for protection. If the damping ratio can be adjusted
by changing the moment of inertia, the problem will be solved.
Therefore, in order to obtain better system dynamic
performance, many scholars have proposed different VSG
control strategies with virtual rotor inertia adaptive. The paper
[9-10] have proposed a method to eliminate power oscillations
caused by changes and disturbances through real-time
adaptive adjustment of inertial constants. However, the main
1169
purpose of this paper is to eliminate power oscillations during
off-grid operation and parallel operation of VSG, without
considering the control of power over-amplitude modulation
in the regulation process. Based on the power angle
characteristics of synchronous generators, an rotational inertia
adaptive control strategy of VSG is proposed, which can take
into account both grid-connected and off-grid modes, and
gave the design principle.
The main purpose of this paper is to introduce the adaptive
control strategy of virtual synchronous generator. Section 1 of
this paper will briefly introduce the research status of virtual
synchronous machine as well as the existing problems, and
section 2 introduces virtual modeling and the basic control
strategy of VSG, section 3 describes power adaptive control
strategy of VSG, section 4 introduces frequency adaptive
control strategy of VSG, section 5 introduces the rotational
inertia adaptive control strategy of VSG.
II. The Concept of Virtual Synchronous Machine
Based on the second order model of synchronous generator,
it uses the rotor motion equation and the stator electrical
equation to complete the modeling of the mechanical division
and electromagnetic parts of VSG.
synchronous motor is moved to the converter, which forms the
mathematical model of the virtual synchronizer, as shown in
Fig. 1, which contains the electrical part of the synchronous
machine and the mechanical part.
In the figure, the controller will calculate the
electromagnetic torque Te, reactive power Q and reverse
electromotive force e, according to the mathematical model of
the virtual synchronous machine. The reverse electromotive
force (e) generates a PWM pulse signal through the pulse
width modulation (PWM) unit to drive the switch tube so that
the average of the output voltage in a switching cycle is the
same as e. The inductance current of the main circuit can be
taken as the stator current of the virtual synchronous machine,
which can be measured and introduced into the mathematical
model of the synchronous machine to realize the closed-loop
of the power part and the electronic part.
III. Power adaptive control strategy
The output power of distributed photovoltaic power is
volatile and limited, and it is difficult to meet the requirements
of the power system operation management, which is difficult
to meet the ability of the power system to meet the operation
management of the power system, which has brought serious
challenges to the safety and stability of the grid.

 di The current source of the traditional VSG is mainly for the

v  e  ir  L dt storage battery, which is a certain degree of negligible the
 influence of the dc side dynamic characteristics. Therefore,
e  M f if  sin  the traditional VSG application range is limited, and it is
 difficult to apply to distributed photovoltaic access. To this
 J d   T  T  D (   ) end, some researchers have proposed the operation of
 dt m e p r
 (1) distributed PV and energy storage, and its basic idea is to
 P make up the deficiency of the dynamic characteristics of
Te   photovoltaic power by using the energy storage output power,
 r which makes up the system of light storage.
T  M i (i,sin  )
 e f f The use of power repression control strategy is used to
Q   M f if  (i,cos  ) make the output of the storage battery output change with the
photovoltaic power generation. When the output of
In the above formula, v is the output terminal voltage, e is photovoltaic power is greater than the rating, the storage
the induction electromotive force, Tm is the virtual mechanical battery absorbs redundant work. When the output of
torque, Te is the virtual electromagnetic torque, P is the photovoltaic power output is less than the rating, the energy
reactive power, and Q is reactive power. storage battery is made to make up for the deficiency of power,
so that the output of the whole photovoltaic network is smooth,
Dp ωr reducing the fluctuation of the output power of the
T +
- photovoltaic power generation, reducing the influence of
Tm + ω θ large-scale photovoltaic power generation to the frequency of
1/Js 1/s
+ - the grid, and improving the acceptance of the power grid.
Te
However, it is still a storage battery, which is not
fundamentally different from the traditional VSG control, and
Te、Q、e e
PWM does not solve the problem of distributed photovoltaic power
Q supply in VSG from the source end. The difficulty of this kind
- iL of control strategy is that distributed photovoltaic power
Qset +
1/Ks Mfif supply has more complex dynamic characteristics, and it is
+ Vfb ufb difficult to combine with existing virtual synchronous
Dq Amplitude detection
machine traffic control.
+
-
Vr
Based on VSG technology, the dynamic characteristics of
Fig. 1. Virtual synchronization machine basic control block diagram photovoltaic power supply are analyzed. By analyzing the
dynamic characteristics of photovoltaic power supply, and
Using the above equation, the mathematical model of the considering the volatility and limitation of photovoltaic power

