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Published in IET Power Electronics
Received on 23rd May 2013
Revised on 26th November 2013
Accepted on 26th December 2013
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2013.0407

ISSN 1755-4535

Analysis of microgrid inverter droop controller with

virtual output impedance under non-linear load
condition
Wen Wang, Xiangjun Zeng, Xin Tang, Ci Tang
College of Electrical and Information Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410004,
Hunan Province, Peoples Republic of China
E-mail: tangci2679@126.com

Abstract: With the existence of virtual impedance, the load harmonic currents would decrease the detection accuracy of
fundamental power calculated in DQ method, thus inuence the performance of droop control system in microgrid inverters.
Quantitative analysis of the fundamental power detection error is conducted and general expressions of inverter output power
in the presence of virtual impedance are established. The concept of virtual harmonic power is proposed to approximately
describe the error. Furthermore, the small signal stability analysis method is applied to present a detailed performance
analysis of the control system as virtual harmonic power is taken into consideration. The analysis indicates that under the
non-linear load condition, the value of droop coefcients and the type of designed virtual output impedance will inuence the
stability of the control system, which means that droop coefcients and virtual output impedance should be carefully selected
to gain sufcient stability margin. Simulation and experiment are both carried out and comparison of linear and non-linear
load condition is presented in detail which veries the theoretical analysis.

1 Introduction system stability etc. The system stability is most

With the wide application of the renewable energy resources,
the distributed power generation system has received more
and more attention for its advantage of exible
conguration. In the microgrid, which is the major form of
the distributed generation system, parallel connected
inverters are the most common devices for energy
conversion. The performance of the controllers in these
inverters largely determines the operation characteristics of
the microgrid. In the control strategies that need no
inter-communication lines, the droop control method is of
great importance and has attracted a lot of interest. The
application of the droop method in parallel inverter system
has been researched wildly and deeply [13].
Microgrid parallel inverters need appropriate control
methods in islanded mode to maintain the magnitude and
frequency of the common bus voltage to meet the
demand of the supply voltage standards. Thus,
the performance of the control system is critical for the
microgrid to operate steadily [1]. Droop controller
simulates the rst frequency regulation method in large
generating units to adjust the magnitude and frequency of
output voltages while the load power changes, which
ensures the proper distribution of active and reactive
power of the inverters [3]. The performance of the droop
controller is greatly related to the active and reactive
droop ratios, which are determined by the accuracy of
power sharing, the amplitude of output voltages and
important among all the impact factors [35].
As determined by the characteristics of distributed power
systems, the distances between inverters and the common bus
are always different which causes the differences of line
impedances. The exible conguration of power levels in
microgrid makes the type of the line impedances various, for
example, the impedances use to be resistive in low-voltage
system, whereas those in high-voltage system are usually
more inductive [6]. In order to properly distribute the active
and reactive power in the complex conditions mentioned
above, literature [2] proposed the design method for virtual
output impedance. This method ensures the virtual output
impedance to be inductive in low frequency band and
resistive in high frequency band, which not only guarantees
the distribution accuracy of the inverter output power, but
also makes the system more damped to shorten the period of
parallel operation. Based on the concept of virtual
impedance, researchers have proposed various virtual
impedance design methods to apply to different conditions
and control objectives, including capacitive [7], resistive
inductive [8] and resistive [9] virtual impedance, which has
expanded the application scope of virtual impedance.
The effect of virtual impedance is equivalent to increase of
the inner impedance of inverters, which to a certain degree
enhances the sharing of load currents. However, the output
capability of the inverters is decreased and output voltages
are more sensitive to output currents. When the currents
contain harmonic components, the voltages would

