Unbalanced three-phase distribution system frequency estimation using least mean squares method and positive voltage sequence

Abstract

The subject of this study is a frequency estimation algorithm suitable for grid-connected power converters placed at a weak coupling point of a three-phase electrical distribution system. An upgraded version of the widely used complex least mean squares (CLMS) algorithm for frequency estimation is introduced to cope with different voltage amplitude unbalance and harmonic distortion levels, both frequently present in power system at distribution level. First, it is suggested that the CLMS algorithm uses only a positive phase-sequence component of voltage vector, the component that is inherently symmetrical and by cancelling the phase unbalance preserves the circular vector trajectory in a two-phase αβ-plane. This study shows that it is even possible to use the positive voltage phase-sequence vector extracted using a constant delay block, thus avoiding potential instability issues in the case of signal frequency feedback loop. Second, possible high signal harmonics and signal measurement noise are both removed using low-pass filters prior to CLMS algorithm deployment. Computer simulations and experiments are performed under a variety of conditions to validate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Experimental results are achieved using the dataset sampled from the actual three-phase grid voltage at distributed level and with data processing done in the Lab VIEW software environment. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013.