1170
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mutah University. Downloaded on January 08,2024 at 19:47:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
supply, the photovoltaic virtual synchronization machine and
its operating control strategy (PV-VSG control strategy) are
proposed. This is shown in Fig. 2 below.
This PV-VSG control strategy mainly consists of two
points: basic VSG control and additional PV control. The
basic principle of additional PV control is to obtain the
possible maximum power running point of photovoltaic power
supply through MPPT algorithm, and obtain the DC voltage
corresponding to that point (Udc-mpp). That means the
minimum voltage and the maximum available power Pmax for
stable operation of the photovoltaic power supply. Then, the
voltage difference between Udc-mpp and measured dc voltage is
made operate on the PI controller, form the dc voltage outer
loop and output the additional control variable ΔX. ΔX has no
dimension and its value does not exceed 0.ΔX respectively is
attached to the difference between active reference value and
practical value, the difference between voltage reference and
the actual value, then the latest power reference values P′ref and
Q′ref , containing dynamic characteristics of photovoltaic
power supply, can be obtained.
In off-grid operation condition, ΔX is made operate on the
voltage - reactive power loop. PV-VSG output power can be
adjusted by reducing the output voltage and then match with
the active power control loop to achieve a good match
between the output power and the demand power. At the same
time, in parallel operation, the voltage is provided by the grid,
and Δ X isn’t needed in the voltage - reactive power loop
(switch off the selector switch SB).
PV control VSG
control
Udc X + P'ref
PI
- Fig. 3.
Udc-mpp + +
Pmax Pref
MPPT Switch
SA VSG
PV
u'ref Q'ref
uref + + takes the output photovoltaic power generation as the control
Dq +
+
+ -
X power fluctuation of photovoltaic power generation on the
Switch
um
Qref
SB
Fig. 2. Basic control structure of PV-VSG
This control strategy of PV-VSG organically combines
photovoltaic power supply with VSG, and fully take the
time-varying and finiteness of photovoltaic power supply into
consideration , so as to realize the flexible operation of
off-grid and grid-connected multi-mode.
IV. Frequency adaptive control strategy
In power system, frequency is an important parameter to
maintain system synchronization, which reflects the balance
between power supply and demand. The introduction of
inverter control strategy may lead to high frequency change
rate in micro-grid, which is not conducive to the parallel
operation between micro-grid and the traditional grid. At the
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mutah University. Downloaded on January 08,2024 at 19:47:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
same time, China's grid-connected standards do not require
distributed power sources to participate in power grid
regulation. When the system frequency exceeds the normal
range, distributed power generation is required to cut off
within a specified time and stop generating power to the grid.
Off-grid mode
f3
m
Frequency regulation mode
f1 m1 A
f0 B Grid-connected mode
f2 m2
Frequency regulation mode
f4
Off-grid mode
Pmin Pref.t1 Pref.t2 Pmax
Fig. 3. Adaptive control interval of the power grid frequency
In view of the application characteristics of distributed
power supply in low-voltage distribution network, some
scholars proposed a grid-friendly distributed power supply
control strategy. The control strategy makes full use of the
characteristics of VSG. When the power grid frequency is
stable, it will operate in grid-connected power generation
mode to improve the utilization rate of distributed power
supply. When the power grid frequency changes within a
certain range, it operates in frequency regulation mode and
participates in power grid frequency regulation. When the
frequency change of the power grid exceeds the safe operation
range of the load, the off-grid operation mode is switched to
ensure the safe operation of the local load. The adaptive
θ
frequency response interval of this control strategy is shown in
SVPWM
Specific control strategies are as follows:
e Sa/b/c
(1) Grid-connected power generation mode. When the
power grid frequency is f2<fg<f1, the frequency is in the stable
range near the rated frequency. The distributed power supply
target. In order to avoid the influence of the instantaneous
system stability, the smoothing algorithm is adopted to
suppress the fluctuation of photovoltaic power generation in a
short period of time, and the smoothed photovoltaic power
value is taken as the reference value of the output power of
VSG. The inertia link of VSG can further mitigate the impact
of photovoltaic power fluctuation on the power grid. During
the whole process, the energy required to smooth the
photovoltaic wave and the virtual moment of inertia of the
VSG are provided by the battery system.
(2) Frequency regulation mode. When the power grid
frequency fluctuates between f1<fg<f3 and f4<fg<f2, the
distributed power supply participates in the power grid
frequency regulation, and the VSG output no longer refers to
the photovoltaic power generation, but automatically adjusts
the output power with the change of the power grid frequency
according to the droop characteristic curve. When the power
grid frequency rises, the output power is reduced until the
1171
output power is 0. When the power grid frequency decreases,
the output power is increased until output power reaches the
maximum output power of the distributed power supply.
Assuming that at time t2, the power grid frequency starts to
fall between f2 and f4, and the VSG will move downward from
point B along the drop curve m2. When the inverter output
power reaches the maximum power output point Pmax, the
power grid frequency continues to decline and is not lower
than the minimum frequency f4, the VSG maintains the
maximum power Pmax.
(3) Off-grid operation mode. When the power grid
frequency range is beyond the safe working load, f3 and f4 is
respectively for the highest working frequency and the lowest
operating frequency of local load. When the grid frequency
fg≤f4 or fg≥f3, the grid inverter will switch off automatically,
and distributed power supply working in off-grid operation
mode, in order to ensure the power supply reliability of the
local load. When the grid frequency returns to normal, the
distributed power supply will be integrated into the grid along
with the load.
In addition, due to the fluctuation characteristics of VSG
dc output, the input power will change uncertainly, which will
cause the frequency of VSG to vibrate, as shown in Fig. 4.
rotational inertia, a VSG control strategy with variable
rotational inertia is proposed. When the load is disturbed
in the micro-grid, the virtual rotational inertia J can be
corrected in real time according to the value of df/dt. Not only
the change rate of frequency is restrained too fast, but also the
adjustment time of system frequency is controlled to optimize
the recovery curve of frequency. The specific control strategy
is as follows:
Set the thresholds C1 and C2 to track the frequency
changes and enable the appropriate control strategy. The
specific frequency control process is shown in Fig. 6.
(1) Work model 1. When |df/dt|>C1, the frequency
change rate is too fast, and the transient process of the large
rotational inertia is used to slow the system.
(2) Work model 2. When |df/dt|≤C2, the frequency
recovery is slow, and the small rotational inertia is used to
accelerate the recovery of frequency.
(3) Work model 3. When C2≤|df/dt|<C1, the frequency
recovery speed is suitable, the inertia quantity is constant, and
the frequency recovery is waiting. Figure 7 shows the
principle of ACI control (the adaptive control of inertia, ACI).
Grid
Island mode failure

