2014 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON 2014) Chengdu, 20-22 Oct.

2014

Three-phase Photovoltaic Grid-connected Inverter with LCL

Based on Current Deadbeat Control and PI Control
Caibo Deng, Zhan Shu ,Yonghong Xia ,Na Chen, Taoyun Wang, and Hongzhong Ma

current dual-loop control[2], hysteresis current tracking

Abstract—Photovoltaic energy has been a hot spot of
development in each country, while the inverter is a key
component of photovoltaic power generation systems and
networks .In order to improve the performance of the entire
system, the paper proposes a three—phase photovoltaic
grid-connected PWM inverter which is controlled by current
deadbeat and PI algorithm. The simulation system is established
by Matlab/Simulink and the PWM inverter is controlled by the
combination of current deadbeat control and PI control. Compare
the inverter voltage and current with the gird voltage when the
three-phase symmetrical load is connected to the system. The
harmonic of the three-phase inverter current is also analyzed. The
results show that the combination of current deadbeat and PI
algorithm gets some merits. The algorithm has a fast dynamic
response. The algorithm also gets small overshoot, fast rise time,
and steady static error. The system dynamics immunity is good. It
tracks the grid voltage well and gets small waveform distortion.
Index Terms—Photovoltaic; PWM inverter; Current deadbeat; PI
I INTRODUCTION
control[9], current deviation predictive control[2] and so on,
Deadbeat control predicts the switch control of the next
period which is based on the current state of information and
state equation, and the output will track the input finally. So it is
strict with the real-time calculation. Deadbeat control is a
unique control algorithm of digital control [1,3-8]. The
algorithm can work steadily without static error, and it gets
fixed switching frequency, fast dynamic response. So the
algorithm can meet the requirements of photovoltaic inverter
system such as high efficiency of the inverter, high reliability,
high power quality and low distortion. But deadbeat control is
too sensitive about the change of system parameters. It can’t
track the grid voltage well [1]. The control will maintain its
dynamic performance when combine the deadbeat control with
the pi control despite any change of parameters or distortion in
the system. This paper proves the validity and effectiveness of
the control method by conducting the Matlab/Simulink
simulation.

N OWADAYS, new energy and renewable resource

become a hot pot in the world as the energy problem and
environmental pollution are getting more and more
II THE DEADBEAT CONTROL DESIGN OF
GRID-CONNECTED INVERTER
The calculation of deadbeat is large, but it is good at fixed
serious. As a new environmental resource, solar energy gets
many advantages such as vast geographical distribution and switching frequency and fast dynamic response. The digital
abundant resource [1]. PWM control gets a bright future with the use of advanced DSP,
Photovoltaic power system is the main and most practical and it is suitable for digital control of solar photovoltaic grid
form of solar energy, and its key component is grid-connected system [1]. Figure 1 is a three-phase photovoltaic grid topology
inverter [1, 2]. Grid-connected inverter is the key part to deliver [4, 8].
and invert the energy between PV array and the grid. The
instantaneous comparison method and the triangular wave S1 S2 S3
L1 L2
comparison method are the early PWM nonlinear control ea
U I L1 IL2
methods [2]. However, these two methods have some defects  U dc
V
IC eb

such as big error, complex circuit and slow response. As the W
ec

development of the digital control technology, there comes out

C
a lot of control strategies such as deadbeat PWM control[3-8], S4 S5 S6
Rd
Manuscript received July 31, 2014. This work was supported by State
Grid Technology Program of China (52182013000V).
Z. Xu. is with State Grid JiangXi Electric Power Research Institute, Fig. 1. Three-phase photovoltaic grid topology
Nanchang 330096, China .
Z. Shu is with State Grid JiangXi Electric Power Research Institute,
A. Deadbeat Control Algorithms of Current
Nanchang 330096, China .. As in Fig 1.1, DC bus voltage U dc is powered by renewable
Y. Xia is with State Grid JiangXi Electric Power Research Institute,
Nanchang 330096, China . resource and connected to the grid after filtering through LCL.