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inevitably include harmonics. The distorted voltages and
currents would bring about DC and oscillating components
in output power, which affects the detection accuracy of
the output fundamental active and reactive powers. The
fundamental powers are critical input parameters of the
droop controller and the accuracy of them would directly
inuence the control effect of the controller. Thus, it is
meaningful to analyse the inuence of non-linear loads to
droop controller when different types of virtual impedance
are used. The result of the analysis could provide some
basis on the selection method of droop ratios, the type of
virtual impedance, the value of virtual impedance etc.
The rest of the paper is organised as follows. In Section 2,
the equivalent circuit model of micro-source inverter system
is established in fundamental and harmonic domains,
respectively. The fundamental power detection error is
derived in detail and the virtual harmonic power is used to
quanticationally describe the error in Section 3. The state
equation of droop controller is presented through the
small-signal analysis method, and the inuence of
harmonics to the droop controller is analysed in detail in
next two sections, respectively. The simulated and
experimental results are presented in Section 6 to validate
the conclusions of theoretical analysis, followed by the
conclusions made in Section 7.
2 Micro-source inverter system equivalent
circuit model
Typical diagram of the microgrid system is shown in Fig. 1,
which consists of two micro-source inverters and a
non-linear load. The AC sides of the inverters are
connected to the low-voltage common bus through
distribution lines.
Fig. 1 Diagram of typical microgrid system
Fig. 2 Control block diagram of micro-source inverter
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Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of the control loops of one
micro-source inverter in Fig. 1, including the droop
controller, the inner current and voltage loop, and the
virtual impedance loop. The droop controller is commonly
used to realise output power distribution and voltage
regulation, which would generate the reference output
voltage Eref from the detected output voltages uo and
currents io.
When line impedance is mainly resistive, the control
diagram of the corresponding droop controller is shown in
Fig. 3. In three-phase circuit, the power detection unit of
droop controller usually takes use of DQ method. The
method rstly changes three-phase output voltages and
currents into DQ rotate coordination. Then, expressions of
instantaneous active and reactive power in the coordination
are used to obtain instantaneous active power p and reactive
power q. The low-pass lter is then adopted to eliminate
oscillating components of the instantaneous powers, and the
instantaneous fundamental active power P and reactive
power Q are obtained. Then, the power droop loop is
adopted to obtain the reference frequency and amplitude of
the output voltages, and E.
Usually, there are differences in the distances between
inverters and the common bus. The virtual output
impedance is adopted to obtain better distribution of load
currents when the line impedances are not balanced.
However, when the currents contain harmonics, the output
voltages of inverters using the virtual impedance would be
distorted. Assuming that Zv denotes the virtual impedance
of micro-source inverter, the single phase equivalent
equations of microgrid system in fundamental and harmonic
domains are shown in Figs. 4a and b, respectively.
In Fig. 4, the virtual impedance Zv is set to be far larger
than the actual line impedance Zln to achieve good
performance of fundamental circulation suppression and
fundamental power distribution between the inverters.
However, the load harmonic current ihn would bring about
harmonic voltage uhn with the same frequency which results
in harmonic components of the inverter output voltages.
Obviously, the amplitude and phase angle of uhn are
determined by multiple factors including the amplitude and
phase angle of the virtual impedance, the amplitude and
order of load harmonic currents etc.
Fig. 3 Structure of droop controller
IET Power Electron., 2014, Vol. 7, Iss. 6, pp. 15471556
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Fig. 4 Single phase equivalent circuit of micro-source inverter system

a Fundamental domain
b Harmonic domain

3 Analysis of fundamental power detection including the harmonic components are presented in the
error following equations (see (1))

In this section, quantitative analysis of the fundamental power In expressions (1) and (2), f denotes fundamental angle
detection error of droop controller is presented in detail when frequency; Ufm and Unm denote fundamental and nth
harmonic components exist in the output voltages and harmonic voltage amplitude, respectively; Ifm and Inm
currents. Typical condition that single inverter supplying denote fundamental and nth harmonic current amplitude,
non-linear loads is discussed. The load current is respectively; f and n denote fundamental and nth
assumed to be i, which contains fundamental current, harmonic voltage phase, respectively; Ifm and Inm denote
positive-sequence harmonic current and negative-sequence fundamental and nth harmonic current phase, respectively.
harmonic current. With the existence of virtual impedance The expression of DQ transformation is shown as follows
Zv, output voltages of the inverter would contain harmonic (see (2))
components. As there are no zero sequence currents in
three-phase three-wire neutral non-grounded systems, the T
cos vf t sin vf t
harmonic components with orders of 6k + 3 do not exist in
   

  
 2p 2p
2
the load currents, thus the load harmonics with the orders fa
fd cos v t sin vf t
of 6k 1 are needed to be taken into consideration. =
f
3 3 fb
fq 3    
Typically, the components with orders of 6k + 1 are 2p 2p fc
positive-sequence components, whereas the components cos vf t + sin vf t +
3 3
with orders of 6k1 are negative-sequence components.
The expressions of the output voltages and currents (3)