Frequency Specific detect

control step delay ｜df/dt｜

Fig. 4. Transient curve of angular frequency in transient process NO NO

｜df/dt｜<C1 ｜df/dt｜>C2
One of the feasible ideas is to adjust the virtual inertia J
and damping coefficient D in real time according to the YES YES
changes of physical quantities, such as angular frequency in
the transient process, so as to control the frequency and power small large constant
fluctuations within a reasonable range. And it can significantly rotational rotational rotational
shorten the transient process and optimize the transient inertia inertia inertia
response of system. The optimized angular frequency curve is
shown in Fig. 5.
Return start

Fig. 6. Flow chart of frequency control

Figure 7 shows the principle of ACI control (the adaptive

control of inertia, ACI). In the process of VSG connecting into
or cutting out the micro-grid, J is set to a small value which
Fig. 5. Angle frequency variation curve after optimization does not generate power oscillation. Adjust J dynamically in
real time according to the frequency variation caused by load
V. Rotational inertia adaptive control strategy disturbance, so as to avoid the rapid rise and fall of frequency,
Rotational inertia control is the core part of VSG control. which is helpful to improve the frequency response
It can make the frequency change with a certain transition characteristics.
time, giving the inverter rotor inertia, similar to the
synchronous generator. Like the synchronous generator,
rotational inertia in the VSG is usually a fixed value, which
cannot meet the requirements of the system under different
operating conditions. If the damping ratio can be adjusted by
changing the rotational inertia, it is conducive to the safe and
stable operation of the system.
Aiming at the disadvantage of VSG control with constant

1172
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mutah University. Downloaded on January 08,2024 at 19:47:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 J0   Kf problem of rapid frequency recovery, optimizing the
u frequency recovery curve and improving the stability of the
2
J independent micro-grid.
VI. Conclusion

1  
Virtual synchronous machine technology provides a new
P way to solve the problems of inertia deficiency, damping
Pref   S
1 n   decline and power grid stability margin reduction. However,
  0
due to the characteristics of distributed energy and the