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 2014 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON 2014) Chengdu, 20-22 Oct. 2014

The output current I L 2 is regulated in order to connect to the The control cycle is set to T. Meanwhile, we take iaL1*,
ibL1*, icL1*, iaL2*, ibL2*, and icL2* as current reference
grid. L1 Is the inductor in the inverter side, and L 2 is the value. The duty ratio of dc-to-ac inverter was described by du,
inductor in the grid side. Three phase voltage of U, V, W dv, and dw. In addition, make an assuming that the control
is. ea ǃ eb ǃ ec By using Kirchhoff's voltage law of period is much less than the fundamental cycle of the power
.
system. In this case we can neglect the changes of three-phase
symmetrical three-phase system, the loop voltage equation will
be grid voltage. At the same time, the voltage change of DC bus
dia L 1 di could also be ignored during a control cycle. So the loop
ea  eb  ( L1  L 2 aL 2 ) (1) voltage equations in a control cycle are shown as follows:
dt dt
d i b L1 d i bL 2 ia L1*  iaL1 i *  iaL2
 ( L1  L2 )  u UV ea  eb  ( L1  L2 aL2 )
dt dt T T
di di i *  ib L1 i *  ibL2 (7)
eb  ec  ( L1 b L 1  L 2 b L 2 ) (2)  ( L1 bL1  L2 bL2 )
dt dt T T
d ic L 1 d icL 2  ( d UU dc  d VU dc )
 ( L1  L2 )  u VW
dt dt ibL1*  ibL1 i *  ibL2
di di e b  ec  ( L1  L2 bL2 )
ec  ea  ( L1 c L1  L 2 cL2 ) (3) T T
dt dt (8)
i *  icL1 i *  icL2
dia L1 diaL2  ( L1 cL1  L2 cL2 )
 ( L1  L2 )  u UV T T
dt dt
 ( d VU dc  d W U dc )
The on and off definition of the switching device is as follows
(k=UǃVǃW) icL1*  icL1 i * i
ec  ea ( L1  L2 cL2 cL2 )
d k =1, the upper bridge arm of phase k is on and the down T T
bridge arm of phase k is off. i i*
i * i (9)
d k =0, the upper bridge arm of phase k is off and the down  ( L1 aL1 a L1  L2 aL2 aL2 )
T T
bridge arm of phase k is on.  ( d WU dc  d UU dc )
The loop voltage equation will be
The three voltage loops debated above are not independent,
di di
e a  e b  ( L1 a L 1  L 2 aL 2 ) and only two of them are self-governed. Because conduction of
dt dt upper and lower leg inverter is coordinate in a control period,
di di (4) total conduction time of inverter’s three switching of upper
 ( L1 b L 1  L 2 b L 2 )
dt dt bridge arm is equal to the lower in a control cycle, it is shown in
 ( d U U dc  d V U d c ) equation (10).
di di d U  d V  d W 1.5 (10)
e b  e c  ( L1 b L 1  L 2 b L 2 )
dt dt We can get the PWM signal to the three-phase inverter duty
d ic L 1 d icL 2 (5) ratio: Simultaneous equations in accordance with equation (7),
 ( L1  L2 )
dt dt (8), and (9).
 ( d VU dc  d W U dc )
di di
ec  ea  ( L1 c L 1  L 2 c L 2 )
dt dt
d ia L 1 d ia L 2 (6)
 ( L1  L2 )
dt dt
 ( d W U dc  d UU dc )
iaL1*  iaL1 i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i
1.5Udc  2[(ea  eb )  (L1
T
 L2 aL2 aL2 )  (L1 bL1 bL1  L2 bL2 bL2 )]  [(eb  ec )  (L1 bL1 bL1  L2 bL2 bL2 )  (L1 cL1 cL1  L2 cL2 cL2 )]
T T T T T T T
(12)
dU
3Udc
iaL1* iaL1 i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i
1.5Udc [(ea eb ) (L1  L2 aL2 aL2 ) (L1 bL1 bL1  L2 bL2 bL2 )][(eb ec ) (L1 bL1 bL1  L2 bL2 bL2 ) (L1 cL1 cL1  L2 cL2 cL2 )] (12)
dV T T T T T T T T
3Udc
iaL1*  iaL1 i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i i * i
1.5Udc [(ea  eb )  (L1
T
 L2 aL2 aL2 )  (L1 bL1 bL1  L2 bL2 bL2 )]  2[(eb  ec )  (L1 bL1 bL1  L2 bL2 bL2 )  (L1 cL1 cL1  L2 cL2 cL2 )]
T T T T T T T
(13)
dW
3Udc

