336 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO.
1, JANUARY 2017
An Adaptive Least-Error Squares Filter-Based
Phase-Locked Loop for Synchronization and
Signal Decomposition Purposes
Saeed Golestan, Senior Member, IEEE, Esmaeil Ebrahimzadeh, Student Member, IEEE,
Josep M. Guerrero, Fellow, IEEE, Juan C. Vasquez, Senior Member, IEEE,
and Frede Blaabjerg, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—Without any doubt, phase-locked loops (PLLs)
are the most popular and widely used technique for the
synchronization purposes in the power and energy areas.
They are also popular for the selective extraction of funda-
mental and harmonic/disturbance components of the grid
voltage and current. Like most of the control algorithms,
designing PLLs involves a tradeoff between the accuracy
and dynamic response, and improving this tradeoff is what
recent research efforts have focused on. These efforts are
often based on designing advanced filters and using them
as a preprocessing tool before the PLL input. A filtering
technique that has received a little attention for this pur-
pose is the least-error squares (LES)-based filter. In this
paper, an adaptive LES filter-based PLL, briefly called the
LES-PLL, for the synchronization and signal decomposi-
tion purposes is presented. The proposed LES filter can
be understood as an adaptive complex-coefficient filter be-
cause its implementation involves cross couplings between
orthogonal axes. The stability of designed LES-PLL is an-
alyzed by the derivation of its small-signal model. Some
control design guidelines are also presented. The effective-
ness of proposed PLL structure is finally evaluated using
experimental results.
Index Terms—Distributed generation, least-error squares
(LES), phase-locked loop (PLL), power quality conditioner,
signal decomposition, synchronization.
I. INTRODUCTION
N recent years, the increased penetration of renewable energy
I sources to the power grid and the proliferation of domestic
and industrial nonlinear loads have caused serious power quality
issues and, therefore, have made the synchronization task more
challenging than before. To deal with this problem, many ad-
vanced synchronization methods have been developed [1]–[7].
Focusing on three-phase systems, most of these techniques are
based on phase-locked loops (PLLs) [8]. The PLLs are also pop-
ular for the selective extraction of disturbance/harmonic com-
ponents of distorted power signals [9]–[17]. This task is of vital
importance in the control of distributed generation systems,
Manuscript received February 28, 2016; revised April 27, 2016 and
June 2, 2016; accepted June 10, 2016. Date of publication August 10,
2016; date of current version December 9, 2016.
The authors are with the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg
University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark (e-mail: sgd@et.aau.dk; ebb@
et.aau.dk; joz@et.aau.dk; juq@et.aau.dk; fbl@et.aau.dk).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIE.2016.2599499
0278-0046 © 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
FACTS devices, dynamic voltage resorters, active power filters,
and other power quality conditioners.
Most advanced PLL-based synchronization and signal de-
composition techniques are composed of a filtering strategy,
which is responsible for separating and extracting the funda-
mental and harmonic/disturbance components, and a conven-
tional synchronous reference frame PLL (SRF-PLL), which
is accountable for estimating the phase and frequency of the
fundamental-frequency positive-sequence (FFPS) component.
Indeed, the main difference between these advanced PLLs lies
in the filtering strategy they use for the signal decomposition be-
fore the SRF-PLL input. An overview of these advanced filters
is presented below.
Employing a parallel connection of multiple complex-
coefficient filters (CCFs) as the PLL preprocessing stage is
presented in [9]. These CCFs work in a collaborative way,
each of which is responsible for extracting a particular har-
monic/disturbance component. The key characteristic of the
CCFs is their asymmetrical frequency response around 0 Hz,
which enables them to make a distinction between the posi-
tive and negative sequence components of the same frequency
component.
Using two SRFs rotating at the same angular frequency but
with opposite directions and a cross-feedback network to ex-
tract and separate the FFPS component and the fundamental-
frequency negative-sequence (FFNS) component in the PLL in-
put is proposed in [10]. This structure is mathematically equiv-
alent to the decoupled double SRF technique proposed in [11].
The extension of this technique to take into account the harmonic
components is presented in [6] and [12].
Employing two second-order generalized integrator-based
quadrature signal generators and a positive-negative sequence
calculator (PNSC) for separating and detecting the FFPS and
FFNS components in the PLL input is suggested in [13]. The
PNSC in this technique works based on the instantaneous sym-
metrical components theory in the stationary (αβ) reference
frame. Extension of this technique to take into consideration
multiple harmonic/disturbance components is discussed in [14].
Using cascaded delayed signal cancellation operators in the
αβ-frame (briefly called, the αβCDSC operator) for the selec-
tive harmonic detection is suggested in [15]. The number of
αβCDSC operators depends on the number of harmonics that
needs to be detected. Each αβCDSC operator uses a separate
PLL for extracting the amplitude and phase of its corresponding
GOLESTAN et al.: AN ADAPTIVE LES FILTER-BASED PLL FOR SYNCHRONIZATION AND SIGNAL DECOMPOSITION PURPOSES 337

