Chapter 5.

Black-box Modeling of Three Phase Voltage Source Inverters with Output Voltage Control

ioa voa
iob 3Ø VSI vob
Black-box
ioc voc
model
vi ii
Fig. 5-2: System-level model of the three phase VSI with regulated output voltage.

The main difference from DC-DC converters is the AC interface at the output port. Instead of
having a single output voltage and a single output current, there are three AC voltages and currents.
AC signals are time-variant at steady-state; therefore a ‘constant operating point’ cannot be defined.
That problem is overcome by making use of the Park’s transformation, or ‘a-b-c’ frame to ‘d-q’
frame transformation. By means of this, a three-phase balanced sinusoidal system can be
‘instantaneously’ mapped into two DC signals, called ‘d’ and ‘q’, without any loss of information.
This transformation is well known and is briefly reviewed in the next point.

5.2.3 The synchronous ‘d-q’ reference frame

Consider a set of three balanced sinusoidal signals sa, sb and sc, which are featured by same
magnitude, same angular fundamental frequency ‘ o’ and are shifted 120 degrees. Then, the sum of
them at any instant of time is null.
sa sb sc 0 (5-1)
According to that constraint, such a set of three-phase signals can be transformed into two
orthogonal signals by the linear transformation given by (5-2). This is the so-called ‘Clarke
transformation’, or ‘a-b-c to - ’ transformation [175]. The resulting signals s , s are featured by
same magnitude as the a-b-c signals and are shifted 90 degrees.

1 1
1 sa
s 2 2 2
sb (5-2)
s 3 3 3
0 sc
2 2
This transformation has a meaningful geometrical interpretation. The three phase signals (sa, sb and
sc) can be represented as a vector rotating at angular frequency ‘ o’ in a three dimensional space, so
that the projection of the vector onto the three-axes gives the instantaneous value of the signals. This
reference frame is referred to as ‘a-b-c frame’ (see Fig. 5-3).
As long as the signals fulfill (5-1), the vector is actually lying within a bi-dimensional plane.
Consequently, the system can be transformed into a bi-dimensional space, defined by two orthogonal
axes, as defined by (5-2). The resulting reference frame is the so-called ‘ - frame’.
Within - frame, the signals s , s are represented through a set two orthogonal, stationary axes,
and a vector rotating at synchronous frequency. However, if those axes rotate at the same speed as
the vector, then the projection of the vector result in two DC signals. In plain words, a rotating vector
in a stationary frame results in a stationary vector in a rotating frame [175]. This transformation can
be done through the orthogonal matrix given by (5-3), where = o (t- t0) and t0 is the reference time.

sd cos sin s
(5-3)
sq sin cos s

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 Chapter 5. Black-box Modeling of Three Phase Voltage Source Inverters with Output Voltage Control

The resulting signals, sd sq, are said to be mapped into ‘d-q frame’. The reference time ‘t0’ allows
setting the relative position of the d-q axes with respect to the vector.
Fig. 5-3 illustrates the concepts discussed above. The reference time ‘t0’ has been selected so that
s (t0) = 0. Thereby, the projection onto the ‘q’ axis is null, i.e. sq = 0. The reference time ‘t0’ will play
a critical role during the identification process, as will be discussed later on.
b
400 sa sb sc
gira el vector con velocidad wot
200 ot
120º sobre un marco de tres ejes fijos
a-b-c frame 0 a trifásica
120º
120º
-200

-400
0 0 .0 1 0 .0 2 0 .0 3 0 .0 4
400 s s c

200 gira el vector con velocidad wot

sobre un marco de dos ejes fijos,
0 ot un de los ejes coincide con uno
- frame
t0 90º
de los ejes del marco abc,
-200
generando un sistema bifásico
-400

400 sd
q
tanto el vector como los dos ejes
200 ot giran con velocidad wot, genera
sq ot
un sistema DC
d-q frame 0 ot
90º
d
-200

-400
10 20 30
Time (ms)

Fig. 5-3: Three phase balanced signals represented into a-b-c frame, - frame and d-q frame.

Both reference frame transformations, defined by (5-2) and (5-3), can be merged into a single one
as expressed by (5-4). Three-phase signals can be directly converted from a-b-c frame to d-q frame
using this linear transformation5.1. This is the so-called ‘Park’s Transformation’ [177]-[179]5.2.

2 2
cos cos cos sa
sd 2 3 3
sb (5-4)
sq 3 2 2
sin sin
sin sc
3 3
On the other hand, the inverse transformation from d-q frame to a-b-c frame is defined as follows.

5.1
The a-b-c to d-q transformation is linear time-variant. As a consequence, a linear dynamic system into a-b-c
frame is also linear into d-q frame, but the system dynamics is affected by the transformation.
5.2
The transformation given (5-4) is said to be ‘amplitude invariant’, meaning that the amplitude of the vector
mapped into d-q and a-b-c frame is the same. Alternative definitions, such as the ‘power invariant’ one, are also
widely applied. They differ from each other by a constant factor (3/2)1/2.

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 Chapter 5. Black-box Modeling of Three Phase Voltage Source Inverters with Output Voltage Control

cos sin
sa
2 2 sd
sb cos sin (5-5)
3 3 sq
sc
2 2
cos sin
3 3

5.2.4 Model structure

5.2.4.1 Small-signal approach

As illustrated above, a three phase balance system can be mapped by means of two DC signals into
d-q frame, so it is possible to define a constant operating point. Hence, those techniques already
described for black-box modeling of DC-DC converters can be adapted to the three-phase VSI.
Moreover, thanks to the linear properties of the Park’s transformation (or a-b-c to d-q frame
transformation), linearity of the VSI is retained when mapped into d-q frame.
The model is internally represented in d-q coordinates, so that the d-q output voltage and input
current are model outputs, whereas d-q output current and input voltage are model inputs. This leads,
to a three-port g-parameters network, consisting of two output ports, one for each d-q channel, and
one input port. In terms of small-signal, it can be represented by the linear model shown in Fig.
5-45.3. Since this is a three-input, three-output network, up to nine transfer function models are
required to model all those relationships between the inputs and the outputs: four transfer functions
for the output impedance (Zodd(s), Zodq(s), Zoqd(s) and Zoqq(s)), two ones for the audiosusceptibility
(God(s) and Goq(s)), two for the back-current-gain (Hid(s) and Hiq(s)) and one for the input admittance
(Yi(s)).
Zodd(s) Zodq(s) ioq(s)
iod(s)

+ +
ii(s) God(s) vi(s) - vod(s)
+ -
vi(s) Zoqd(s) iod(s) Zoqq(s)
- ioq(s)
Yi(s) Hid(s) iod(s) Hiq(s) ioq(s) +
+
Goq(s) vi(s) - voq(s)
-

Fig. 5-4: Small-signal d-q black-box model of three phase VSIs with regulated output voltage (Laplace
domain).

This model has been recently shown in [153]. However, it requires to be extended in order to carry
out large-signal time domain simulations. Indeed, as the model is described in d-q coordinates, it
cannot be interfaced with other three phase subsystems and loads, unless also mapped into the d-q
frame.

5.3
Note that this model would be also valid to model a single-input two-outputs DC-DC converter. This clearly
illustrates the equivalency between black-box models for three-phase VSI into d-q and DC-DC converters.

153