9th International Conference on Power Electronics-ECCE Asia

June 1 - 5, 2015 / 63 Convention Center, Seoul, Korea

Adaptive Damping Scheme of LCL Filter

Resonance under Inductance Variation for a
Single-Phase Grid-Connected Inverter
Young-Chan Cho, Ki-Young Choi, and Rae-Young Kim
Energy Electronics Control System Laboratory
Hanyang University Seoul, Korea

Abstract-- LCL-filter is broadly utilized to attenuate the most previous researches have not fully considered the
switching harmonic ripple generated from the PWM (Pulse inductance variation of the filter. For a straightforward
Width Modulation) based converters and inverters. solution, the over-sized magnetic core is simply used to
However, due to the resonance problem the stability issue provide a small variation in wide linear region, while
should be overcome. Among many solutions, notch filter
sacrificing a size and cost of the system. Recently, a wide
based active damping is effective solution for not needing
additional sensor and damping resistor. But that strategy is
frequency band notch filter was introduced to cope with
vulnerable to filter parameter variation, which varies the resonant variation of LCL-filter [10]. However, the
resonant frequency. inherent drawback of the slow system dynamics and
This paper proposes adaptive notch filter concept for a instability caused by a large phase drop in the feedback
single-phase inverter in considering parameter variation of loop could be problematic [11].
two inductors with respect to current. Due to that To overcome these problems, the paper proposes the
estimation performance, it provides with a size and cost- active damping scheme employing an adaptive notch
effective solution for selecting filter materials. Also, this filter that moves its center frequency to track the resonant
adaptive filter can be designed narrower, which realizes less frequency of the LCL-filter. With the limitations of the
phase attenuation, thereby securing more loop gain of total
conventional schemes, in this paper, the impact of the
system. Therefore, current control loop secures higher
bandwidth. Simulation verification of the proposed method
current-inductance variation on the resonant frequency is
is given through MATLAB/Simulink and PSIM software. fully described based on the frequency domain analysis.
Based on this analysis, the implementation of the
Index Terms-- Adaptive notch filter, Inductor variation, adaptive notch filter which is tuned in real-time is
Filter based active damping, and Single phase LCL-filter described in detail. Thanks to a proper compensation of
based converter. the adaptive notch filter, the proposed scheme allows a
size-reduction of magnetic core, while providing the
I. INTRODUCTION improved system dynamics with the increase of
LCL-filter based voltage source inverters (VSIs) have bandwidth. In addition, since the proposed scheme can
been widely used due to its good harmonic reduction reflect the instantaneously variable inductance by the pre-
capability and high efficiency under reasonable price, determined data or approximately model of a core
compared to a simple L-filter [1]. The LCL-filter based material, the implementation is simple and easy.
inverter, however, must be properly damped to solve the Several simulation results are provided in order to
resonant problem. verify the theoretical analysis and promising effective-
Active damping schemes which need no damping ness of the proposed scheme.
resistor have been identified as an effective solution to
attenuate the problem [2]-[4],[8]. Among them, a notch
filter based active damping scheme has been widely used II. ANALYSIS OF FILTER RESONANCE UNDER
due to no additional sensor and its simple realization [3]- INDUCTANCE VARIATION
[4]. However, it shows a critical drawback of poor
robustness: the resonant frequency is varied according to
A. Inductance Variation of LCL-filter
grid impedance [5]. To overcome the drawback, several
publications to estimate the grid impedance variation and Fig. 1 is a diagram of a LCL-filter based single phase
compensate the resonance variation have been presented grid-connected inverter. For the generic modeling of the
[6]-[8]. The grid impedance variation is well estimated by inverter, its inductance values are assumed constant. But
signal injecting method in [6] or by control way in [7]. in practice, LCL-filter inductance values are not constant
The reference [8] shows the proper detection and and identical during operation [9]. Fig. 2 shows the
compensation of resonant frequency appropriately. measured inductance variation of an inductor constructed
On the other hand, the resonant frequency is also with magnetic powder core (Fe-Si-Al alloy) from Chang-
dependent on an instantaneous inductance variation of the Sung Corporation with respect to its current from 0 to
LCL-filter, with respect to its current magnitude [9], but 25A. It can be shown that inductance varies over a wide

2015 KIPE
978
 0

Magnitude (dB)
-20

No degradation
-40
20% degradation
40% degradation
-60
90

45

Phase (deg)
Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of LCL-filter based single phase grid-
0
connected inverter.
-45
550
500 -90
0 1 2 3 4 5
450 10 10 10 10 10 10
Inductance(ʅH)

400 Frequency (hz)

350
300 Fig. 3. Resonance variation of LCL-filter based inverter with respect
250 to inductor degradation.
200
150
100
0 5 10 15 20 25
Inductorcurrent(A)
Fig. 2. Measured inductance varied corresponding to its current with a
magnetic powder core.

range for nearly three times lower from the lowest to the
highest.