harmonic component. It is worth mentioning that a fast con- harmonic/disturbance component. For example, when the FFNS
vergence delayed signal cancellation operator for the detection component is intended, h is equal to −1.
and separation of the FFPS and FFNS components can be found By applying the Clarke’s transformation to (1), the αβ-axis
in [18]. voltage components can be obtained as
A recursive least squares-based signal decomposition tech-
nique can be found in [16]. This technique uses a variable v α , 1 (t) v α , h (t)
     
forgetting factor which enables it to achieve a fast dynamic vα (t) = V1 cos(θ1 ) + Vh cos(θh ) (2)
response and a high filtering capability. The recursive nature of
this technique and its variable forgetting factor, however, make vβ (t) = V1 sin(θ1 ) + Vh sin(θh ) . (3)
     
the stability analysis a bit difficult. Therefore, a special care in v β , 1 (t) v β , h (t)
designing control parameters has to be paid to ensure the PLL
stability under all circumstances. Delaying the αβ-axis voltages (2) and (3) with a time delay τ
A filtering technique that its joint operation with PLLs has gives
received a little attention is the nonrecursive least-error squares
(LES)-based filter. To the best of authors’ knowledge, the only vα (t − τ ) = V1 cos(θ1 − ωg τ ) + Vh cos(θh − hωg τ )
important work in this area is that proposed by Chen et al. [17]. = cos(ωg τ )vα , 1 (t) + sin(ωg τ )vβ , 1 (t)
This work suffers from two main shortcomings as follows. First,
the nonrecursive LES filter (hereafter, briefly called the LES fil- + cos(hωg τ )vα , h (t) + sin(hωg τ )vβ , h (t) (4)
ter) in [17] is implemented as a real-coefficient filter in the vβ (t − τ ) = V1 sin(θ1 − ωg τ ) + Vh sin(θh − hωg τ )
natural (abc) reference frame that demands a higher computa-
tional effort compared to the αβ-frame implementation, which = − sin(ωg τ )vα , 1 (t) + cos(ωg τ )vβ , 1 (t)
is suggested here. Second, the LES filter in [17] is nonadaptive − sin(hωg τ )vα , h (t) + cos(hωg τ )vβ , h (t). (5)
because a very limited range of variations for the grid frequency
(±0.2 Hz) is considered. While in particular applications this In the matrix form, (2)–(5) can be rewritten as (6). Multiplying
assumption may be valid, it may not be true under weak grid both sides of (6) by the inverse of H gives (7), shown at the
conditions, microgrids, etc. bottom of the next page. The matrix equation (7) describes the
To deal with the aforementioned shortcomings, a frequency- proposed LES filter for a simple case, i.e., when there is only one
adaptive complex-coefficient LES filter in the stationary (αβ) dominant disturbance/harmonic component in the grid voltage.
reference frame is presented. Adapting the LES filter to the The extension of the suggested filter for a multidisturbance case
grid frequency variations is carried out by feeding back the will be discussed later.
frequency estimated by the SRF-PLL. To ensure the stability of
⎡ ⎤
joint operation of the adaptive LES filter and the SRF-PLL, a vα (t)
stability analysis based on their small-signal model is carried ⎢ v (t) ⎥
⎢ β ⎥
out. Using the same small-signal model, some control design ⎢ ⎥
⎣ vα (t − τ ) ⎦