 
+1

ua = Ufm cos (vf t + uf ) + Unm cos (nvf t + un )




k=1 n=6k+1
 +1




2   2

u = U cos v t + u p + Unm cos (nvf t + un + p)


b fm f f
3 3

 
k=1 n=6k1
 2
+ Unm cos nvf t + un p (1)

3


n=6k+1
  +1
 

2   2

= v + u + p + v + u p


u c U fm cos f t f U nm cos n f t n

3 3

 
k=1 n=6k1

 2

+ Unm cos nvf t + un + p
n=6k+1 3

+1 

i = I cos ( v t + w ) + Inm cos (nvf t + wn )

a fm f f


k=1 n=6k+1

 



2 
+1  2

ib = Ifm cos vf t + wf p + Inm cos nvf t + wn + p

3 3

 
k=1 n=6k1
 2
+ Inm cos nvf t + wn p (2)

3


n=6k+1
  +1
 

2   2

ic = Ifm cos vf t + wf + p + Inm cos nvf t + wn p



3 3

 
k=1 n=6k1

 2

+ Inm cos nvf t + wn + p
n=6k+1 3

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The expressions of voltages and currents in the rotate components of the output voltages, and If and In denote the
coordination can be obtained by (3), as shown in expression RMS values of the fundamental and nth harmonic
(4) and expression (5) components of the output current. It can be seen from (7)
that the rst two items of p are not related to the time

 
+1 variant t, which means that the items are DC components.

ud =
3
Ufm cos uf + Unm cos[(n + 1)vf t + un )]

The rest items of p are sinusoidal AC components with

k=1 n=6k1
 frequency of more than six times of the fundamental


+ 1 

+ Unm cos[(n 1)vf t + un )]

frequency, which can be easily eliminated by the low pass
lter (LPF) in Fig. 3. Thus, only the DC components would
k=1 n=6k+1
 remain in the active power (see (7))

u = 3 U sin u +   U sin[(n + 1)v t + u )]

+1

q
2 fm f nm f n
Similarly, the rst three items in the instantaneous reactive

k=1 n=6k1



+ 1  power q would be reserved with the effect of the LPF. As a

Unm sin[(n 1)vf t + un )]

result, the approximate expressions of fundamental
k=1 n=6k+1
instantaneous powers can be obtained as shown in the
(4) following equation


3  
+1



di = Ifm cos wf + Inm cos[(n + 1)vf t + wn )]

2 +1 

k=1 n=6k1

P = 3U I cos( u w ) + 3Un In cos(un wn )


+ 1 
f f f f


k=1 n=6k+1


+ I cos[(n 1) v t + w )]

nm f n

k=1 n=6k+1

+ 3U I
n n cos( un w n )

3 
+ 1  n=6k1



iq = Ifm sin wf + Inm sin[(n + 1)vf t + wn )]



+1 

2 Q = 3Uf If sin(uf wf ) +
3Un In sin(un wn )


k=1 n=6k1




+ 1 
k=1 n=6k+1


Inm sin[(n 1)vf t + wn )]



k=1 n=6k+1 3Un In sin(un wn )
(5) n=6k1
(8)
The instantaneous power calculation expression is presented
as follows
Ph, Qh denote the last two items of P and Q in expression (8),
 respectively. These coefcients are determined by the output
p = ud id + uq iq harmonic voltages and currents. The fundamental active and
(6)
q = ud iq uq id reactive powers are denoted by Pf and Qf. Expression (8)
can be transferred to expression (9) by the relationship of
Equation (7) can be obtained by (6), where Uf and Un denote output voltages, output currents and the virtual impedance.
the RMS values of the fundamental and nth harmonic Zvf, Zvn denote the fundamental and nth harmonic