B. Filter Resonance Variation under Varied Inductance

The transfer function of LCL-filter based inverter, G(s) Fig. 4. Frequency response of notch filter.
with inverter-side current control becomes [1]:
A. Notch Filter based Active Damping
iinv ( s) 1 s 2  ZLC
2
G( s) (1) The notch filter based active damping focuses on
Vc ( s) Linv s s  Zres
2 2
attenuating the resonant peak of Fig. 3. That is, canceling
where iinv(s) and Vc(s) are the small-signal ac the resonance by a notch filter dip in order for resonant
perturbations on the inverter current and inverter output peak to avoid crossing 0dB [10]. The frequency response
voltage, and Ȧ2LC = [Lg Cf]-1 and Ȧ2res = (Lg + Linv)Ȧ2LC / of notch filter is shown in Fig. 4, and generic transfer
Linv being the resonance frequency and anti-resonance function of notch filter, N(s) is:
frequency, respectively. Thus, due to inductance variation s 2  2] z Zd s  Zd2
of Linv and Lg with respect to their current level as N (s) (2)
s 2  2] pZd s  Zd2
covered previous chapter, dynamics of the LCL-based
inverter is also altered as shown in Fig. 3, resulting in where Ȧd is the notch frequency, and ȗz and ȗp are the
changes in the resonant peak frequency higher. It can be damping ratio for the complex conjugate poles and zeros.
shown that resonant frequency alters over 1.5 kHz from Each filter depth and width of notch filter is determined
the nominal to 40% degradation of inductor. Thus, this by ȗz and ȗp. The filter attenuation NȦ at the notch
readily sensitive resonant dynamics due to filter frequency Ȧres as well as the attenuation Nǻ at the border
inductance variation have to be damped carefully. of a specified frequency band Ȧres ± Ȧǻ is tunable [10].
Otherwise in order to avoid varied resonance problem, The former and the latter decide the depth and width of
magnetic core would be chosen as wide band of linear the filter, respectively.
region where inductance value is not altered significantly
and system could be operated within that region. That B. Limitation of Conventional Notch Filter
would not be a cost- and size-effective solution for LCL- It can be seen that the notch filter would be tuned for
filter based inverter application. very frequency selective. Thus, the notch filter must be
designed to be robust enough because of resonance
III. LIMITATION OF CONVENTIONAL NOTCH FILTER oscillation as shown in Section II. To secure that
BASED ACTIVE DAMPING robustness requirements, the conventional notch filter is
design for covering with wide border of a resonant
frequency band ǻȦ = 0.1Ȧres [10], so that the phase mar-

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 0

-10
Magnitude (dB)