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 2014 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON 2014) Chengdu, 20-22 Oct. 2014

Output waveform of the inverter can be acquired by du, dv,

* ea  eb c 1.5U dc
dw, and switching devices that control the inverter, and enables iaL 2  iaL 2 L   2   1 dU
the inverter’s deadbeat control. T   3U dc
To simplify the analysis, and because of three-phase
  eb  ec
equilibrium, the design of this program is analyzed using a 
phase. L L
B. The Establishment of Current Deadbeat Control Simulation T T
Model *
ibL 2  ibL 2
*
icL 2  icL 2
According the equations of du, dv, dw, we can get the
following block diagram, A, B, C three phases are shown in Fig. 5. Simplified A deadbeat control block diagram
ea  eb 1.5U dc
figure 2, 3, 4 respectively. *
iaL2
 iaL2 L     1 dV
ea  eb 1.5U dc
* L1 dU T 3U dc
iaL1  iaL1    2   1  
T 3U dc  
*
   eb  ec
iaL 2  iaL 2 L2
T 
eb  ec
*
ibL L L
1  ibL1 L1   
T   T T
* * *
ibL 2  ibL 2 L2 ibL2
 ibL2 icL 2  icL2
T
*
icL
Fig. 6. Simplified B deadbeat control block diagram
1  icL1 L1  ea  eb 1.5U dc
T  *
iaL  iaL2  dW
* 2 L    1
icL 2  icL 2 L2 T 3U dc
 
2
T   eb  ec
Fig. 2. A deadbeat control block diagram 
ea  eb 1.5U dc L L
* L1 dV
i aL1  iaL1      1
T T
T 3U dc * *
*
   ibL  ibL2 icL 2  icL2
i aL 2  iaL 2 L2 2

T Fig. 7. Simplified C deadbeat control block diagram

eb  ec
*
ibL1  ibL1 L1    Where: L=2L1=2L2 simulation control modules are gained
*
i  ibL 2
T   according to the control block diagram shown above.
bL 2 L2
T
i *
cL1  icL1 L1  II. DESIGN OF GRID-CONNECTED LCL FILTER
T 
*
i  icL 2 L2
LCL filter presents high impedance to high frequency
cL 2

T
Fig. 3. B deadbeat control block diagram
components. And it can play a significant attenuation to high
ea  eb 1.5U dc
*
iaL1  iaL1
L1
     1 dW
T
   3U dc frequency harmonic current, amplitude and phase
*
iaL 2  iaL 2 L2
T 2 characteristics of LCL is shown in figure 8, Even at low
eb  ec
*
ibL 1  ibL1 L1 
T
 

switching frequencies and smaller inductor current

*
ibL 2  ibL 2 L2
T
conditions[10,11]. So LCL filters are typically used in
*
icL 1  icL1 L1
T

mid-power with low switching frequency occasions. This paper

*
icL 2  icL 2 L2
T
studies current control technology for large power grid inverter.
Fig. 4. C deadbeat control block diagram
Therefore, LCL filter is used as the output filter.
According to the design of LCL filter circuit parameters, the
filtering effect achieves the best (follow-up will introduce
specific parameter calculation) when L1=L2, and the currents in
L1 and L2 are similar. We take i a* L 2  i a L 2 c
i b* L 2  i b L 2 c i c*L 2  i c L 2 as three input parameters, and
uphold simplified circuit principle, so the above figures in
Figure 2-4 is simplified to 5-7 as follows:

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 2014 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON 2014) Chengdu, 20-22 Oct. 2014

Because the filter can achieve the best effect when L1 is equal
Fig. 8. Amplitude and phase characteristics of LCL
to L2 ˈ according to formula (15) and (16), we can get
Calculation of LCL Parameters [11-12]
0 .3 m H d L d 3 .7 2 m H , so take L1 L2 0.2mH .
(1)Calculation of L1 According to , , we can get
4 , due to C d 5% C , finally take C 100uF . According to
U (14) Cb 2.2 u10 F b

L1
2 6 fswisip ǃ and C obtained above and formula(17),we can get
L1 L2

U is the rms voltage of the grid, is the harmonic peak value is fr 1592Hz
, then we can obtain R 0.33:
by formula (18).
d

the switching frequency.