+ 1 

p = 3U I cos ( u w ) + 3Un In cos (un wn )

f f f f

k=1 n=6k+1




+ 1 

+ 3{Uf In cos [(n 1)vf t + (wn uf )]



k=1 n=6k+1

+Un If cos [(n 1)vf t + (un wf )]}





 +1
+1 

+ 3{U6k1 I6j+1 cos [6(j + k)vf t + (w6j+1 + u6k1 )]



j=0 k=1



+U6j+1 I6k1 cos [6( j + k)vf t + (u6j+1 + w6k1 )}




+1 
q = 3Uf If sin (uf wf ) + 3Un In sin (un wn ) (7)

k=1 n=6k+1





3Un In sin (un wn )



n=6k1



+ 1 



+ 3{ U I sin [(n 1) v t + ( w u )


f n f n f


k=1 n=6k+1

Un If sin [(n 1)vf t + (wf un )]}






+ 1+ 1

+ 3{U6k1 I6j+1 sin [6(j + k)vf t + (w6j+1 + u6k1 )



j=0 k=1


+ U6j+1 I6k1 sin [6(j + k)vf t + (u6j+1 + w6k1 )}

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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014 doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2013.0407
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amplitude of the virtual impedance detected fundamental reactive power smaller. When the
virtual impedance is capacitive, the positive-sequence
harmonic currents would make the detected fundamental

P = Pf + Ph = 3Zvf If2 cos(uf wf )


active power larger and the reactive power smaller, whereas


+ 1 

+ 3 Zvn In2 cos(un wn ) the negative-sequence harmonic currents would make both



k=1 n=6k+1
 of them larger.

 When the type of the harmonic currents is xed, the effects



+ Un In cos(un wn ) caused by types of different virtual impedance are also
n=6k1
(9) different. For example, when the harmonic current is

Q = Qf + Qh = 3Zvf If2 sin(uf wf )


positive-sequence, the resistive-inductive type virtual


+ 1 

+ Zvn In2 sin(un wn )
impedance would make the detected fundamental active and

3


reactive larger; whereas the capacitive type virtual


k=1 n=6k+1
 impedance would make the detected fundamental active



Zvn In2 sin(un wn ) power larger and reactive power smaller. When the harmonic
n=6k1 current is negative-sequence, the resistive-inductive type
virtual impedance would make the detected fundamental
It can be seen from (9) that the harmonic power Ph and Qh active power larger and reactive power smaller; whereas the
brought about by the output harmonic voltages and currents capacitive type virtual impedance would make the detected
with the same frequency exist in the expressions of active fundamental active and reactive power both larger.
and reactive power calculated by the power detection unit,
which causes the fundamental power detection error. As
analysed in last section, Ph and Qh are affected by a lot of 4 Math model of droop controller
factors, including the virtual impedance, harmonic considering harmonic power
frequency, harmonic current amplitude etc. To simplify the
analysis, is dened to be the virtual harmonic active In this section, the small-signal analysis method is used to
factor, indicating the ratio of virtual harmonic active power establish the math model of the droop controller when
Ph and fundamental active power Pf, whereas is dened harmonic power is taken into consideration. The line
to be the virtual harmonic reactive factor, indicating the impedance is assumed to be mainly resistive. According to
ratio of virtual harmonic reactive power Qh and the circuit principle, the expression of instantaneous power
fundamental reactive power Qf. The expressions of them are can be shown as follows:
shown in the following equation (see (10))  

V E cos f V
The main function of the micro-source inverter is to transfer p=
sL + R (11)
energy in fundamental frequency, thus, the virtual harmonic sin f
power would not exceed the fundamental power. It can be
q =
VE
seen from (10) that the harmonic current phase and sL + R
sequence would not affect the sign of , whereas they
would affect the sign of . Thus, the sign of would In expression (11), V and E represent the amplitude of the
always be positive and that of would depend on the common bus voltage and the inverter output voltage,
harmonic currents. That is, the expressions 0 < 1 and respectively. R and L represent the resistance and
1 < 1 stand. The sign of would be positive when the inductance of the line impedance, respectively. f represents
virtual impedance is inductive and it would be negative the power angle. After considering the effect of harmonic
when the virtual impedance is capacitive. Expression (10) power and low-pass lter, the small-signal equivalent model
indicates that when the load is non-linear, the harmonic of the detection unit can be shown as follows [10]
power caused by the virtual impedance would affect the

detection accuracy of fundamental power. The detection (1 + a)vc V  
error of fundamental active power is times of the
p = s + v sL + R cos f e E sin f f
c
fundamental active power and the detection error of (12)