-20

-30 ȗp = 0.95
ȗp = 0.42
-40
90

45
Phase (deg)

0 Fig. 6. Current control block diagram of the LCL-filter based inverter

with adaptive notch filter.
-45
capacitor dynamics can be neglected, the LCL-filter
-90
10
2
10
3
10
4
10
5
10
6 behaves like simple inductor filter [1]. Thus, PR-
Frequency (hz) controller is tuned under design specification [12]. And in
Fig. 5. Frequency response of narrow and wide notch filter. order to damp the resonance properly, the resonance
frequency of the LCL-filter based VSI Ȧres has to be
gin will be inferior at low frequency range due to more estimated. Ȧres is derived from complex pole of single-
phase lag of wide notch. Fig. 5 displays two kinds of phase converter transfer function (1):
notch filter where wide one, ȗp = 0.95 has more phase lag
than narrow one, ȗp = 0.42. The transfer function of notch Lg  Linv
filter (2) tunes damping coefficient ȗz ‫ ا‬ȗp for low Zres (7)
Lg Linv C f
frequencies Ȧ ‫ ا‬Ȧd [8], the dynamics of the notch filter
and its phase can be approximated to first order system as where varied inductance values Lg and Linv are estimated
below: through pre-tabled data or approximated modeling
Zd / 2] p equations. In this paper, quadratic modeling equation is
N (s) | (3) utilized with the measured current-inductance data (see
s  Zd / 2] p
Fig. 2). Also, capacitance of filter capacitor is invariant
with its current level. Hence, resonant frequency Ȧres is
Z
‘N (Z ) | 2] p (4) simply calculated from (7).
Zd On the other hand, the filter capacitor value is
designed for generally less than 5% of the reactive power
Therefore, the wider dynamics notch filter has, the larger absorbed under rated conditions, due to the issue of the
damping factor ȗp is, which is related to the pole location decrease in power factor [1]. Thus, the current rushed into
of (3). Also, (4) shows that notch would be tuned as filter capacitor branch can be neglected. This condition is
narrow as possible, i.e. small value of ȗp, in order to prerequisite for assumption that the average grid-side
secure more phase margin. current is almost same as the average inverter-side one
On the other hand, border attenuation, Nǻ is tuned to within the switching period interval, <iinv> ؄ <ig> in
attenuate the magnitude of resonant peak of Fig. 3. The order to estimate two sides of inductance with single
choice of maximum filter attenuation, NȦ = 2Nǻ is chosen current value, which minimizes the number of sensor.
for a good tradeoff between the resonance damping for
the nominal case and the amount of control action. Thus,
notch filter parameters ȗz and ȗp is obtained from values B. Proposed Notch Filter based Active Damping
of Ȧres, ǻȦ, NȦ and Nǻ as two following equations [10]: Proposed notch filter need not deal with resonant
variation from filter inductance variation owing to the
2Zres 'Zres  'Zres
2
1  N '2 real-time adaptive capability. But, in practice inverter-
]p (5)
2Zres 'Zres  Zres
2
N '2  NZ side current iinv (see Fig. 1) contains current ripple by
switching operation of inverter, which also causes
]z NZ2] p  N' (6) resonance to vary. In order to cover the specified
robustness from switching current ripple quantities, notch
filter is tuned for frequency band Ȧǻ. Hence, the
IV. CONTROL AND DESIGN OF PROPOSED ADAPTIVE
maximum inverter ripple current quantity ǻiripple_max from
NOTCH FILTER BASED ACTIVE DAMPING
VSI switching modulation is calculated using an
A. Estimation of Resonance and Adaptive Control approximate harmonic analysis [13]:
Fig. 6 shows the current control block diagram with 1 Vdc
proposed active damping concept (dashed line), including 'iripple _ max | (8)
PR (proportional resonant)-controller, the grid voltage 8 Linv ˜ f sw
feed-forward and cascaded adaptive notch filter receiving
where Vdc is dc-link voltage of VSI (see Fig. 1) and fsw is
resonant frequency information from the inductance
the switching frequency. And then, resonant frequency
detection. In the low frequency range, (Ȧ ‫ ا‬Ȧres), since

980
 criterion, 0.5Ȧsamp > Ȧres_highest. Otherwise, notch filter
20
would not damp the resonant peak properly.
Magnitude (dB)

0
TABLE I
-20 Conventional damping PARAMETER FOR THE SIMULATION
Proposed damping Parameter Value
-40 No damping Rated power Sn 2.7 kW
Rated voltage(Line to line) Vl-l 220 Vrms
90 Rated frequency fn 60 Hz
45 DC-link voltage Vdc 400 V
Switching frequency fsw 30 kHz
Phase (deg)

0
Sampling frequency fsamp 30 kHz
-45
Inductance(inverter inductor) Linv 561 ȝH
-90 Resistance(inverter inductor) Rinv 0.45 ȍ
-135 Inductance(grid inductor) Lg 445 ȝH
-180 Resistance(grid inductor) Rg 0.12 ȍ
10
3 Capacitance(filter capacitor) Cf 3.9 ȝF
Frequency (hz)
Resistance(filter capacitor) Rc 0.048 ȍ
(a)
10

0
V. ANALYSIS AND SIMULATION OF THE SYSTEM
This section verifies the features of proposed control
Magnitude (dB)

-10
scheme using simulation tools: MATLAB/Simulink and
-20
PSIM software. Table I contains the parameters for the
-30
Conventional
analysis and simulations. The given LCL-filter parameter
-40 Proposed is designed according to the filter design guideline [1].
-50 The performance comparison between conventional notch
0 and proposed one under frequency and time-domain is
also reported.
-45
Phase (deg)

