This paper describes the development of a new islanding detection method for inverter-based distributed generation systems, which uses a signal cross-correlation scheme between the injected reactive current and the power frequency deviation. The proposed method injects 1% of the reactive current to the rated current which brings about a negligible degradation of the power quality. It discriminates the islanding state, when the calculated cross-correlation index is larger than 0.5. The operational feasibility was verified through computer simulations with PSCAD/EMTDC software and experimental research with a hardware prototype. The proposed method can detect the islanding state without degrading the power quality at the point of common connection. Further study is required to overcome the cancellation of the injected reactive current from multiple distributed generation units interconnected with the utility grid.

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This paper proposes a new algorithm to generate a reference signal for an active power filter using a sliding-window FFT operation to improve the steady-state performance of the active power filter. In the proposed algorithm the sliding-window FFT operation is applied to the load current to generate the reference value for the compensating current. The magnitude and phaseangle for each order of harmonics are respectively averaged for 14 periods. Furthermore, the phase-angle delay for each order of harmonics passing through the controller is corrected in advance to improve the compensation performance. The steady-state and transient performance of the proposed algorithm was verified through computer simulations and experimental work with a hardware prototype. A single-phase active power filter with the proposed algorithm can offer a reduction in THD from 75% to 4% when it is applied to a non-linear load composed of a diode bridge and a RC circuit. The active power filter with the proposed reference generation method shows accurate harmonic compensation performance compared with previously developed methods, in which the THD of source current is higher than 5%.

This paper proposes a grid-tied power conditioning system for the fuel cell power generation, which consists of a 2-stage DC-DC converter and a 3-phase PWM inverter. The 2-stage DC-DC converter boosts the fuel cell stack voltage of 26-48V up to 400V, using a hard-switching boost converter and a high-frequency unregulated LLC resonant converter. The operation of the proposed power conditioning system was verified through simulations with PSCAD/EMTDC software. Based on the simulation results, a laboratory experimental set-up was built with a 1.2kW PEM fuel-cell stack to verify the feasibility of hardware implementation. The developed power conditioning system shows a high efficiency of 91%, which is a very positive result for the commercialization.

This paper describes the development of a three-phase line-interactive DVR with a new sag detection algorithm. The developed detection algorithm has a hybrid structure composed of an instantaneous detector and RMS-variation detectors. The source voltage passes through the sliding-window DFT and RMS calculator, and the instantaneous sag detector. If an instantaneous sag is detected, the RMS variation detector-1 is selected to calculate the RMS variation. The RMS variation detector-2 is selected when the instantaneous sag occurs under the operation of the RMS variation detector-1. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is verified through computer simulations and experimental work with a prototype of a line-interactive DVR with a 3kVA rating. The line-interactive DVR with the proposed algorithm can compensate for an input voltage sag or an interruption within a 2ms delay. The developed DVR can effectively compensate for a voltage sag or interruption in sensitive loads, such as computers, communications equipment, and automation equipment.