B. Simulation of Three-Phase Photovoltaic Grid-Connected
(2)Limits of the total inductance
Inverter with LCL Based on Deadbeat Control
U dc2  4 E m 2
(15)
Ld
2Im w Take three phase pure resistive load for example. The
U dc is the voltage of DC bus, Em is the peak phase voltage in
waveforms of inverter voltage and grid voltage are in figure 9
the grid I m is the peak&phase
d current.
&E
(16) which is controlled only by deadbeat control:
And U dc
L t 400

8 i s ip f s w 200
Ua/v

(3)Calculation of capacitor C
-200

-400

400

Reactive power assumption of capacitor is set to 5% the total 200

Ub/v

power, use the limit: -200

-400

1
400
2
Cb and E , E is the rms phase-to -phase
zb
200

wb zb
Uc/v

p
0

voltage in the grid, -200

wb is the fundamental frequency. Resonant frequency is -400

0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
ᯊ䯈 t/s
0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1

f r , 1 0 f d f r d 0 .5 f sw , (17)
1 L  L
f r
2S
1

L1L 2C
2
Fig. 9. The waveforms of inverter voltage and grid voltage
˄The purple for the grid voltage, the blue for the inverter voltage˅

(4)Serial resistor Rd with capacitor The voltage can’t meet the demand of grid voltage without PI
1 1
(18)
R d
3 2S fr
control according to the above waveform. Its amplitude is

III. SIMULATION OF THREE-PHASE PHOTOVOLTAIC double the grid voltage. So in order to track the grid voltage, PI

GRID-CONNECTED INVERTER CONTROL WITH LCL control is added to the deadbeat algorithm.

A. Parameters of Simulation C.Simulation of Three-Phase Photovoltaic Grid-Connected

Take P=100kW in the paper ,switching frequency Inverter with LCL Based on Deadbeat and PI Control
f sw 10kHz ,DC power voltage U d c 8 0 0 V ,according to Add PI control to the input of deadbeat control which is
3 U I (U and I are phase to phase voltage and *
iaL * *
2  iaL 2 ǃ ibL 2  ibL 2 ǃ icL 2  icL 2 ,P=0.9 ˈ I=1 ˈ
P

current), U 380V ,I 1 5 1 .9 A Therefore, the peak of the

phase current is 2& EI

215A .peak
] of( harmonic current according to the waveform without PI control.
E
Z E ]E S PI control is added to the ǃ , and P=2.1ˈ
is 0 . 1 5 2I ,according to formula (14) , L1 0 .1 4 m H
can be ea  eb eb  ec
obtained. I=1.1.The PI control after 1 .5U is useless, for P=1 ˈ
dc

I=1.The output waveform is set to the demand after combining

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 2014 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON 2014) Chengdu, 20-22 Oct. 2014

these two methods and verify the effectiveness and feasibility Fig. 13. FFT analysis of B-phase inverter current
of deadbeat control.

(1) Three-phase pure resistive load

Add PI control to the deadbeat control. When three phase
pure resistive load is connected to the system, compare the
inverter voltage with the grid voltage in fig 10. Compare
inverter current with grid voltage in fig 11. Take FFT to the
signals in fig 12-14.
400

200

Fig. 14. FFT analysis of C-phase inverter current

Ua/v

From figure 10, we can find that the inverter voltage and grid
-200

-400

400

200
voltage have the same amplitude and the same frequency and
phase, with no phase difference, and the effect of wave is in
Ub/v

good condition. In figure 11, the inverter current achieves the

-200

-400

400

200
same frequency and phase with the grid. From what is shown in
the figure, the inverter three-phase currents have a sequence
Uc /v

-200

-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
difference of 120 degree, and quality of the waves is good.
ᯊ 䯈 t/s
After applying the deadbeat control algorithm and PI algorithm,
the THD can be controlled in about 0.7% by adjusting the
Fig. 10. The waveforms of inverter voltage and grid voltage
˄The purple for the inverter voltage, the blue for the grid voltage˅ parameters. What’s more Distortion rate of the C phase is up to
400 1.34%, which has already med the requirement of grid
200
connected well, reduce the pollution of power grid.
Ia/A

