2706 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 60, NO.

2, MARCH/APRIL 2024

Control and Protection Scheme for DC-Link of Solar

PV Based Microgrid
Muhammad Waseem Altaf , Member, IEEE, Mohammad Taufiqul Arif , Member, IEEE,
Shama Naz Islam , Member, IEEE, Muhammad Naveed Naz , Graduate Student Member, IEEE,
Mohammad Kamruzzaman Khan Prince , Graduate Student Member, IEEE,
Aman Maung Than Oo , Senior Member, IEEE, and Md. Enamul Haque , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—This article presents the inclusive DC-link voltage generally reverse-direction-connected diodes and insulated-gate
control and protection scheme for the DC-link of the microgrid. transistors (IGBTs) which allow bi-directional power flow. Low
The proposed inclusive scheme is proposed to control the DC-link
voltage DC-power is generated by the solar-based DERs which
voltage during load-switching or AC-side faults scenarios, and
protect the DC-link when short-circuit fault emerges at DC-link. To is required to be raised to a specified DC-bus voltage level by
examine the proposed inclusive scheme, the microgrid test system is boost-converter, then a voltage source inverter (VSI) converts
created according to the IEEE-1547 standard in PSCAD/EMTDC DC-bus voltage into pulsating-AC voltage as shown in Fig. 1 [4].
based software system. Then the designed microgrid is examined The basic VSI architecture has a DC-link along with a DC
under various fault scenarios to confirm the performance of the capacitor [5].
developed scheme. Results show that the presented control and
protection scheme can maintain the DC-link voltage under faults A capacitor bank is connected at DC-link between the inverter
on the AC or DC sides in grid-connected and islanding modes of and boost converter to balance the instantaneous power and
operation. The proposed scheme has the ability to ensure the voltage recognize the DC interface. DC-capacitors are inserted into the
regulation and protection of the DC-link of the microgrid under boost converter side of the DC-link to compensate for the instan-
different operating conditions and faults. taneous power variation between the rear stages and converter
Index Terms—Microgrid, control, DC-link, protection, short- front which can store high power and have a large capacitance [6]
circuit fault, voltage regulation, PSCAD/EMTDC. function. Normally, voltage ripples minimization and DC-link
voltage stability are maintained through DC-link capacitors
I. INTRODUCTION when DC-link voltage disturbances occur due to load change,
RID-CONNECTED microgrid is formed by the inte- faults, intermittent sources, or PWM inverter switching [6], [7].
G gration of renewable-based distributed energy resources
(DERs) with the distributed power system. The basic network
After VSI, a filter is connected to remove pulsating waves.
DC power flow direction changes and inverter gates turn ON
topology of conventional power systems varies due to the power and OFF to generate these pulsating waves [8]. The DC-link
conversion between AC and DC by converters and bi-directional microgrid test system is shown in Fig. 1.
power flow between DERs and utility-grid. DERs can be of DC-bus or DC-link-based microgrids have many protection
different types such as wind, solar, fuel cells, micro-hydro- challenges despite various benefits. One of the critical challenges
turbines, bio-gas, and gas turbines [1], [2], [3]. Inverters are during the islanded mode, a limited amount of fault current
is provided by inverter-based DER and overcurrent relay in-
Manuscript received 20 January 2023; revised 21 August 2023; accepted capability with single-setting in the hybrid AC-DC microgrid
13 November 2023. Date of publication 12 December 2023; date of current protection system. Along this, there are two more DC-link or
version 21 March 2024. Paper 2022-PSPC-1289.R1, presented at the 2022 DC-bus microgrid protection challenges; grounding strategy and
IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI, USA, Oct.
09–14, and approved for publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY absence of zero-crossing current. In DC-link or DC-bus-based
APPLICATIONS by the Power Systems Protection Committee of the IEEE Industry microgrids, the grounding scheme is a major issue because it
Applications Society [DOI: 10.1109/IAS54023.2022.9939872]. (Correspond- may cause a short circuit transient current and over-voltage
ing author: Muhammad Waseem Altaf.)
Muhammad Waseem Altaf, Mohammad Taufiqul Arif, Shama Naz Islam, which affects its fault-detection and protection capabilities [9],
Mohammad Kamruzzaman Khan Prince, and Md. Enamul Haque are with the [10], [11], [12]. The grounding strategies for DC power systems
Renewable Energy & Electric Vehicle (REEV) Lab, Centre for Smart Power & can be distinguished by three types of configuration that are
Energy Research (cSPER), Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia (e-
mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; ungrounded, solidly grounded, and resistive grounded method
[email protected]; [email protected]). in the middle point.
Muhammad Naveed Naz is with the School of Engineering and Built Envi- However, the operation of the circuit breaker (CB) in DC
ronment, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
(e-mail: [email protected]). and AC power systems is led by the mechanism of AC-CB, arc
Aman Maung Than Oo is with the School of Engineering, Macquarie Uni- phenomenon, and AC zero-crossing that makes it possible to
versity, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia (e-mail: [email protected]). observe and quench the arc after tripping during the half-cycle.
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at
https://doi.org/10.1109/TIA.2023.3341848. But, DC-power disruption is the main issue due to the absence of
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2023.3341848 zero-crossing current in the DC power system which may cause