-90
A. Frequency-Domain Analysis
-135 As covered in Section II, total dynamics of system is
varied depending on the inductance variation. Neverthe-
-180
10
3 less, in this frequency analysis, the total system under no
Frequency (hz)
inductance degradation is examined. This is because the
(b)
frequency response of system plant without inductance
Fig. 7. Frequency response of loop gain (a) and closed-loop transfer degradation is the worst case with respect to the stability,
function (b) with no damping, conventional notch filter, and proposed i.e. phase and gain margin. It is worth noting that at low
notch filter (bandwidth : 2.8 kHz). frequency range, magnitude is lowest as well as phase lag
is largest under no degradation condition (see Fig. 3).
band ǻȦres_ripple which notch filter has to cover is also
Both conditions are the inferior in the gain and phase
derived from (7). It can be seen that wider band is good to
margin respect.
design for user tuning quantity in order to secure better
Fig. 7 displays the loop gain and closed-loop transfer
robustness. Also, it is worth noting that maximum filter
function Bode plot with no damping, the conventional
attenuation NȦ can be tuned lower, NȦ < 2Nǻ than NȦ =
notch filter (PM = 43.0°) and the proposed notch filter
2Nǻ in section III. As the shallower notch filter is
(PM = 63.1°) on condition of same crossover frequency:
designed, the less phase lag is, it is good to design for
2.1 kHz. Each notch filter is tuned for the same maximum
user tune quantities NȦ in order to secure more phase
filter attenuation NȦ with PR-controller and control
margin. Overall, these specifications of notch can result
processing delay. Fig. 7 (a) shows that the proposed
in less phase delay owing to narrow and shallow
scheme has a narrower notch filter, adding less phase
dynamics of filter and thereby allowing for taking
delay, i.e. 20.1° compared to the conventional one. Thus,
advantage of system dynamic performance. Its detailed
in Fig. 7 (b), it is noted that the conventional closed-loop
performance comparison between conventional and
transfer function Bode has a peak, i.e. quality-factor is
proposed filter is covered following section.
more than unity, Q > 1 (under damped) because of the
On the other hand, there is an important requirement
low phase margin but proposed one does not, Q < 1 (over
for applying active damping. At the maximum current for
damped) under same bandwidth: 2.8 kHz. The loop gain
certain application, the resonant frequency results in the
of total system seems approximately second-order system
highest value Ȧres_highest (7), because of inductance
according to Appendix: (14). Thus, it is expected that if at
degradation. In that worst case, to apply active damping
least 52° phase margin is not secured, the peak of Fig. 7
technique, half of sampling frequency 0.5Ȧsamp has to be
(b) is generated [15].
higher than that resonant frequency by Nyquist sampling

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 3.0%

Amplitude(%of fundamental)
conventional
2.5%
adaptive
2.0%

1.5%

1.0%

0.5%
(a)
0.0%
35 37 39 41 43 45
Harmonic order
Fig. 10. Simulated spectrum of grid-side harmonic current.

ectively. Fig.8 where conventional notch filter is applied

displays harmonics, but Fig. 9 where proposed notch
filter is applied shows harmonic-free waveform. Fig. 10
shows that grid current harmonic spectrum within the
range of peak in the magnitude Bode of Fig. 7 (b). The
(b) proposed damping (THD: 0.79%) contains less current
Fig. 8. Simulation of steady-state waveform applying conventional
notch (a) grid-side current, and (b) inverter-side current.
harmonic than conventional damping (THD: 4.68%). It is
noting that current harmonic is generated from the peak
of Fig. 7 (b) because of low phase margin. Therefore,
simulation results verify that the adaptive concept notch
based damping can acquire more bandwidth with
reasonable phase margin (PM > 52°) of loop gain as well
as shows properly damping capability of the resonant
frequency.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
(a)
This paper proposed adaptive notch concept of filter
based active damping for a single-phase LCL-filter. The
proposed method estimates the resonant peak based on
modeled equation and tables of inductance variation. This
frequency estimate is then used to update the center
frequency of the adaptive notch filter. This tracking
capability gives damping scheme robustness of
inductance variation of LCL-filter. Also, thanks to the
tracking ability, the proposed narrow notch causes less
(b) phase delay of total system than conventional one, which
Fig. 9. Simulation of steady-state waveform applying proposed notch will allow for an increase in phase margin and bandwidth
(a) grid-side current, and (b) inverter-side current. of the closed loop system. Hence, the proposed scheme
allows not only robustness of filter parameter variation
On the other hand, we can calculate approximately the but high bandwidth of current control loop with simple
phase margin without Bode diagram. The phase delay at implementation. The analysis and effectiveness of the
crossover frequency, Ȧcrossover ؄Kp/Lt where Kp and Lt are proposed methodology is verified through simulation
the proportional gain, and total inductance of two L-filters, results.
Lt = Lg + Linv can be calculated by using (14). By this
calculated phase delay the phase margin can be derived:
APPENDIX: LOW FREQUENCY DYNAMICS
PM 180  ‘Tlow (Zcrossover ) (9) The open-loop transfer function of the total system
B. Time-Domain Analysis loop gain T(s) can be written as (see Fig. 6):
Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 show that time-domain grid- T ( s) G ( s ) PR( s ) N ( s )Gd ( s )GPWM ( s ) (10)
connected simulation is performed by using PSIM
software with saturable core model. The magnitude of where G(s), PR(s), N(s), Gd(s), and GPWM(s) are the
current reference is 15A which degrades each inductance transfer functions of a plant, the PR-controller, the notch-
to about 30~35% and bandwidth of both simulations is filter, the control processing delay, and the PWM
2.1 kHz. The waveform of a current at grid-side and modulator, respectively. In the low frequency range (Ȧ ‫ا‬
inverter-side are shown in (a) and (b) of each figure, resp- Ȧres), LCL dynamics performs single inductor:

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