• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1111-1126
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• 2018

In modern power systems, distributed generators (DGs) result in high stress on system frequency stability. Apart from the intermittent nature of DGs, most DGs do not contribute inertia or damping to systems. As a result, a new control method referred to as a virtual synchronous machine (VSM) has been proposed, which brought new characteristics to inverters such as synchronous machines (SM). DGs employing an energy storage system (ESS) provide inertia and damping through VSM control. Meanwhile, energy storage presents some physical constraints in the VSM implementation level. In this paper, a VSM mathematical model is built and analyzed. The dynamic responses of the output active power are presented when a step change in the frequency occurs. The influences of the inertia constant, damping factor and operating point on the ESS volume margins are investigated. In addition, physical constraints are proposed based on these analyses. The proposed physical constraints are simulated using PSCAD/EMTDC software and tested through RTDS experiment. Both simulation and RTDS test results verify the analysis.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.766-776
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• 2017

In modern power systems, high penetration of distributed generators (DGs) results in high stress on system stability. Apart from the intermittent nature of DGs, most DGs do not contribute inertia or damping to systems. As a result, a new control method named virtual synchronous machine (VSM) was proposed, which brought new characteristics to inverters such as synchronous machines (SMs). In addition, different active power droop controls for VSMs are being proposed in literatures. However, they are quite different in terms of their dynamic characteristics despite of the similar control laws. In this paper, mathematical models of a VSM adopting different active power droop controls are built and analyzed. The dynamic performance of the VSM output active power and virtual rotor angular frequency are presented for different models. The influences of the damping factor and droop coefficient on the VSM dynamic behaviors are also investigated in detail. Finally, the theoretical analysis is verified by simulations and experimental results.