guidelines are then provided. Finally, experimental results are
presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed LES filter- vβ (t − τ )
based PLL. ⎡ ⎤
1 0 1 0
⎢ ⎥
⎢ 0 1 0 1 ⎥
II. PROPOSED LES FILTER-BASED PLL: =⎢ ⎥
SINGLE-DISTURBANCE CASE ⎣ cos(ωg τ ) sin(ωg τ ) cos(hωg τ ) sin(hωg τ ) ⎦
−sin(ωg τ ) cos(ωg τ ) −sin(hωg τ ) cos(hωg τ )
Let the three-phase grid voltage signals be as   
H
θ1 θh
      ⎡ ⎤
va (t) = V1 cos (ωg t + ϕ1 ) + Vh cos (hωg t + ϕh ) vα , 1 (t)
    ⎢ v (t) ⎥
⎢ β, 1 ⎥
vb (t) = V1 cos ωg t + ϕ1 −
2π
+ Vh cos hωg t + ϕh −
2π ×⎢ ⎥ (6)
3 3 ⎣ vα , h (t) ⎦
    vβ , h (t)
2π 2π
vc (t) = V1 cos ωg t + ϕ1 + + Vh cos hωg t + ϕh +
3 3
(1) Fig. 1 shows the joint operation of the proposed LES fil-
ter and the conventional SRF-PLL. Hereafter, this structure is
where V1 , θ1 , and ϕ1 (Vh , θh , and ϕh ) are the amplitude, briefly referred to as the LES-PLL. Notice that the frequency
phase angle, and initial phase angle of the FFPS component (the estimated by the SRF-PLL is fed back to the LES filter to make
harmonic/disturbance component) of the grid voltage, respec- it frequency adaptive. Also, notice that the length of delays in
tively, and ωg is the grid angular frequency. Notice that h de- the proposed LES filter remains fixed. This feature makes the
notes the order of harmonic/disturbance component, which can small-signal modeling and, therefore, the stability analysis and
be a positive or a negative value depending on the sequence of tuning procedure of the proposed LES-PLL straightforward.
338 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO. 1, JANUARY 2017

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the proposed LES-PLL for a single-disturbance case.

voltage amplitude variations. To solve this problem, the ampli-

tude normalization inside the PLL control loop using an arctan-
gent function is recommended here.

III. PROPOSED LES-PLL: MULTIDISTURBANCE CASE

Fig. 2. Small-signal model of the LES-PLL for a single-disturbance In the previous section, the LES-PLL for a single-disturbance
case.
case was designed. Here, the idea is extended to a multidistur-
bance case.
A. Stability Analysis Let the grid voltage in the αβ reference frame be as
Fig. 2 shows the small-signal model of the proposed LES-
v α , 1 (t) v α , h k (t)
PLL. The procedure of the derivation of this model can be     m   
found in the Appendix. vα (t) = V1 cos(θ1 ) + Vh k cos(θh k ) (9)
Using Fig. 2, the closed-loop transfer function of the LES- k =1
PLL can be obtained as 
m

Δθ̂1 (s) vβ (t) = V1 sin(θ1 ) + Vh k sin(θh k ) (10)

GSD      
cl (s) = k =1
Δθ1 (s) v β , 1 (t) v β , h k (t)
−τ s
1+e V1 kp s + V1 ki where m is the number of harmonics/disturbances in the grid
= (8)
2 s2 + V1 (kp − τ ki /2)s + V1 ki voltage.
where the superscript SD denotes this transfer function is for a Delaying the αβ-axis voltages (9) and (10) with a time delay
single-disturbance case. Applying the Routh–Hurwitz stability nτ gives
test to the characteristic polynomial of (8), i.e., s2 + V1 (kp −
τ ki /2)s + V1 ki = 0, indicates that the LES-PLL is stable if vα (t − nτ ) = cos(nωg τ )vα , 1 (t) + sin(nωg τ )vβ , 1 (t)
2k
0 < ki < τ p . 
m

