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Harmonic analysis model for voltage source converter under unbalanced

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DOI: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630

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Published in IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution
Received on 22nd June 2014
Accepted on 26th June 2014
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630

ISSN 1751-8687

Harmonic analysis model for voltage source converter

under unbalanced conditions
Qing Zhong, Lingxue Lin, Gang Wang, Yao Zhang, Zhigang Wu
School of Electric Power, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, People’s Republic of China
E-mail: epqzhong@scut.edu.cn

Abstract: Voltage source converters (VSCs) generate harmonics under unbalanced conditions. With the wider applications
of VSCs, the harmonics produced by VSCs will provide new challenges of harmonic problems in the modern power system.
The harmonics generated by VSCs are caused by the switching characteristics of power electronic devices and the
interaction between the ac and dc sides, which is a non-linear and complex problem. Dynamic phasor sequence
components (DPSCs) are applied into the analysis of the harmonic produced by VSC in this study. With selecting the
DPSCs of current harmonics on ac side and voltage harmonics on dc side as the state variables, a harmonic analysis
model of VSC is presented as a linear time invariable system in the state space. The model considers both the detailed
switching dynamics and the interactions between the ac and dc sides of VSC. The model also shows the analytical
expression of the relationship between harmonics and sequence components of supply voltages. By solving the model,
the harmonics generated by VSC under unbalanced conditions can be calculated mathematically. The comparison with
simulation and experiment results can testify that the analysis model is very useful to analyse the harmonics of VSCs
directly.

1 Introduction generations, including low- and high-order harmonics [8].

Voltage source converters (VSCs) are the typical power
electronic devices applied in the modern power system
including VSC-HVDCs, active power filters, STATCOMs,
DVRs, interfacing devices of distributed generations (DGs)
and so on [1]. At the same time, VSC is a non-linear device
using gate turn-off power electronic devices and
pulse-width modulation (PWM) control, which is a
harmonic source in the power system [2]. Under normal
conditions, VSC generates some high-order harmonics near
the frequency of the carrier signal, but with few low-order
harmonics [3], while high-pass filter can reduce the
harmonics easily [4]. However, in three phase system, if the
supply voltages are unbalanced, VSC will produce some
low-order non-characteristic harmonics [5, 6]. With
unbalanced system parameters and loads, unbalanced
voltages are very common in the real operation conditions
of VSCs. Therefore a large number of the harmonics
produced by VSCs under unbalanced conditions will
pollute the power system.
With the integration of more and more DGs into the
conventional grid, the interfacing VSC converter produces
both voltage and current harmonics at the VSC terminals
which are further transmitted into the grid. The harmonics
caused by solid-state devices present new characteristics of
the traditional problem. As a consequence, it has become
necessary to assess the power quality of the smart grid [7].
For the emerging problems, IEEE standard defines the
harmonic limits of the interconnection of distribution
At the same time, improving the power quality for the 21st
century digital economy is one of the important missions of
the smart grid [9]. Analysing the harmonics generated by
VSCs under unbalanced conditions is very critical in the
modern power systems, especially for integrated DGs in the
distribution systems.
The harmonic generation of VSC is caused by the switch
characteristics of semiconductor devices and the interaction
between ac and dc sides, which is a non-linear and complex
problem. The recent studies are focused on the way to
mitigate the harmonics generated by VSCs at the
grid-interface converters. The designation of the filters [10,
11] and control strategies [12] can improve the performance
and reduce the harmonics of VSC under distorted conditions.
However, the accurate models to analyse the harmonics of
the VSCs are not completed and the rules of the harmonic
generation are still not clear. The designations of the filters
and the control strategies are usually based on experience, or
qualitative analysis, and not on quantitative study. For the
accurate harmonic analysis of VSC, it is necessary to
discover a mathematical model which can take both the
switching characteristics and interaction between ac and dc
sides. The switch function is an effective method to describe
VSC in time domain, which can describe the switching
dynamic of power electronic devices with detailed
mathematical model [13]. However, as a time domain model,
it is not a good approach for harmonic analysis. The voltage
and current signals should be transformed to Fourier series
for the harmonic analysis. System model of VSC in a