0093-9994 © 2023 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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 ALTAF et al.: CONTROL AND PROTECTION SCHEME FOR DC-LINK OF SOLAR PV BASED MICROGRID 2707

Fig. 1. Microgrid test system [1].

a serious threat to worker’s safety and also becomes a cause and power output quality depends on the controller and filter.
of circuit breaker erosion which reduces the lifetime of circuit Harmonics distortion in the voltage may reduce the inverter
breakers [13], [14]. Nowadays, fuses and circuit breakers are output power quality. The voltage and current control-loop for
commercially available for DC power system protection [15]. network voltage stability are shown in Fig. 1. Undistorted current
The absence of zero-crossing and grounding problem mitigation or power output can be supplied by the proper design of the
solutions is available in PSCAD/EMTDC software tools to test inverter controller. During normal operation, control strategies
and analyze the protection scheme’s effectiveness. work efficiently without any fault. More current flows at the
DC-bus or DC-link voltage level should be constant because fault point when short-circuit faults occur at DC-link [20].
VSI delivers constant voltage output or equal to the real-time The capacitor at the DC-link discharges in milliseconds to-
voltage at the AC-side. DC-link voltage variation changes the wards the point of fault due to overcurrent. An inductor can
output of VSI which results in the reactive power flow (reactive be incorporated to limit the overcurrent due to a short circuit
power flow occurs due to the AC-side voltage and VSI output proposed in [21].
voltage difference) [16]. So, the protection and voltage regula- An overcurrent protection challenge in VSI is analyzed
tion at DC-link is very vital during islanded and grid-connected in [22]. Inverters protection against overcurrent and overvoltage
modes. faults must be ensured especially in the motor-drive system [23].
The load requirement is fulfilled by the DERs of the micro- Despite having diverse natures, faults of both types have dam-
grid with the additional support of the utility-grid during the aging effects on the inverter power stage and motor winding.
grid-connected mode. The voltage regulation is ensured by the But the existing control strategies for DC-link voltage failed to
additional support of the utility-grid. The controlled power ex- stabilize the voltage at DC-link which may damage the microgrid
port is ensured by an inverter with stable voltage at the DC-link. when DC-link or AC-side faults due to short circuits occur during
The sending controlled power depends on the stability of the the grid-connected mode. So, DC-link protection and a voltage
in-phase current component at the d-axis and q-axis respectively. control scheme are needed for microgrid protection and voltage
The load demand is represented by the current demand that is regulation at DC-link.
measured by the voltage amplitude which is achieved by the The microgrid operation without a utility-grid supply requires
3Φ locked-loop (PLL-3 ph) [17]. The voltage at DC-link is setting up the voltage and frequency reference values. Hence,
maintained by the information on power demand received at during microgrid islanded mode operation, the DERs inverter
a main controller that also operates the DER accordingly [18], must provide voltage and frequency reference levels which are
[19]. The current is controlled by the closed-loop inverter to the inverter’s main function. The VSI is shown in Fig. 1, despite
fulfill the power demand. The closed-loop inverter generates an a few problems that have been observed due to high transient
accurate reference current by the supply requirement of active fault currents that can damage the semiconductor devices and
and reactive power. Fig. 1 represents the control strategy of the components for voltage measurement across capacitors. To han-
inverter, where output power is delivered by the closed-loop dle these shortcomings, a cascade control strategy should be
current controller, and reference current is also determined by incorporated. This inverter-based control strategy should be able
the controller. The main controller sets the current and power to regulate the voltage during unintentional islanding [2] or
requirement and each inverter is accountable for that. The current heavy load loss.

