Transient Stability Enhancement of Virtual Synchronous Generator Through Analogical Phase Portrait Analysis

Si Wu, Jun Wu, Hongyou Zhong and Yang Qi ()
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Si Wu: China LongYuan Power Group Cooperation Limited, Beijing 100034, China
Jun Wu: China LongYuan Power Group Cooperation Limited, Beijing 100034, China
Hongyou Zhong: School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, China
Yang Qi: School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: Virtual synchronous generator (VSG) control has been increasingly utilized for the grid integration of the voltage source inverter (VSI). Under large disturbances, such as voltage sags and grid faults, the VSG synchronization dynamic is highly nonlinear and cannot be evaluated by small-signal-based approaches. Conventionally, the equal area criterion (EAC) is utilized to analyze the transient stability of a synchronous machine or a VSG. However, it is found that the EAC is only valid under special scenarios when the damping effect is ignored. In this case, the EAC will provide conservative predictions and therefore put stringent requirements on the fault-clearing time. This paper reveals that the motion of a pendulum is essentially the same as the VSG swing equation. Due to this, the phase portrait approach, which was used to predict the pendulum motion, can be similarly applied for the VSG transient stability study. Based on the analogical phase portrait analysis, a damping coefficient tuning guideline is proposed, which always guarantees the synchronization stability as long as an equilibrium exists. The aforementioned theoretical findings are finally verified through a grid-connected VSG under the hardware-in-loop (HIL) environment.

Keywords: virtual synchronous generator (VSG); transient stability; equal area criterion (EAC); phase portrait (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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