12 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 12–21

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630
 www.ietdl.org
stationary frame (αβ-frame) may be easier to analyse because
the variables in the equations are voltage and current
phasors, but not the instantaneous value [14]. Unfortunately,
it is still a model in time domain and is only suitable for
the analysis of the fundamental components rather than the
harmonics. Supposing that dc voltage is constant, the
harmonics produced by PWM are shown in [15], composing
of complex series harmonics according to different PWM
strategies. However, when there is dc voltage fluctuation or
unbalanced conditions, there are some low-order harmonic
currents presenting in ac side, which cannot be taken into Fig. 1 Typical topology of VSC
consideration during the calculation. For unbalanced
conditions, frequency coupling matrices can show the DPSCs; Sections 4 and 5 give the comparison of the
equivalent sequence impendence matrices of the STATCOM theoretical results with the simulation and experiment
[16]. The matrices include the dc voltage and the ac results, respectively. Finally, the conclusions of the paper
sequence current under power frequency. It describes the are drawn in Section 5.
impact of the ac unbalance voltage on the harmonics, but
cannot present the high-order harmonic of VSC. Extended
harmonic domain (EHD) used an alternative state space in 2 Time domain model of VSC
harmonic analysis. It reduced the linear time periodic (LTP)
systems to linear time invariant (LTI) systems [17]. This is a The typical topology of VSC is shown in Fig. 1. usa, usb and
good approach to analyse and simulate the power electronic usc are the ac source voltages, uca, ucb and ucc are the output
devices in the harmonic domain. The dynamic phasor model voltages of the converter on the ac side, udc is the dc voltage,
(DPM) is obtained from a Fourier series expansion of the ia, ib and ic are the ac currents, idc is the output current of the
system state over a moving time-window. The dynamic converter on the dc side and iL is the dc load current.
phasors also show the harmonics of period signals directly The model of VSC in the time domain is given as the
[18]. It is a powerful tool for exploring cyclic properties of following equation
dynamic systems, and is very useful for the harmonic ⎧
⎪ di 1
analysis of PWM system [19]. DPM can transform the PWM ⎪
⎪ L a = usa − (usa + usb + usc ) − Ria − uca
⎪
⎪ dt 3
systems from LTP to an infinite dimensional LTI system like ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ di 1
EHD. However, all of the recent harmonic analysis models ⎨L b
= usb − (usa + usb + usc ) − Rib − ucb
have some disadvantage. The model cannot take both the dt 3 (1)
interaction of the ac/dc sides and the detailed switching ⎪
⎪L di 1
⎪
⎪
c
= usc − (usa + usb + usc ) − Ric − ucc
dynamic of the solid state devices. Especially in a poly-phase ⎪
⎪ dt 3
⎪
⎪
system, the models cannot clarify the effect of the negative ⎪
⎩ C dudc = i − i
sequence components on the harmonics for unbalanced dc L
dt
systems in a quantitative way.
This paper presents a general analytical technique and uca, ucb, ucc and idc are the non-linear components in the
provides a common completed analysis model for system, including the three-phase switch functions shown as
determining the harmonics of the VSC on both the dc the following equations
and ac sides under unbalanced conditions, which can ⎧  
consider both the interaction between ac and dc sides of ⎪
⎪ 2 1
uca = udc Sa − Sb − Sc
1
⎪
⎪
VSC and the detail switching dynamics of power ⎪
⎪ 3 3 3
electronic devices. The model uses the dynamic phasor ⎪
⎨  
2 1 1
sequence components (DPSCs) combined with dynamic ucb = udc Sb − Sa − Sc (2)
⎪
⎪ 3 3 3
phasors and sequence components, so the harmonics ⎪
⎪  
⎪
⎪ 2 1 1
generation and interaction of VSC caused by the ⎪
⎩ ucc = udc Sc − Sb − Sa
negative sequence components is clear with the state 3 3 3
presentations of the model. The DPSCs of ac voltages,
currents and switch functions can be calculated by the idc = ia Sa + ib Sb + ic Sc (3)
symmetrical transformation of dynamic phasors in a
poly-phase system. By selecting the current harmonics on where Sa, Sb and Sc are the three-phase switch functions
ac side and voltage harmonics on dc side as the state representing the switch state of the power electronic devices.
variables, the model of VSC in time domain is
transformed into the model of DPSCs as a LTI system, 3 Harmonic analysis model
which can present the harmonic analysis model in state
space. Giving the DPSCs of ac source voltages as the 3.1 Dynamic phasor sequence components
input vectors in the model, the results of solving the
model are both current and voltage harmonics generated The definition of dynamic phasor is given as the following
by VSC under unbalanced conditions. The analytical equation
results are verified by the comparison of the simulation t
and experiment results under unbalanced conditions. 1
kxlk (t) = Xk (t) = x(t)e−jk 4t dt (4)
The rest of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 T t−T
gives the switch function model of VSC in time domain;
Section 3 gives the definition and characteristics of DPSCs Dynamic phasor is the kth Fourier series of period signal x(t)
and the harmonic analysis model of VSC based on the in a moving time-window [t − T, t]. It is also the kth order

IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 12–21 13

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harmonic of the signal x(t). The dynamic phasor has the given to achieve the dynamic phasor of the switch function
following characteristics: shown as the following equation [20]
The ‘derivative’ of dynamic phasor is
A00 1
f (x, y) = + (A0n cos ny + B0n sin ny)
dkxlk
dt
= k l − jk4 kxl
dx
dt k
s k (5) 2 n=1

1
The ‘convolution’ of dynamic phasor is + (Am0 cos mx + Bm0 sin mx)
m=1

kxylk (t) = kxlk−i kyli (6) 1
1
i + Amn cos (mx + ny) + Bmn sin (mx + ny)
m=1 n=−1
(n=0)
and the ‘conjugate’ of dynamic phasor is
(11)
kxl−k = kxl∗k (7)
where
For three-phase system, the dynamic phasor can be p p
transformed into the DPSCs by symmetrical transformation, 1
Amn = f (x, y) cos (mx + ny) dx dy
shown in the following equation 2p2 −p −p
p p (12)
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ 1
kXa(1) lk kXa lk Bmn = 2 f (x, y) sin (mx + ny) dx dy
⎣ kXa(2) lk ⎦ = T ⎣ kXb lk ⎦ (8) 2p −p −p
kXa(0) lk kXc lk
Amn and Bmn are the double Fourier series of f (x, y). For
natural sampling PWM, carrier signal can be set as x = ϖct + θc,
where
where ϖc is the angle of carrier wave. The modulation
⎡ ⎤ signal can be set as y = ϖst + θs, where ϖs is the angle of
1 1 a a2 modulation signal. Then, f(x, y) is the switch function of
T = ⎣1 a2 a⎦ PWM as in the following equation
3
1 1 1
⎧ p p
⎪
⎪ 1, (1 + M cos y) . x . − (1 + M cos y)
in which ⎪
⎪ 2 2
⎨ p
⎡ ⎤ f (x, y) = −1, p . x . (1 + M cos y)
kXa(1) lk ⎪
⎪ 2
a = e j120
◦
· ⎣ kXa(2) lk ⎦ ⎪
⎩ −1, − p (1 + M cos y) . x . −p
⎪
2
kXa(0) lk
(13)
are the kth DPSCs which are the positive, negative and zero
sequence components of kth dynamic phasor. where M is the modulation ratio. With double Fourier series,
The ‘derivatives’ of DPSCs are the dynamic phasors of switch functions can be achieved as
Table 1. With (8), the kth DPSCs of the three-phase switch
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ functions can be given as the following equation
dkXa(1) lk dkXa lk
⎢ dt ⎥ ⎢ dt ⎥ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ kXa(1) lk kSa(1) lk kSa lk
⎢ dkXa(2) lk ⎥ ⎢ dkXb lk ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ kSa(2) lk ⎦ = T ⎣ kSb lk ⎦
⎢ dt ⎥ = T ⎢ dt ⎥ − jk 4s kXa(2) lk (9) (14)
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ kXa(0) lk kSa(0) lk kSc lk
⎣ dkX l ⎦ ⎣ dkX l ⎦
a(0) k c k
dt dt where Jn(j) is the Bessel function.
and the ‘conjugates’ of DPSCs are
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ Table 1 Dynamic phasors of switching functions
kXa(1) l−k kXa l−k kXa l∗k
Dynamic phasor orders Magnitude
⎣ kXa(2) l−k ⎦ = T ⎣ kXb l−k ⎦ = T ⎣ kXb l∗k ⎦
kXa(0) l−k kXc l−k kXc l∗k 1 M
⎡ ⎤ 4  p   p
kXa(2) lk m*ϖc J m M sin m
pm 0 2 2
= ⎣ kXa(1) lk ⎦ (10) 4  p   p
kXa(0) lk m*ϖc + nϖs Jn m M sin (m + n)
pm 2 2

3.2 DPSCs of PWM switch functions

For transforming the time domain model of VSC into the 3.3 Harmonic analysis model of VSC with DPSCs
harmonic analysis model based on the DPSCs, the first
thing is to achieve the DPSCs of the three-phase PWM With characteristics of dynamic phasors shown in (5)–(7), the
switch functions in the model. Double Fourier series is time domain model can be rewritten with dynamic phasors.