(1 + b)vc V  
fundamental reactive power is times of the fundamental q = sin f e + E cos f f
reactive power. s + vc sL + R
When the virtual impedance is xed, the effects caused by
the positive-sequence and negative-sequence harmonic As the power angle f is usually small, sinf = f and cosf = 1
currents to the fundamental power detection accuracy are stand. Expression (12) can be rewritten as follows
not the same. For an instance, when the virtual impedance

is mainly resistiveinductive, the positive-sequence (1 + a)vc V  
harmonic currents would make the detected fundamental
p = (s + v )(sL + R) e E f f
c
active and reactive power larger than the real values, (13)

(1 + b)vc V  
whereas the negative-sequence harmonic currents would q = f e + E f
make the detected fundamental active power larger but the (s + vc )(sL + R)

+1 
n=6k+1 Zvn In cos (un wn )
2

Ph

a = = k=1
Pf Zvf I 2 cos (uf wf )
+1  f  (10)

Qh k=1 [ n=6k+1 Zvn In sin (un wn )
2
n=6k1 Zvn In sin (un wn )]
2

b = =
Qf Zvf If2 sin (uf wf )

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The droop controller in Fig. 3 can be expressed as follows the closed-loop system can be obtained [11, 12]

E = E mP As5 + Bs4 + Cs3 + Ds2 + Es + F = 0 (19)
(14)
v = v + nQ
The system stable condition can be obtained from the Routh
Using the small-signal analysis method, the expression (14) criterion. The Routh table corresponding to (19) is shown in
can be linearised. Combining expression (13) with (14), Table 1. According to the Routh criterion, all of the
expression (15) can be derived, where ^ denotes perturbed coefcients in (19) should be greater than zero to make the
values system stable. Meanwhile, the coefcients in column one of
Table 1 should also be greater than zero. Thus, the
necessary and sufcient condition of the closed-loop system
m(1 + a)vc V  

e = mp = (s + v )(sL + R) e E f f stability is obtained as shown in the following equation
c
(15)

nq n(1 + b)vc V  
f = = f e + E f BC AD . 0
s s(s + vc )(sL + R) a D a2 B . 0 (20)
1
b1 a2 a1 b2 . 0
Combing the two equations in (15), eliminating e and the
items related to f 2, a differential equation about f can be
where a1 = ((BC AD)/B), a2 = ((BE AF)/B), b1 = ((a1D
obtained as shown in the following
a2B)/a1), b2 = F, c1 = ((b1a2 a1b2)/b1) and d1 = F.
Combining (16) and (20), the range of the coefcients to
(As5 + Bs4 + Cs3 + Ds2 + Es + F)f = 0 (16) make the system stable could be obtained. Obviously, and
would inuence the system stability. To further analyse
where the system stability and dynamic performance inuence the
closed-loop system pole distribution diagram when power
droop ratios and virtual impedance change is drawn in
A = L2
Figs. 5 and 6. The equilibrium point of the system is list in
B = 2L(wc L + R) Table 2.
The closed-loop system pole distribution diagram is shown
C = v2c L2 + R2 + 4Rvc L + m(1 + a)vc LV in Fig. 5. The distribution diagram when the active power
D = vc (vc L + R)(2R + m(1 + a)V ) droop ratio m is xed to be 103 and the reactive power
+ n(1 + b)VE vc L droop ratio n increases from 104 to 5 102 is shown
in Fig. 5a. The distribution diagram when n is xed to be
E = v2c R[R + m(1 + a)V ] 3 104 and m increase from 104 to 102 is shown in
Fig. 5b. The left diagrams in Figs. 5a and b present the
+ n(1 + b)vc VE(vc L + R)
closed-loop system pole distribution when harmonic active
F = n(1 + b)v2c VE[R + mV (1 + a)] and reactive power ratio are both zero, that is, the harmonic
power is not taken into consideration, and the droop ratios
are with the same value 0.5 in right diagrams in Figs. 5a
It is assumed that the system state variant X is
 T and b.
f f (1) f (2) f (3) f (4) , consisting of the zero to It can be seen from Fig. 5a that the control system has a pair
fourth-order derivatives of f . The system state equation can of conjugated complex poles and three real poles. The former
be expressed as shown in the following equation complex poles are the dominant poles of the closed-loop
system whose motion curve mainly determines the system
performance. With the increase of n, the dominant poles
0 1 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 tend to run towards the right half plane of the complex
coordination in both of the conditions whether the virtual
0 1 0 X
X = 0 0
(17) harmonic power is taken into consideration or not,
0 0 0 0 1
B C D E F
indicating that the system tends to be unstable. Relatively,
the dominant poles run faster towards the right half plane
A A A A A after the virtual harmonic power is taken into consideration,
which means lower damp and stability margin.
The system output equation can be expressed as (18) Similarly, it can be seen from Fig. 5b that the virtual
  harmonic power does not bring about clear effect to the
y= 1 0 0 0 0 X (18) system stability. However, with the increase of m, the two

