The grid-connected converters are becoming a fundamental building block in the modern power grid, and the stability of grid-connected converters, especially when they are connected to weak grid, has drawn increasing attention. In order to test the interaction with various grid impedances and validate the stability behaviors, more accurate and advanced emulation of grid impedance is becoming an emerging need. However, the existing approaches are still difficult to flexibly shape the grid impedance under medium-to-high frequency range. In this article, a novel configuration for programable impedance emulation of power grid is proposed. The proposed grid emulator is composed of two power electronics converters with special control functions, i.e., the impedance forming converter (IFC) and power supporting converter (PSC). The IFC is designed with a higher switching frequency to virtually emulate different grid impedances under medium-to-high frequency band. On the other hand, the PSC is designed with a lower switching frequency to generate/absorb the power of the converter under test. Besides, a Norton-circuit-based virtual impedance control strategy is introduced to eliminate the derivation term in the control structure of virtual impedance. Finally, the performance of the proposed emulator is verified by various simulations and experimental prototype.

Published in: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics ( Volume: 37, Issue: 11, November 2022)