-200

(2) Symmetrical three-phase rectifier load

-400

400

200
Load access are not all pure resistive load, a large part is
Ib/A

-200 rectifier load, so the wave of rectifier load was included in the
-400

400
simulation. Demonstrate the accuracy and feasibility of
200
deadbeat control and PI control algorithm in tracking network.
Ic/A

-200 The Comparison between inverter voltage and grid voltage was
-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
ᯊ䯈 t/s
0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
shown in figure 15, and the comparison of current was
described in figure 16. Figure 17~19 provide the FFT analysis.
Fig. 11. The waveforms of inverter current and grid voltage 400

200

˄The purple for the grid voltage, the blue for the inverter current˅
Ua/s

-200

-400

400

200
Ub/s

-200

-400

400

200
Uc/v

-200

-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
ᯊ䯈 t/s

Fig. 15 The waveforms of inverter voltage and grid voltage

Fig. 12. FFT analysis of A-phase inverter current ˄The purple for the inverter voltage, the blue for the grid voltage˅

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 2014 International Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON 2014) Chengdu, 20-22 Oct. 2014

400 is nonsymmetrical. Waveform distortion rates still meet the

200
grid connected requirements from figure 23-25. THDs reach
Ia/A

-200
0
4.60%, 2.44%, 3.05%, compared to the 0.7% of access pure
-400
resistive load. The waveform distortion is relatively serious, but
400 can still meet the requirements of connecting to 380V
200
three-phase grid (i.e. waveform distortion rate must be lower
Ib/A

than 5%).
0

-200

-400

400 IV. CONCLUSION

200

The paper controls the inverter by using the combination of

Ic/A

-200 deadbeat and PI control algorithm. The loads include

-400
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
ᯊ 䯈 t/s
0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 symmetrical three-phase pure resistive load and symmetrical
three-phase rectifier load. Conclusions can be summarized
Fig. 16. The waveforms of inverter current and grid voltage from the simulation.
˄The purple for the grid voltage, the blue for the inverter current˅ 1) When only the current deadbeat is under control of grid
connected inverter. Grid voltage can’t be well tracked by
inverter voltage.
2) After including PI control, the grid connected inverter is
controlled by the current deadbeat and PI control together,
inverter voltage could track grid voltage in good condition, and
the inverter current’s wave is wonderful.
3) The accuracy of composite control of deadbeat and PI is
verified by accessing three-phase symmetrical pure resistance
and rectifier load.

Fig. 17. FFT analysis of A-phase inverter current REFERENCES

[1] Tianˊfu HUANGˈ Xin—chun SHIˈ Yu—wei WEIˈ Dan
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[2] Yang ZHANG,Hao-ran YANG,” Research on Control Strategies

of Photovoltaic Grid-Connected inverter”[J].Low-voltage
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Fig. 18. FFT analysis of B-phase inverter current
[3] Yongchang Zhang, Haitao Yang, Zhengxi Li “A
SimpleSVM-based Deadbeat Direct Torque Control
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[4] Gujing Han , Yunhong Xia , Wuzhi Min“Study on the

Fig. 19. FFT analysis of C-phase inverter current
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[6] Y. A. R. I. Mohamed and E. F. El-Saadany, "An improved Design for Two stage DC/AC Inverter with Hysteresis Current
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Ya TA,” Research and Optimal
Caibo Deng was born in Hengyang City,
Hunan Province, China, in 1987. He received
the M.S degree in electrical engineering from
Hunan University. He is a senior engineer in
State Grid JiangXi Electric Power
Research Institute, Nanchang. His work
has been mainly in distribution automation,
substation automation and compensation
of reactive power.

Zhan Shu is a senior engineer in State Grid

JiangXi Electric Power Research Institute,
Nanchang.
His research interests include small hydro
and renewable energy.

Yonghong Xia is a senior engineer in State

Grid JiangXi Electric Power Research
Institute, Nanchang. He received his
Doctor degree from Tsinghua University.

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