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 2708 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 60, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2024

A protection strategy should be proposed for DC-link pro- TABLE I

MICROGRID TEST SYSTEM DATA
tection by shutting down the inverter when the voltage level
increases from its safe limits [4]. During islanded mode, when
DER power generation is less than the load demand, the DC-link
voltage drops and is unbalanced at both sides of the capaci-
tor of the DC-link, and then the DC-link capacitor regulates
the DC-link voltage [24]. If the voltage drop is beyond the
capacity of the capacitor at the DC-link then converters and
power electronics devices are disconnected by the protection
system [25]. During islanded mode, if DER power generation
is higher than the load requirement then the DC-link voltage
rises and is unbalanced at both sides of the DC-link capacitor,
and excess energy is absorbed by the capacitor to regulate the
voltage. If the energy absorption capability of the capacitor
is beyond its capacity then converters and power electronics
devices are disconnected by the protection system. A voltage
control strategy is proposed for microgrids during islanded mode
operation in an article [26]. But, these control strategies are
unsuccessful when short-circuit or AC-side fault occurs at the
DC-link. So, a proper protection control strategy is required
for DC-link protection in under/over voltage scenarios even
during DC-link short-circuit and AC-side faults conditions. To
overcome the DC-link protection and DC-link voltage regulation
issues during islanded and grid-connected, integrated DC-link
protection and DC-link voltage control strategy is developed and
designed in this article to regulate the voltage at DC-link and
protect the DC-link from short-circuit fault at DC-link itself. The CBs are located at the utility-grid, PCC, battery, solar PV,
The main focus and contribution of the article are as follows.
r The voltage controller is implemented to stabilize the DC- DC-link and loads. Since the configuration and the size of the
microgrid is changed that depends on the level of integration
link voltage with the voltage source inverter-based voltage- of DERs. The current and voltage measuring parameters are
oriented control.
r The DC-link protection approach is also introduced in this incorporated at various locations of PCC, AC-side, and DC-link
to monitor and measure the real-time values. The DC-link or
article which is based on under/over voltage. The devel- DC-bus has a 780 DC voltage and AC-bus has a 470 AC
oped protection strategy mitigates the short-circuit faults voltage. To control the DC-link voltage, the voltage control and
at DC-link or protects the DC-link when DC-link voltage current control loops are presented in Fig. 1. The developed
excels from threshold level due to external faults, and VSI-based DC-link voltage control scheme will be described in
switching due to load during islanded and grid-connected the next section. The fault locations at DC-link and AC-side are
modes.
r The developed DC-link protection and DC-link voltage shown in Fig. 1. The DC-link related DC-link protection and
voltage control challenges during both operating modes are also
control approaches have been implemented and evaluated discussed in this section.
by creating DC-link and AC-side faults during islanded and
grid-connected modes to demonstrate the voltage stability
and protection effectiveness at DC-link. III. PROPOSED DC-LINK VOLTAGE CONTROL AND DC-LINK
The remaining article is divided into four sections. The test PROTECTION SCHEME
system structure of the microgrid is presented in the Section II. For designing the developed integrated protection and voltage
In Section III, the protection and voltage control strategies at control strategy, the flowchart of the developed integrated pro-
the DC-link are discussed. Section IV describes the simulation tection and voltage control strategy will be discussed thoroughly
results. Section V presents the conclusion. in the underlying section.
The test system of the microgrid is shown in Fig. 1. The
microgrid system comprises of DC-link capacitor, a solar PV
II. MICROGRID MODELLING array, DC/DC converters, energy storage system (ESS), a voltage
A system test microgrid model is presented in Fig. 1 that is source inverter (VSI) at grid side DC/AC, a coupling trans-
considered to test the developed protection and voltage control former, an LCL filter, and the utility grid. At 470 V AC-bus,
approach during both islanded and grid-connected modes under a load is connected. The voltage at DC-link Vdc is stabilized to
DC-link and AC-side faults conditions. The microgrid test sys- regulate 780 DC voltage during both the normal mode and fault
tem data is given in Table 1. The considered microgrid consists of condition at the AC-side. On the other hand, during short-circuit
an energy storage battery bank and solar PV with various loads. fault at DC-link then the DC-link is isolated by the DC-link