14 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 12–21

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630
 www.ietdl.org
For instance, the differential equation of the kth dynamic Then the equation of the kth dynamic phasor of dc voltage is
phasor of the phase A ac current can be derived from the given in the following equation
time domain as the following equation
dkudc lk
= k l
dudc
− jk 4s kudc lk
dkia lk
dt
=
dtk l − jk4 ki l
dia
k
s a k
dt
1
dt k
= kidc lk −

1

+ jk 4s kudc lk (19)
= −(R/L + jk 4s )kia lk − kuca lk /L + (kusa lk (15) C Rdc C
1  where
− kusa lk + kusb lk + kusc lk /L
3
 
kidc lk = kia Sa lk + kib Sb lk + kic Sc lk
where  
= kia li kSa lk−i + kib li kSb lk−i + kic li kSc lk−i (20)
 
ku l
i
2 1 1
kuca lk = Sa − Sb − Sc
dc
3 3 3 k kidc lk represents the kth dynamic phasor of idc, which can be
(16) described with the dynamic phasors of the switch function
=

i
kudc li k23 S − 13 S − 13 S l
a b c
k−i
and the currents on ac side. According to (17) and (19), the
interaction between ac and dc sides can be described with
both kuca lk and kidc lk . Therefore, set the dynamic phasors of
kuca lk represents the kth dynamic phasor of uca, which can be currents on ac side and voltages on dc side as state
described with the dynamic phasors of the switch function variables, shown as (21), where n is the harmonic order
and the voltages on dc side. number considered
The deductive processes of the kth dynamic phasors of the 
phase B and C ac currents are the same. Then the equation of X = kia l0 , kib l0 , kic l0 , kia l1 , kib l1 , kic l1 , . . . ,
 (21)
the kth dynamic phasors of the three-phase currents can be kia ln−1 , kib ln−1 , kic ln−1 , kudc l0 , kudc l1 , . . . , kudc ln−1
rewritten with dynamic phasors with matrix, as shown in
the following equation Then (16) and (18) can be presented in the state space
⎡ ⎤ equation as the following equation
dkia lk
⎢ dt ⎥ U
⎢ ⎥ Ẋ = AX + (22)
⎢ dkib lk ⎥ L
⎢ ⎥
⎢ dt ⎥
⎢ ⎥ where U is the vector composed of the dynamic phasors of the
⎣ dki l ⎦
c k
ac source voltage, which can also be taken as the input vector
dt of the system. To distinguish the state variables on ac and dc
⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
−R/L − jk 4s 0 0 kia lk sides, (22) can be also taken as the following equation
⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥       
=⎣ 0 −R/L − jk 4s 0 ⎦⎣ kib lk ⎦
kİ abc l A11 A12 kIabc l 1 kUsabc l
0 0 −R/L − jk 4s
kic lk = + (23)
kU̇ dc l A21 A22 kUdc l L 0
⎡ ⎤
1
⎡ ⎤ kusa lk − (kusa lk + kusb lk + kusc lk Matrix A include four components
kuca lk ⎢ 3 ⎥
1⎢ ⎢ ⎥
⎥ 1⎢ 1 ⎥  
− ⎣ kucb lk ⎦ + ⎢ kusb lk − (kusa lk + kusb lk + kusc lk ⎥
L L⎢ 3 ⎥ A=
A11 A12
kucc lk ⎣ 1 ⎦ A21 A22
(24)
kusc lk − (kusa lk + kusb lk + kusc lk 4n×4n
3
(17) (see equation at the bottom of the page)

Using resistance Rdc representing the load on dc side, the dc (see equation at the bottom of next page)
load current can be calculated as the following equation
A11 is given by the ac impendence. A22 is given by dc
impendence. A12 and A21 are given by the dynamic phasors
Udc
iL = (18) of switch functions which present the interaction between
Rdc dc and ac sides.