Dp complexity of power grid, the traditional virtual synchronous
machine technology cannot meet the requirements. In this
K
paper, the adaptive control strategies of VSG is summarized,
Fig. 7. Principle of the rotational inertia adaptive control strategy which includes power adaptive, frequency adaptive and
rotational inertia adaptive.
Although compared with VSG control, ACI control The power adaptive control strategy provides a new idea
significantly slows down the frequency drop rate caused by for solving the fluctuation and randomness output of new
load disturbance. However, the new problem is that the power sources such as photovoltaic power and wind power.
frequency recovery time is too long. If the frequency does not The frequency adaptive control strategy is beneficial to the
recover to the rating when the next disturbance occurs, the smooth operation of micro-grid and traditional power grid in
frequency will continue to change on this basis and may different modes. The adaptive control strategy of moment of
deviate from the rating seriously. inertia can not only improve the transient response of the
Based on the adaptive control of inertia, IACI (the active power and frequency of the independent micro-grid, but
improved adaptive control of inertia) is proposed, as shown in also reduce the power oscillation when the virtual
figure 8. When VSG is connected to the micro-grid, it synchronous machine is connected in parallel, and at the same
provides smaller J to avoid dynamic power oscillations. When time make the system obtain better dynamic performance.
the frequency offset exceeds the scope of the micro-grid, the These adaptive control strategies increase VSG's flexibility
frequency rate of the frequency change is adjusted and extend its range of applications, but there is still room for
dynamically according to the offset. When the frequency rate improvement. For example, the power adaptive control can
is reversed in zero, the J takes a small value to achieve the further study the smooth switching between different modes
rapid recovery of frequency. of PV + VSG control, the optimized design of parameters, and
the support of power grid operation. For example, frequency
S 2  2  0, S 2  0 2 df adaptive control can be further considered to improve the
 2  0, S 2  1   dt
ability of renewable energy to participate in power grid
0
 1 regulation to support power grid voltage frequency. For
S 1 1  0, S   1
1

 
J0   1  0, S 1  0
 further studied to improve the stability of the system, and the
J 1
Kf u
2
 At the same time, in view of these adaptive control strategies,
P 1
Pref  
1 n  S
   0
Dp
K
Fig. 8. Principle of the improved adaptive control of inertia
In Fig. 8, Δ1=|f−50|−K, Δ2=df/dt−0, SΔ1 and SΔ2 are both
switch state values. In order to simplify the analysis, this is
only to analyze the disturbance of the load rush. First of all,
the relationship between the |f−50| and the set value K is
compared. If |f−50|<K, SΔ1=0, J=J0, then it is in VSG control
mode. If |f−50|≥K, SΔ1=1=1, at this point, J is affected by df/dt.
If df/dt<0, SΔ2=1, then J=J0+kf|f−50|, it is in ACI control mode.
If df/dt≥0 (the frequency change rate is the reverse of zero),
SΔ2=0, then J=J0, and the working mode of the inverter is
switched to VSG control.
On the basis of ACI control, the IACI control reduces the
frequency recovery time to a certain extent, considering the
K example, the adaptive control of moment of inertia can be
adaptive control of moment of inertia can be combined with
the adaptive control of damping to obtain better performance.
 
the relevant adaptive parameter design criteria can be further

clarified to promote the promotion and application of the
adaptive control strategy of VSG.
REFERENCES
[1] Zhong Qingchang ， Weiss George. Synchronverters ： inverters that
mimic synchronous generators[J].IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Electronics，2011，58(4)：1259-1267．
[2] Zeng Zheng, Zhao Rongxiang, Tang Shengqing. Review of Research on
Advanced Grid-connected Inverters for Distributed Access to
Renewable Energy. Proceedings of the CSEE. 2013, 33(24):1-12.
[3] Yang Xiangzhen ， Su Jianhui ， Ding Ming, et al. Voltage control
strategies for microgrid with multiple inverters [J].Proceedings of the
CSEE,2012,32(7):7-13．
[4] Shi Rongliang, Zhang Xing, Xu Haizhen. Operation Control Strategy
for Multi-energy Complementary Isolated Microgrid Based on Virtual
Synchronous Generator. Automation of Electric Power Systems. 2016,
40(18):32-40.
[5] Shi Rongliang， Zhang Xing， Xu Haizhen， et al Control strategy
for multi-energy complementary isolated microgrid operation based on
virtual synchronous generator[J]．Automation of Electric Power.2016，
40(1).

1173
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mutah University. Downloaded on January 08,2024 at 19:47:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
[6] Alipoor J， Miura Y， Ise T． Power system stabilization using
virtual synchronous generator with alternating moment of
inertia[J]． IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power
Electronics， 2015， 3(2)：451-458．
[7] Alipoor J, Miura Y, Ise T．Stability assessment and optimization
methods for microgrid with multiple VSG units[J].IEEE Transactions on
Smart Grid.2016， doi:1109/TSG.2016．2592508．
[8] Wen Yeting, Dai Yuxing, A Grid-friendly Optical Storage Distributed
Power Control Strategy. Proceedings of the CSEE, 2017, 37(2): 464-475
[9] Alipoor J, Miura Y, Ise T. Power System Stabilization Using Virtual
Synchronous Generator With Alternating Moment of Inertia[J]. IEEE
Journal of Emerging & Selected Topics in Power Electronics, 2015,
3(2):451-458．
[10] Zhang Y， Liu H，Mantooth H A．Control strategy of high power
converters with synchronous generator characteristics for PMSG-based
wind power application [C] 2016 IEEE Applied Power Electronics
Conference and Exposition (APEC). Long Beach CA：IEEE，2016：
3180-3184．

1174
Authorized licensed use limited to: Mutah University. Downloaded on January 08,2024 at 19:47:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.