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 ALTAF et al.: CONTROL AND PROTECTION SCHEME FOR DC-LINK OF SOLAR PV BASED MICROGRID 2709

Fig. 2. PV boost converter with MPPT control [3].

Fig. 3. EES (combined battery/Supercapacitor) control [3].

circuit breaker as depicted in the test system Fig. 1. The control

strategies for the VSI grid-side are discussed in the below switching, sudden load changing, different weather conditions,
subsection. or transition between islanding and grid-connected modes and
reduce the charging stresses of the battery. For this cause, the
power drift is subdivided into two components, high-frequency
A. PV Boost Converter Control
transients (HFT) and low-frequency steady (LFS) components.
The PV-array (DC-DC) boost-converter is controlled by a The SC is used to tackle HFT and battery for LFS. The three
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller which is control loops of ESS are shown in Fig. 3. The DC-link loop is the
utilized to gain the maximum power from the PV-array despite first loop that regulates the dc-link at 780 V. The DC-link control
diverse atmospheric conditions, which depend on the irradia- loop generates the output reference current (Iref ) which must
tions and temperature to extract extreme power. In a normal remove the voltage drift to regulate the DC-link voltage at 780 V.
case, when PV power generation is larger than load requirement The Iref comprises LFS and HFT components. So, Iref passes
then excess power will be provided to the battery of the ESS through a low-pass filter (LPF) to activate LFS (Iref −LF ) which
system even if it has been fully charged which minimizes the is the second-loop reference also called battery-loop. Later, the
performance and battery life. The battery’s over-charging issue is battery compensates for the average level LFS voltage drift. The
tried to solve by a PV-control approach which is shown in Fig. 2. SC-loop which is the third loop corrects the HFT ((Iref −HF ).
When the state-of-charge (SOC) of the battery approaches more The reference (Isc−ref ) for SC-loop is calculated by Iref −HF
than 99% then MPPT is automatically disabled and the DC-link and battery current-error (Ibat−error ) as presented in (3) [3].
voltage (Vdc ) stability control loop is activated automatically.
At this stage, enough power is delivered by the PV-array which Iref −HF = Iref − Iref −LF (3)
regulates the dc-link voltage at 780 V DC without battery energy
storage. The non-compensated power (PB−notcomp ) from the battery
but compensated from the SC is presented in (4) [3].
B. ESS Control PB−notcomp = VBat (Iref −HF + Ibat−error ) (4)
ESS control system is configured to regulate the DC-link
voltage stability problems arise due to load fluctuations and So, the reference-current for the SC-loop (Isc−ref ) is
microgrid operation mode changes between grid-connected PB−notcomp
mode and islanded mode. The supercapacitor (SC) and battery Isc−ref = (5)
Vsc
are the components of ESS which are connected to a 780 V
DC-link through DC-DC bidirectional-converter to assist in where VBat is the battery voltage and Vsc is the SC voltage.
charging/discharging. During the charging mechanism, both PI-controller is incorporated in all three loops. The gate signal
DC-DC bidirectional converters functioned as buck-converters switches are generated by passing the battery loop through
and the transfer of energy takes place from the DC-link to ESS PWM for the bidirectional DC-DC battery converter. Q1-bat
components. But in discharging mechanism, both converters (boost) is used to activate discharging mode and Q2-bat (buck)
act as boost-converters, and the transfer of energy takes place is used to activate the charging mode. Similarly, the gate signal
from ESS components to DC-link [27]. The DC-DC converter switches are generated by the SC-loop output for bidirectional
acts as a buck-converter during the charging mechanism and a SC-converters. Q1-SC (boost) is used to activate discharging
boost-converter during discharging mechanism as presented in mode and Q2-SC (buck) is used to activate the charging mode.
(1) and (2) respectively [3].
Vco = Vci D (1) C. Control Scheme for the Grid-Side VSI