⎡ ⎤
−R/L
⎢ −R/L ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −R/L ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. ⎥
A11 =⎢ . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −R/L − j(n − 1)4 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ −R/L − j(n − 1)4 ⎦
−R/L − j(n − 1)4 3n×3n

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⎡ ⎤
1
⎢−R C ⎥
⎢ dc ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −
1
− j4 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ Rdc C ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. ⎥
⎢ . ⎥
A22 =⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. ⎥
⎢ . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ 1 ⎦
− − j(n − 1)4
Rdc C n×n

⎡      
⎢
⎢
⎢
k 
2
3
1
Sa − Sb − Sc
3
1
3

0
l k 
2
3
1
3
1
Sa − Sb − Sc
3

l −1
··· k 
2
3
1
Sa − Sb − Sc
3
1
3

l −(n−2)
⎢
⎢
⎢
⎢
k 
2 1
S − S − S
3 b 3 a 3 c
1


0
l k 
2
3
1
3
1
Sb − Sa − Sc
3

l −1
··· k 
2 1
S − S − S
3 b 3 a 3 c
1


l −(n−2)
⎢
⎢
⎢
⎢
⎢
k 2 1
S − S − S
3 c 3 a 3 b
1
0
l k 2
3
1 1
Sc − Sa − Sb
3 3 l −1
··· k 2 1
S − S − S
3 c 3 a 3 b
1
l −(n−2)
⎢ .. .. .. ..
A12 = −⎢ . . . .
⎢      
k l k l k l
⎢
⎢ 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1
⎢ S − S − S S − S − S ··· S − S − S
⎢ 3 a 3 b 3 c (n−1) 3 a 3 b 3 c (n−2) 3 a 3 b 3 c 1
⎢      
k l k l k l
⎢ 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1
⎢ S − S − S S − S − S ··· S − S − S
⎢ 3 b 3 a 3 c 3 b 3 a 3 c 3 b 3 a 3 c
⎢ (n−1) (n−2) 1
⎢      
⎣
k 2 1
S − S − S
3 c 3 a 3 b
1
l
(n−1)
k 2
3
1 1
Sc − Sa − Sb
3 3 l (n−2)
··· k 2 1
S − S − S
3 c 3 a 3 b
1
l
1
  ⎤
k 
2 1
S − S − S
3 a 3 b 3 c
1


l ⎥
−(n−1) ⎥
⎥
k 
2
3
1
Sb − Sa − Sc
3
1
3

l ⎥
⎥
⎥
−(n−1) ⎥
⎥
k 2
3
1
Sc − Sa − Sb
3
1
3 l ⎥
⎥
−(n−1) ⎥
⎥
.. ⎥
. ⎥
  ⎥

k l
⎥
2 1 1 ⎥
Sa − Sb − Sc ⎥
3 3 3 0 ⎥
  ⎥
k l
2 1 1 ⎥
Sb − Sa − Sc ⎥
⎥
3 3 3 0 ⎥
  ⎥
k 2 1
S − S − S
3 c 3 a 3 b
1
l
0
⎦
3n×n

⎡ kS l kSb l0 kSc l0 ··· kSa l−(n−1) kSb l−(n−1) kSc l−(n−1) ⎤

a 0
⎢ kSa l1 kSb l1 kSc l1 ··· kSa l−(n−2) kSb l−(n−2) kSc l−(n−2) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kSa l2 kSb l2 kSc l2 ··· kSa l−(n−3) kSb l−(n−3) kSc l−(n−3) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ⎥
A21 =⎢ . . . . . . . ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kS l kSb l(n−3) kSc l(n−3) ··· kSa l−2 kSb l−2 kSc l−2 ⎥
⎢ a (n−3) ⎥
⎣ kS l kSb l(n−2) kSc l(n−2) ··· kSa l−1 kSb l−1 kSc l−1 ⎦
a (n−2)
kSa l(n−1) kSb l(n−1) kSc l(n−1) ··· kSa l0 kSb l0 kSc l0 n×3n

16 IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 12–21

& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630
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With symmetrical components, transformation like (8) and kUsa120 l
(14), (23) can be described with DPSCs VSC to be studied. The input vector is only
0
     composed of DPSCs of the ac source voltages, which have
kİ 120 l TA11 T −1 TA12 kI120 l no relationship with the state variables.
=
kU̇ dc l A21 T −1 A22 kUdc l The unbalanced conditions of VSC can be described by
  setting the voltage sequence components in the input vector
1 kUsa120 l
+ (25) U, as shown in the next section. When the DPSCs of
L 0 switch function are given, the harmonic analysis model can
be considered as a LTI system. By solving the LTI system,
where the calculation results of the state variables are the different
order harmonics of the ac currents and dc voltage.
TA11 T −1 = A11 (26)