Equations (17) and (18) can be used to analyse the stability

Table 1 Closed-loop system Routh calculation table
and dynamic performance with disturbance when initial
values of the output voltage and power angle are given. Items Coefficients

s5 A C E
5 Influence analysis of harmonic power to s4 B D F
droop controller s3 a1 a2 0
s2 b1 b2 0
s1 c1 0 0
According the value of the determinant corresponding to the s0 d1 0 0
system matrix of the state (17), the characteristic equation of

1552 IET Power Electron., 2014, Vol. 7, Iss. 6, pp. 15471556

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014 doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2013.0407
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Fig. 5 Closed-loop poles distribution of the droop control system

Left: and are both zero; and right: and are both 0.5
a m = 103, 104 n 5 102
b n = 3 104, 104 m 5 102

Fig. 6 Closed-loop system pole distribution with different types of virtual impedance
a Left, resistive virtual impedance (0 < 1, = 0); and right, capacitive virtual impedance ( = 0, 0.5 < 0)
b Left, inductive virtual impedance ( = 0, 0 1); and right, resistiveinductive virtual impedance (0 < 1, 0 1)

real poles in the right diagram deviate away from the real axe, It is mentioned in the former section that the inuence of
thus, the damping ratio decreases and anti-interference ability different virtual impedances to the fundamental power
of the system becomes weaker. Generally speaking, when the detection accuracy would not be the same. Typically, the
virtual harmonic power exists, the range of droop ratios would
be narrowed for the purpose of sufcient stability margin. Table 3 Simulation parameters
Parameter Symbol Value in stable Unit
Table 2 System equilibrium points state

Parameters Symbol Value in stable Unit active power droop ratio m 1 103 V/W
state reactive droop ratio n 2.5 103 (rad/s)/
Var
cutoff frequency of LPF c 62.8 rad/s virtual inductance Lv 0.01 mH
active power droop ratio m 1 103 V/W linear load inductance Ll 15 mH
reactive power droop n 3 104 (rad/s)/ linear load resistance Rl 5
ratio Var peak value of fifth Ip5 50 A
common bus voltage V 308 V harmonic source
amplitude line inductance 1 L1 0.06 mH
output voltage amplitude E 315 V line resistance 1 R1 0.2
line inductance L 0.06 mH line inductance 2 L2 0.1 mH
line resistance R 0.2 line resistance 2 R2 0.3

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Fig. 7 Comparison diagram of dynamic waveforms with linear and non-linear loads
Up: output current of phase A; middle: output current difference of phase A; and down: reference angle frequency
a Linear load
b Non-linear load

detection result of fundamental active power would always be
larger than the real value, whereas that of the fundamental
reactive power could be larger or smaller than the real
value. The closed-loop pole distribution diagrams are
shown in Fig. 6 to indicate the inuence of the resistive,
capacitive, inductive, resistiveinductive virtual impedance
to the droop controller.
It can be seen from Fig. 6 that dynamic performance and
stability of the system would not be greatly inuenced by
the resistive virtual impedance, whereas the inductive,