Vco = Vci /(1 − D) (2) The VSI at the grid-side stabilizes the DC-link voltage, re-
active power, and active power. The VSI control diagram at the
where Vci , D, and Vco are DC-DC bidirectional-converter input- grid-side is shown in Fig. 4. The voltage parameter at DC-link
voltage, duty-cycle ratio, and converter output-voltage respec- Vdc is measured by a voltage sensor and the measured value is
tively. The battery and SC components are combined in ESS sent to the comparator. The measured value is compared with
∗
to overcome the transients in DC-link that are arisen due to the reference voltage Vdc level. The reference DC-link voltage

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 2710 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 60, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2024

Fig. 4. Voltage-oriented controller for the VSI [1].

is calculated by (6).
√
∗ 6Vgln
Vdc = (6)
ma
In (6), Vgln is the RMS value of the grid line to ground voltage
and ma is the modulation index. The modulation index is set to
0.85 leaving 15% adjustments for the grid side transients and
faults. The measured value of the DC-link voltage follows the
∗
reference value Vdc . This can be understood by (7).


1.5Vdg .idg = Vdc .idc  (7)
Vqg=0

In (7), Vdg and Idg are the d-axis grid voltage and current,
respectively, Vdc and Idc are the DC-link voltage and current.
Equation (7) assumed no loss in the grid-side voltage source
inverter (VSI) and the q-axis grid voltage is zero, that is, Vqg =
0. According to (7) the DC power input to the grid side VSC
equals the AC power output. The DC-link current depends on
the available renewable energy in the microgrid. Therefore the
d-axis grid current idg reflects the operating conditions.
The deviation of the measured value Vdc from the reference Fig. 5. Proposed DC-link protection and DC-link voltage control scheme flow
∗ chart [1].
value Vdc is also called an error. The error eVdc is sent to the
proportional-integral (PI) regulator. The control signal DB1k
enables the VSI regulator. The grid d-axis reference current
i∗dg is generated by the PI regulator. The i∗dg is presented in synchronous reference frame-angular-speed and Lt is the sum
mathematical form as (8) [1] of filter inductances including inductances of the inverter-side
  and grid-side.
i∗dg (t) = eVdc (t) KPdc + KIdc (8) The 3-phase control signals are generated by sending the
control signals dd1 , and dq1 through the dq0/abc block in the
In (8), KIdc and KPdc are integral and proportional gains for the abc stationary reference frame. For grid-side VSI switching, the
outer voltage control loop of the voltage regulator at the DC-link. PWM modulator block is generating six switching signals by
The reference current d-axis is sent to the current control inner using these three-phase control signals. The VSI is enabled by
loop where the error eidg is measured by the comparator. The the switching pulses to stabilize the grid currents at dq-axes to
d-axis pulse control dd is generated by sending error eidg to the controller’s reference setting.
another PI regulator. In this article, reactive power towards the
grid is regulated to be zero during normal operation.
D. Proposed DC-Link Voltage Control and DC-Link
Q∗g = 0 (9) Protection Scheme Algorithm Flow Chart
The error between measured and reference Qg reactive power The developed DC-link protection and voltage control strat-
is received by the PI regulator that generates the grid q-axis egy algorithm flowchart is shown in Fig. 5. The microgrid is
reference current i∗qg . The q-axis control signal dq is generated by designed as per the standard of IEEE-1547. The under/over
another PI regulator that compares the measured and reference voltage-based protection strategy at DC-link is proposed with an
q-axis grid-current iqg . The terms vdg , vqg are called com- adjusted threshold level and a control strategy based on voltage
pensation terms and ωLt iqg , ωLt iqg are called speed-induced is designed to regulate the DC-link voltage at 780 V DC. The
voltage terms that are inserted in the controller to produce the DC-link circuit breaker (CB) threshold limits is set based on
control pulses dd1 , and dq1 at dq axes. Where vdg and vqg are under voltage which is 760 V and rate of change of over current
the q-axis and d-axis components of the grid-voltage, ω is the which may increase to 2 kA/ms [28].