4 Simulation tests
(see (27) and (28)) 4.1 Simulation model and setting
Using the characteristic of DPSCs shown in (10), the matrices For testing the results of the theoretical analysis, a simulation
can be transformed as (see (29 and 30)). model of VSC is erected with MATLAB/Simulink, as shown
in Fig. 2. The nominal voltage of the simulation system is
Equation (25) is the harmonic analysis model
 of VSC  based 380/220 V. The resistance and reactance at ac side are
kI120 l balanced and are 1 Ω and 1 mH, respectively. The capacitor
on DSPCs. In (25), the state variables are the
kUdc l at dc side is 5000 μF and the resistance at dc side is 10 Ω.
DPSCs of ac currents and dynamic phasors of dc voltage, PWM is naturally sampling modulation. The modulation
which are also the ac current and dc voltage harmonics of signal frequency is 50 Hz. The carrier signal frequency is

⎡ ⎤
kSa(1) l0 kSa(1) l−1 ··· kSa(1) l−(n−2) kSa(1) l−(n−1)
⎢ kSa(2) l0 kSa(2) l−1 ··· kSa(2) l−(n−2) kSa(2) l−(n−1) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 0 ··· 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. .. .. .. ⎥
TA12 = −⎢ . . . . . ⎥ (27)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kSa(1) l(n−1) kSa(1) l(n−2) ··· kSa(1) l1 kSa(1) l0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ kS l kSa(2) l(n−2) ··· kSa(2) l1 kSa(2) l0 ⎦
a(2) (n−1)
0 0 ··· 0 0 3n×n

⎡ kS l kSa(1) l0 kSa(0) l0 ··· kSa(2) l−(n−1) kSa(1) l−(n−1) kSa(0) l−(n−1) ⎤

a(2) 0
⎢ kSa(2) l1 kSa(1) l1 kSa(0) l1 ··· kSa(2) l−(n−2) kSa(1) l−(n−2) kSa(0) l−(n−2) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kSa(2) l2 kSa(1) l2 kSa(0) l2 ··· kSa(2) l−(n−3) kSa(1) l−(n−3) kSa(0) l−(n−3) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ⎥
A21 T −1 = 3⎢ . . . . . . . ⎥ (28)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kS l kSa(1) l(n−3) kSa(0) l(n−3) ··· kSa(2) l−2 kSa(1) l−2 kSa(0) l−2 ⎥
⎢ a(2) (n−3) ⎥
⎣ kS l kSa(1) l(n−2) kSa(0) l(n−2) ··· kSa(2) l−1 kSa(1) l−1 kSa(0) l−1 ⎦
a(2) (n−2)
kSa(2) l(n−1) kSa(1) l(n−1) kSa(0) l(n−1) ··· kSa(2) l0 kSa(1) l0 kSa(0) l0 n×3n

⎡ ⎤
kSa(1) l0 kSa(2) l1 ··· kSa(2) ln−2 kSa(2) ln−1
⎢ kSa(2) l0 kSa(1) l1 ··· kSa(1) ln−2 kSa(1) ln−1 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 0 ··· 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. .. .. .. ⎥
TA12 = −⎢ . . . . . ⎥ (29)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kSa(1) l(n−1) kSa(1) l(n−2) ··· kSa(1) l1 kSa(1) l0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ kSa(2) l(n−1) kSa(2) l(n−2) ··· kSa(2) l1 kSa(2) l0 ⎦
0 0 ··· 0 0 3n×n

⎡ kS l kSa(1) l0 kSa(0) l0 ··· kSa(1) ln−1 kSa(2) ln−1 kSa(0) ln−1 ⎤

a(2) 0
⎢ kSa(2) l1 kSa(1) l1 kSa(0) l1 ··· kSa(1) ln−2 kSa(2) ln−2 kSa(0) ln−2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kSa(2) l2 kSa(1) l2 kSa(0) l2 ··· kSa(1) ln−3 kSa(2) ln−3 kSa(0) ln−2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ⎥
A21 T −1 = 3⎢ . . . . . . . ⎥ (30)
⎢ ⎥
⎢ kS l kSa(1) l(n−3) kSa(0) l(n−3) ··· kSa(1) l2 kSa(2) l2 kSa(0) l2 ⎥
⎢ a(2) (n−3) ⎥
⎣ kS l kSa(1) l(n−2) kSa(0) l(n−2) ··· kSa(1) l1 kSa(2) l1 kSa(0) l1 ⎦
a(2) (n−2)
kSa(2) l(n−1) kSa(1) l(n−1) kSa(0) l(n−1) ··· kSa(1) l0 kSa(2) l0 kSa(0) l0 n×3n

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1050 Hz, which is 21 times 50 Hz. The modulation signal is
balanced and the modulation ratio is 0.9.

