A Unified Fault Ride Through Technique for Virtual Oscillator based Grid Forming Controllers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel Fault Ride-Through (FRT) control architecture for Virtual Oscillator based grid-forming controllers, addressing synchronization and power oscillation issues during faults in renewable energy grids.

Contribution

It develops a unique analytical approach and a unified FRT control method for VOCs, improving fault handling and synchronization during grid disturbances.

Findings

Enhanced fault ride-through capability for VOCs.

Improved synchronization during faults in grid-forming controllers.

Better performance during three-phase and unbalanced faults.

Abstract

Grid-forming technology has a crucial role in achieving the future all renewable power grid. Among different types of grid-forming controllers, Virtual Oscillator (VO) based Controllers (VOCs) are the most advanced. VOCs outperform the conventional droop-based grid-forming controllers in terms of dynamic performance and synchronization stability by adapting time-domain-based implementation. However, because of the time-domain-based implementation, the same Fault Ride-through (FRT) techniques for droop-based controllers are incompatible with VOCs. Existing literature has successfully incorporated current limiting techniques in VOCs to protect the converters during severe transient conditions. Nevertheless, some very important aspects of FRT requirements are not attended to by the existing literature on VOCs, such as maintaining synchronization with the network during a fault, minimizing power oscillation during a fault, and at the fault clearance. First, this article introduces a unique analytical approach for quantifying the underlying dynamics of VOCs during faults. Next, using the mentioned analysis and in-depth reasoning, the systematic development of a unique FRT control architecture for VOCs is presented. The proposed FRT technique has unified both current and voltage synchronization in the same architecture to work successfully under three-phase and unbalanced faults. The performance of the proposed controller is thoroughly investigated and compared with existing VOCs.