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 ALTAF et al.: CONTROL AND PROTECTION SCHEME FOR DC-LINK OF SOLAR PV BASED MICROGRID 2711

Fig. 6. (a) RMS voltage level at AC-side, (b) RMS current level at AC-side,
and (c) voltage level at DC-link, (d) current level at DC-link during stable grid-
connected mode without any fault [1].

After designing the microgrid, the algorithm flowchart starts

with the microgrid status check whether it is in islanded mode
or grid-connected mode. Then short-circuit faults at DC-link
and AC-side faults are created to analyze the effectiveness of
the developed strategies. During grid-connected mode, when a Fig. 7. (a) id and idref inverter currents, (b) iq and iqref inverter currents, and
fault at AC-side occurs, the developed voltage control strategy at (c) inverter reactive and active power level during stable grid-connected micro-
DC-link regulates the DC-link voltage at 780 V DC which shows grid operation without any fault [1].
the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The AC-side local
protection strategy should detect the faulty area and then isolate
it. During grid-connected mode, when short-circuit fault at DC-
link occurs, the voltage controller at DC-link fails to regulate the
DC-link voltage. So, the protection strategy at DC-link operates,
and DC-link CB opens which protects the DC-link and VSI as
no current flows through DC-link along with VSI.
When short-circuit faults occur at DC-link or AC-side during
islanded mode, then the DC-link voltage control system fails to
regulate the DC-link voltage. So, the protection strategy at DC-
link works and CB operates to protect the DC-link and VSI along
with DC-link has zero current flowing through them proving the
proposed strategy effectiveness. Therefore, it is revealed that the
developed DC-link voltage control strategy regulates the voltage
successfully at DC-link when an AC-side fault occurs during
the grid-connected mode. But, the DC-link protection system
Fig. 8. Load variation impact on (a) RMS voltage level at AC-side and (b)
operates when a fault occurs at the AC-side during islanded mode voltage level at DC-link, during stable grid-connected mode without any fault.
and operates when DC-link short circuit fault occurs during both
islanded and grid-connected modes.
and voltages are stable without any fault. Fig. 7(a)–(c) represents
idref, and the VSI id currents, iqref and VSI iq currents, and reac-
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION tive and active power flow at VSI during normal grid-connected
The developed DC-link protection strategy and DC-link volt- microgrid operation when no fault occurs.
age control strategy for the microgrid are analyzed and imple-
mented as shown in Fig. 1. The developed strategy is tested by B. Load Variation Impact on AC-Side and DC-Link Voltage
applying load variation, faults on DC-link and the microgrid During Grid-Connected Mode of Operation
AC-side with or without turning on the protection and control
Fig. 8(a) and (b), shows the RMS voltage values of the VSI
system during islanded and grid-connected mode.
at the AC-side, and voltage values at the DC-link respectively,
without any DC-link or AC-side fault. It can be observed from
A. Normal Grid-Connected Mode of Operation
Fig. 8(a) that the voltage level at AC-side is less impacted when
Fig. 6(a)–(d), shows the current and voltage RMS values of additional resistive load is applied at AC-side without any fault
the VSI at the AC-side, and current, and voltage values at the condition. The voltage level is dropped when inductive load is
DC-link side respectively, without any DC-link or AC-side fault. applied but increased when capacitive load applied as shown
It can be observed from Fig. 6 that DC-link or AC-side currents in Fig. 8(a). It can be observed from Fig. 8(b) that the voltage

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 2712 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 60, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2024