4.2 Normal operation

For normal operation, the ac voltage is constant and balanced.

Therefore the input vector in (25) is only composed of the
fundamental positive sequence component, that is only
Fig. 2 Simulation model of VSC kusa(1) l1 = 0. Solving the harmonic analysis model, the ac
fundamental and harmonic currents, the dc and harmonic
voltages can be achieved, as shown in Table 2.
Under normal operation conditions, there are a few
harmonic voltages in dc side. The obvious harmonic is
presented in ac current and the harmonic orders are 19th,
Table 2 Comparison of calculation and simulation values of 23rd, 41st and 43rd, which is the near the integral times of
harmonics under normal operation
the carrier frequency. There are few low-order harmonic
Items Harmonic Calculation Simulation Error, currents in ac side.
order results results %

dc voltage, V 0 516.95 517.00 −0.01

4.3 Unbalanced ac source voltage
18 0.97 0.85 12.80
24 0.87 1 −15.11 When ac fundamental voltage is unbalanced, the input vector
42 0.89 0.9 −0.85 in (25) is composed of the fundamental positive, negative or
ac current, A 1 152.42 152.51 −0.05 zero sequence components, that is, kusa(1) l1 , kusa(2) l1 ,
19 11.50 11.41 0.78 kusa(0) l1 = 0. Then, supposing two unbalanced conditions,
23 9.58 9.53 0.47
41 5.13 5.11 0.30 one is one phase unbalanced and the other is two phase
43 4.89 4.85 0.89 unbalanced. The condition in which the magnitude of phase
A voltage is reduced to 0.1 pu without phase angle shifting

Table 3 Harmonics of voltage on dc side under unbalanced conditions

Harmonic orders A unbalanced BC unbalanced

Calculation results, V Simulation results, V Error, % Calculation results, V Simulation results, V Error, %

0 362.16 362.00 0.05 201.83 202.20 −0.16

2 19.30 19.75 −2.33 21.44 21.97 2.17
18 0.68 0.59 13.46 0.38 0.33 13.57
20 0.58 0.58 −0.47 0.64 0.64 0.23
22 0.52 0.52 −0.15 0.58 0.58 −0.54
24 0.61 0.70 −15.11 0.34 0.39 −14.79
40 0.28 0.28 0.41 0.31 0.31 0.77
42 0.62 0.62 0.72 0.35 0.36 −3.08
44 0.25 0.25 1.72 0.28 0.28 0.93

Table 4 Harmonics of ac current under unbalanced conditions

Phase Harmonic A unbalanced BC unbalanced
orders
Calculation results, A Simulation results, A Error, % Calculation results, A Simulation results, A Error, %

A 1 75.68 75.33 0.46 148.80 148.70 −0.07

3 3.16 3.24 −2.42 3.51 3.58 1.99
19 8.04 7.99 0.60 4.48 4.47 −0.22
23 6.67 6.69 −0.31 3.72 3.72 0.00
41 3.55 3.56 −0.23 2.03 2.04 0.49
43 3.39 3.38 0.23 1.94 1.94 0.00
B 1 194.86 194.68 0.09 45.73 45.66 −0.15
3 3.17 3.22 −1.44 3.53 3.61 2.27
19 8.06 8.01 0.57 4.46 4.44 −0.45
23 6.64 6.65 −0.08 3.74 3.76 0.53
41 3.67 3.67 0.04 1.89 1.89 0.00
43 3.50 3.49 0.38 1.80 1.79 −0.56
C 1 121.47 121.71 −0.20 128.31 128.13 −0.14
3 3.15 3.28 −4.22 3.50 3.54 1.14
19 8.02 7.97 0.68 4.50 4.47 −0.67
23 6.69 6.70 −0.08 3.69 3.70 0.27
41 3.52 3.51 0.18 2.07 2.07 0.00
43 3.35 3.34 0.38 1.97 1.97 0.00