1554 IET Power Electron., 2014, Vol. 7, Iss. 6, pp. 15471556

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014 doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2013.0407

capacitive and resistiveinductive virtual impedance would
decrease the damp of the system, which to certain extent
promotes the dynamic performance of the system but
decreases the anti-interference ability and the stability
margin. Thus, the resistive virtual impedance has little
inuence on the system and the other types of the virtual
impedance would make the system unstable. Generally, the
latter types of virtual impedances should not be designed
too large.
6 Simulation and experiment
In order to verify the analysis of former sections, the circuit
model of the system shown in Fig. 1 is built in the PSIM
simulation software environment. The inverters have the
same coefcients. The non-linear load is composed by a
linear resistiveinductive load and a fth negative-sequence
harmonic current source. The parameters of the simulation
model are shown in Table 3. The other parameters are the
same with the system equilibrium point.
The conditions when the load is linear and non-linear are
both simulated. In simulation process, inverter I and the
load are rstly connected into the common bus, the other
inverter is connected after the system is stable. The droop
Fig. 8 Experimental waveforms
a Current waveforms of phase A under linear load condition
b Circulation waveform of phase A under resistiveinductive load condition
c Current waveforms of phase A under non-linear load condition
d Circulation waveform of phase A under non-linear load condition
IET Power Electron., 2014, Vol. 7, Iss. 6, pp. 15471556
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2013.0407
www.ietdl.org
ratios and virtual impedance are not changed in simulation,
whereas the load harmonics are changed. The simulation
result is shown in Fig. 7. The second inverter is connected
to the common bus at the time of 0.2 s.
In Fig. 7a, after the second inverter is connected to the
common bus, the output currents and reference angle
frequency of the inverters tend to be equivalent. The
simulation result shows that the output current difference is
limited in around 5 A, the absolute value of the reference
angle frequency difference is below 0.2 rad/s, and the
dynamic performance and stability precision both meet
the system requirements. Fig. 7b shows the diagrams when
the load is non-linear. It can be seen from this gure that
after the connection of inverter II, the output current
difference is larger than the former condition, the maximum
value of which reaches 20 A. The reference angle frequency
difference is also larger and the waves are approximately to
be equiamplitude impulse, the amplitude of which reaches
3 rad/s indicating that the system is critical stable. The
system stability changes after the connection of non-linear
load, which validate the theoretical analysis.
In order to further verify the dynamic performance of the
system when the virtual harmonic power exists, a prototype
is established. The non-linear load is composed by a
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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014
www.ietdl.org
resistiveinductive load and a non-controllable rectier. The
parameters of the resistiveinductive load are the same with
the simulation. The DC side of the rectier is a resistive
inductive load a resistance of 1 and a inductance of
10 mH. The reactive power droop ratio is set to be 1.5 103.
The virtual impedance is set to be resistiveinductive,
whose resistance is 1 and inductance is the same with the
simulation. The other parameters are the same with the
simulation. The prototype experimental waves are shown in
Fig. 8, where diagrams (a) and (b) are the waves with only
resistiveinductive load, and diagrams (c) and (d) are the
waves with both resistiveinductive load and the rectier
load.
In Fig. 8, the amplitude of the circulation current is limited
within 10 A in the resistiveinductive load condition, and the
circulation current diverges as the uncontrollable rectier is
connected to the common bus. Thus, the system reaches
stable state in the linear load condition, whereas it becomes
unstable when the load becomes non-linear. As the droop
ratios and other system parameters are the same in both of
the conditions, it can be concluded that the non-linearity of
the load causes the unstableness of the droop control
system. Thus, the conclusion is validated that the system
stability could be inuenced by the non-linearity of the load
as the virtual harmonic factors are above zero.
It can be seen from the former sections that when the virtual
impedance is purely capacitive or inductive, or when the load
current is positive-sequence, it can be equivalent to the
conditions that the virtual harmonic ratios are changed
correspondingly. This paper would not describe these
conditions in detail.
7 Conclusion
In the existence of the virtual impedance, the harmonic
currents from non-linear loads would inuence the
fundamental power detection accuracy, thus the stability of
droop controller would be affected. This paper introduces
the virtual harmonic power concept to quanticationally
analyse the inuence of non-linear load currents to the
performance of microgrid parallel inverters as the virtual
impedance and phase sequence of the load currents are with
different types. The simulation and experimental results are
presented to verify the analysis about the inuence of
virtual harmonic power to the system stability and dynamic
performance of the micro-source inverter droop controller.
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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014
8 Acknowledgment
This paper is supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China with the project 51307009, and it is
also supported by the Hunan provincial Natural Science
Foundation of China with the project 12JJ4045.
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IET Power Electron., 2014, Vol. 7, Iss. 6, pp. 15471556
doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2013.0407