Fig. 9. (a) RMS voltage level at AC-side, (b) RMS current level at AC-side, (c)
voltage level at DC-link, and (d) current level at DC-link during grid-connected Fig. 11. (a) RMS voltage level at AC-side, (b) RMS current level at AC-
mode with AC-side fault and without DC-link voltage control [1]. side, (c) voltage level at DC-link, and (d) current level at DC-link during grid-
connected mode with AC-side fault and with DC-link voltage control [1].

and reactive power flow at VSI during normal grid-connected

microgrid operation when the fault occurs at the AC-side. It can
be seen from Fig. 10, that after AC-side fault creation, id and
idref current values decreased due to the current flowing in large
amounts to the fault without AC-side protection and DC-link
control strategy. When the fault occurs at AC-side, the protection
system at AC-side detects and mitigates the fault at AC-side. But
this article’s main focus is protection against DC-link faults and
voltage control.

D. AC-Side Fault During Grid-Connected Mode of Operation

With DC-Link Voltage Control
Fig. 11(a)–(d) shows the RMS current and RMS voltage levels
at the VSI AC-side, and DC-link current and voltage levels
respectively, when the fault at AC-side occurs at a simulation
time of 1.5 s with DC-link voltage control and without protection
at AC-side action. From Fig. 11, it can be seen that the AC-side
voltage dropped, and at the same time level of current increased
Fig. 10. (a) id and idref inverter currents, (b) iq and iqref Inverter currents, and due to the fault, and the level of DC-link voltage remains the
(c) inverter reactive, and active power level during grid-connected mode with same before and after the fault occurs at AC-side, and the level
AC-side fault and without DC-link voltage control [1]. of current is settled to keep the DC-link voltage at a same level
after fault occurs at AC-side which testify the effectiveness of
levels at DC-link are stable without any fault when additional developed control scheme to stabilize the voltage level of 780 V
resistive, inductive and capacitive loads are applied at AC side. DC at DC-link. Fig. 12(a)–(c) represents the VSI idref and id
The voltage regulation at DC-link proves the effectiveness of currents, VSI iqref and iq currents, and reactive and active power
proposed DC-link voltage regulation scheme. flow at VSI during normal grid-connected microgrid operation
when the fault occurs at AC-side. It can be seen from Fig. 12,
C. AC-Side Fault During Grid-Connected Mode of Operation that after AC-side fault creation, id and idref current values are
Without DC-Link Control stabilized with AC-side protection and DC-link control strategy.
When the fault occurs at AC-side, the protection system at
Fig. 9(a)–(d) shows the RMS current and RMS voltage levels AC-side detects and mitigates the fault at AC-side. But this
at the VSI AC-side, and DC-link current and voltage levels article’s main focus is protection against DC-link faults and
respectively when the fault at AC-side occurs at a simulation voltage control. Hence, the developed control strategy regulates
time of 1.5 s without protection and control strategy. From Fig. 9, the DC-link voltage even if a fault at AC-side occurs.
it can be seen that AC-side voltage dropped and at the same time
level of current increased due to fault, and the level of DC-link
voltage increased, and at the same time level of the DC-link E. DC-Link Fault During Grid-Connected Mode of Operation
Without DC-Link Protection
current decreased due to all current flowing to the point of fault
after AC-side fault creation at 1.5 s. Fig. 10(a)–(c) represents the Fig. 13(a)–(d) shows the RMS current and RMS voltage levels
VSI id and idref currents, VSI iq and iqref currents, and active at the VSI AC-side, and DC-link current and voltage levels

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 ALTAF et al.: CONTROL AND PROTECTION SCHEME FOR DC-LINK OF SOLAR PV BASED MICROGRID 2713

Fig. 12. (a) id and idref inverter currents, (b) iq and iqref inverter currents, and
(c) inverter reactive, and active power level during grid-connected mode with Fig. 14. (a) id and idref inverter currents, (b) iq and iqref inverter currents, and
AC-side fault and with DC-link voltage control [1]. (c) inverter reactive, and active power level during grid-connected mode with
DC-link fault and without DC-link voltage protection [1].

