Robust stability analysis of DC microgrids with constant power loads

TL;DR

This paper presents a robust stability analysis framework for DC microgrids with uncertain constant power loads, accounting for load variations and ensuring stability through convex optimization.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to analyze stability over load ranges using a polytopic uncertain system approach, with conditions efficiently verifiable via convex optimization.

Findings

The framework guarantees robust stability for a range of CPLs.

Conditions are efficiently checked by convex optimization, scalable with microgrid size.

Simulation results confirm the effectiveness and non-conservativeness of the method.

Abstract

This paper studies stability analysis of DC microgrids with uncertain constant power loads (CPLs). It is well known that CPLs have negative impedance effects, which may cause instability in a DC microgrid. Existing works often study the stability around a given equilibrium based on some nominal values of CPLs. However, in real applications, the equilibrium of a DC microgrid depends on the loading condition that often changes over time. Different from many previous results, this paper develops a framework that can analyze the DC microgrid stability for a given range of CPLs. The problem is formulated as a robust stability problem of a polytopic uncertain linear system. By exploiting the structure of the problem, we derive a set of sufficient conditions that can guarantee robust stability. The conditions can be efficiently checked by solving a convex optimization problem whose complexity does not grow with the number of buses in the microgrid. The effectiveness and non-conservativeness of the proposed framework are demonstrated using simulation examples.