Enhanced current-limiting droop controller for grid-connected inverters to guarantee stability and maximize power injection under grid faults

Droop controlled inverters are widely used to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) to the smart grid and provide ancillary services (frequency and voltage support). However, during grid variations or faults, the droop control scheme should inherit a current-limiting property to protect both the inverter and the DER unit. In this brief, a novel structure of the recently developed current-limiting droop (CLD) controller is proposed to accomplish two main tasks: i) guarantee current limitation with maximum power injection during grid faults and ii) rigorously guarantee asymptotic stability of any equilibrium point in a given bounded operating range of the closed-loop system for a grid-connected inverter. Since the maximum power of the DER unit can be utilized under grid faults with the proposed enhanced CLD, then inspired by the latest fault-ride-through requirements, it is further extended to provide voltage support to a faulty grid via the maximum injection of reactive power. This is achieved by simply adjusting the reactive power reference opposed to existing control schemes which require adjustment of both the real and the reactive power. Hence, a unified current-limiting control scheme for grid-connected inverters under both normal and faulty grids with a simplified voltage support mechanism is developed and experimentally verified in this brief.