Fig. 13. (a) RMS voltage level, (b) RMS current level at AC-side, (c) voltage
level at DC-link, and (d) current level at DC-link during grid-connected mode Fig. 15. (a) RMS voltage level, (b) RMS current level at AC-side, (c) voltage
with DC-link fault and without DC-link protection [1]. level at DC-link, and (d) current level at DC-link during grid-connected mode
with DC-link fault and with DC-link protection [1].

respectively, when the fault at DC-link occurs at a simulation

When a DC-link fault occurs, the protection system at DC-link
time of 1.5 s with DC-link voltage control and without the
detects and mitigates the fault at DC-link.
action of DC-link protection. From Fig. 13, it can be seen that
AC-side and DC-link voltage dropped and at the same time
F. DC-Link Fault During Grid-Connected Mode of Operation
level of current at both the DC-link and AC-side increased due
to the fault at the DC-link. So, short-circuit fault at DC-link With DC-Link Protection
impacts inverters on both sides due to the DC-type fault severity Fig. 15(a)–(d) shows the RMS current and RMS voltage levels
when the protection system at DC-link is off. Therefore, the at the VSI AC-side, and DC-link current and voltage levels
DC-link voltage system failed to maintain the voltage of 780 V respectively, when the short-circuit fault at DC-link occurs at
DC. Thus, a DC-link protection system is needed to handle the a simulation time of 1.5 s with protection and voltage control
fault at DC-link. In the next subsection, the short circuit fault at strategy. From Fig. 15, it can be seen that AC-side and DC-link
DC-link will be handled by the DC-link developed protection voltage is maintained, and at the same time level of current
strategy. Fig. 14(a)–(c) represents the VSI idref and id currents, DC-link and AC-side drops to zero due to the action of DC-link
VSI iqref and iq currents, and reactive and active power flow at protection action. When a DC-link fault occurs, the current
VSI during grid-connected microgrid operation when the fault passing through VSI is zero which shows the effectiveness of the
occurs at DC-link. It can be seen from Fig. 14, that after DC-link DC-link developed protection strategy. Fig. 16(a)–(c) represents
fault creation, idref, id, iqref, and iq current values are disturbed the VSI idref, and id currents, VSI iqref and iq currents, and
and the DC-link voltage level of 780 V DC is unable to maintain. reactive and active power flow at VSI during grid-connected

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 2714 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 60, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2024

before and after islanded mode. The DC-link fault occur at 1.5 s,
the current and the voltage level is shown in Fig. 17(c) and (d)
without DC-link protection action respectively. It can be seen
from Fig. 17(c) and (d) the current rises and voltage drop due
to the DC-link fault. Fig. 17(e) and (f) represents the DC-link
current and voltage levels during islanded mode when DC-link
short-circuit fault occurs at 1.5 s of simulation time with DC-link
protection and voltage control action. It can also be seen from
Fig. 17(e) and (f) that the DC-link developed protection strategy
successfully detects and isolates the fault by the action of the
circuit breaker at the DC-link. Similarly, if an AC-side fault
occurs during the islanded mode, then the protection system
at the AC-side should take action and the faulty area should
be isolated otherwise DC-link protection system operates by a
circuit breaker at DC-link action when a fault occurs at AC-side
near the VSI to protect it along with other components of the
microgrid.
From the discussed simulation results, it is concluded that
the DC-link developed protection and DC-link voltage control
Fig. 16. (a) id and idref inverter currents, (b) iq and iqref inverter currents, and strategy successfully controls the DC-link voltage during AC-
(c) inverter reactive, and active power level during grid-connected mode with side faults and protects the DC-link when faults take place at
DC-link fault and with DC-link voltage protection [1]. DC-link itself.

V. CONCLUSION
The proposed protection and voltage control strategy is pre-
sented to regulate the DC-link voltage and protect the DC-link
during AC and DC fault events which are implemented to test
on battery energy storage, solar PV based microgrid. The devel-
oped strategy is tested during both islanded and grid-connected
modes by creating faults both at DC-link and AC-side. Results
show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme by regulating
the DC-link voltage during AC side faults, and protecting the
DC-link when short-circuit fault occurs at DC-link during both
islanded and grid-connected modes. In future, this scheme can
be implemented on wind-turbine based energy system.

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