Synchronization Stability of Grid-Following Converters Governed by Saturation Nonlinearities

Abstract

Saturation nonlinearities caused by control limiters will be activated during large disturbances, complicating the stability of grid-tied voltage source converters (VSCs). This letter investigates the large-disturbance synchronization stability of the grid-tied VSC considering two typical control limiters, i.e., the hard limiter of the reference current and the circular limiter used to avoid overmodulation. A unified differential equation (UDE) model is proposed to quantify the transient responses and stability boundaries of the system under different saturation conditions. It is revealed that the VSC behaves as a current source when the hard limiter is activated; while the interaction between the two limiters drives the VSC to work as a voltage source, making it immune to synchronization instability.