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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015 doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630

Fig. 3 Picture of the experiment test device
is taken as A unbalanced. The condition in which the
magnitude of phase B and C voltages are reduced to 0.1 pu
and the phase angles are shifted to ±150° is taken as BC
unbalanced. In these two situations, the calculation and
simulation results of harmonics of voltages on dc side are
given in Table 3, and the results of ac currents are given in
Table 4.
According to these analysis results, the negative sequence
voltage of ac source will produce the third current harmonic
on ac side and second voltage harmonic on dc side. Above
all, under unbalanced conditions, the theoretical calculation
results are close to the simulation results. Therefore, the
harmonic analysis mode of VSC provided here is an easy and
useful approach to analyse the harmonics of VSC with LTI
system. Both the high- and low-order harmonic under
different conditions can be calculated with setting the input
vector in the model. Although the 18th and 24th voltage
harmonics on dc side show a little error, the real difference is
not very big because the value of harmonic voltage is small.
5 Experiment tests
An experimental device is set up to verify the effectiveness of
the harmonic analysis model. The rating ac voltage is 60 V,
Fig. 4 Shape of the ac voltage
IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 12–21
doi: 10.1049/iet-gtd.2014.0630
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50 Hz which is output by regulation transformer. The rating
dc voltage is 250 V. The dc side is serial with two 6800 μF/
450 V capacitors and the load resistance is 74.6 Ω. The
reactor on the ac side is 8.86 mH and the resistance of
the reactor is about 0.5 Ω. The VSC is constructed with the
Intelligent Power Model (IPM) made by Mitsubishi© and
the type is PM100CL1A120. The controllers are designed
with Digital Signal Processor (DSP) made by the Texas
Instrument© and the type is TMS320F28335. The
frequency of PWM carrier is 18750 Hz. The picture of the
experiment test device is given as Fig. 3. At the same time,
a simulation model by MATLAB/Simulink is set up with
the same parameters.
The ac voltages and currents are monitored by Fluke F435.
The dc voltage is monitored by the oscilloscope. The shape of
ac voltage is shown in Fig. 4. The three-phase voltages are
unbalanced. For controlling the dc voltage as the rating
voltage, the modulation ratio is 0.61∟14.1°. The simulation
and experiment shape of ac currents are shown in Fig. 5.
Under the unbalanced conditions, the third harmonic
current will be generated on ac side as the conclusion of the
harmonic analysis model. The comparison of the
calculation, simulation and experiment results is given in
Table 5.
19
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
www.ietdl.org

Fig. 5 Shape of the ac current

a Simulation results
b Experiment results

Table 5 Comparison of the calculation, simulation and experiment results

Items Harmonic orders Calculation results Simulation results Experiment results

dc voltage, V – 253.5503 251.4 247.0000

phase A current, A 1 5.5215 5.635 5.2800
3 0.0496 0.0502 0.0528
phase B current, A 1 5.2283 5.334 4.7520
3 0.0450 0.0468 0.0475
phase C current, A 1 5.1461 5.238 4.6770
3 0.0448 0.0432 0.0421

According to the comparison of the experiment and
theoretical calculations, the calculation results of the
harmonic analysis model of the VSC are close to the
experimental results in the real case, which can verify
the effectiveness of the harmonic analysis model. The
model is easy to use for the solution the harmonics
produced by the VSCs under real operational conditions.
switches. The current and voltage harmonics of VSC under
unbalanced conditions can be presented with the model
analytically. The comparison of the experimental, simulation
and calculation results shows that the calculations are close
to the results of simulations and experiments. Therefore, the
harmonic analysis model of VSC is very useful for the
analysis and solution of the harmonics of VSCs.

6 Conclusion
DPSCs are the dynamic sequence components of the
harmonics, which are transformed from the three-phase
dynamic phasors with symmetrical transformation to
analyse the harmonics under unbalanced conditions. By
setting DPSCs of the current harmonics on ac side and
voltage harmonics on dc side of VSCs as the state variables
and the DPSCs of ac voltage as the input vector, a
harmonic analysis model is presented in state space as a
LTI system. The coefficient matrix of the system is
composed of the DPSCs of the switch functions. The model
considers both the interaction between the dc and ac sides
and the non-linear dynamic of the power electronic
7 Acknowledgment
This paper is supported by the Natural Scientific Fund (NSF)
of China (51307061).
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