From the closed-loop transfer function (8), it is noticeable + [cos(nhk ωg τ )vα , h k (t) + sin(nhk ωg τ )vβ , h k (t)]
that the location of closed-loop poles and, therefore, the PLL k =1

stability margin and dynamic behavior, is affected by the grid (11)

⎡ ⎤
vα , 1 (t)
⎢ v (t) ⎥ 1
⎢ β, 1 ⎥ 1
⎢ ⎥=
⎣ vα , h (t) ⎦ 2 cos([h − 1]ωg τ ) − 1
vβ , h (t)
⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
cos([h − 1]ωg τ ) − 1 sin([h − 1]ωg τ ) cos(hωg τ ) − cos(ωg τ ) sin(ωg τ ) − sin(hωg τ ) vα (t)
⎢ − sin([h − 1]ω τ ) cos([h − 1]ωg τ ) − 1 sin(hωg τ ) − sin(ωg τ ) cos(hωg τ ) − cos(ωg τ ) ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢ g ⎥ ⎢ vβ (t) ⎥
×⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥ (7)
⎣ cos([h − 1]ωg τ ) − 1 − sin([h − 1]ωg τ ) cos(ωg τ ) − cos(hωg τ ) sin(hωg τ ) − sin(ωg τ ) ⎦ ⎣ vα (t − τ ) ⎦
sin([h − 1]ωg τ ) cos([h − 1]ωg τ ) − 1 sin(ωg τ ) − sin(hωg τ ) cos(ωg τ ) − cos(hωg τ ) vβ (t − τ )
GOLESTAN et al.: AN ADAPTIVE LES FILTER-BASED PLL FOR SYNCHRONIZATION AND SIGNAL DECOMPOSITION PURPOSES 339

⎡ ⎤
vβ (t − nτ ) = −sin(nωg τ )vα , 1 (t) + cos(nωg τ )vβ , 1 (t) vα , 1 (t) + jv β , 1 (t)
⎢ ⎥

m ⎢ vα , h 1 (t) + jv β , h 1 (t) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
+ [−sin(nhk ωg τ )vα , h k (t) + cos(nhk ωg τ )vβ , h k (t)]. ⎢ vα , h 2 (t) + jv β , h (t) ⎥
⎢ 2 ⎥ (14)
k =1 ⎢ ⎥
⎢ .. ⎥
(12) ⎣ . ⎦
For n = 0, 1, 2, . . . , m, (11) and (12) can be rewritten in the vα , h m (t) + jv β , h m (t)
matrix form as (13), shown at the bottom of the page. Equation ⎡ ⎤
vα , 1 (t) + jv β , 1 (t)
(13) in the space-vector notation corresponds to (14), which is ⎢ ⎥
⎢ vα , h 1 (t) + jv β , h 1 (t) ⎥
a Vandermonde matrix equation [19]. Multiplying both sides ⎢ ⎥
⎢ vα , h 2 (t) + jv β , h (t) ⎥
of (14) by the inverse of the matrix VM yields (15), which ⎢ 2 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
describes the proposed LES filter for the detection and separa- ⎢ .. ⎥
tion of the FFPS component and multiple disturbance/harmonic ⎣ . ⎦
components. The joint operation of this filter and the SRF-PLL, vα , h m (t) + jv β , h m (t)
which results in the proposed LES-PLL for a multidisturbance ⎡ ⎤
vα (t) + jv β (t)
case, can be observed in Fig. 3. ⎢ ⎥
⎡ ⎤ ⎢ vα (t − τ ) + jv β (t − τ ) ⎥
⎢ ⎥
vα (t) + jv β (t) ⎢ ⎥
⎢ vα (t − τ ) + jv (t − τ ) ⎥ = (VM)−1 ⎢ vα (t − 2τ ) + jv β (t − 2τ ) ⎥. (15)
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎢
β
⎥ ⎢ .. ⎥
⎢ vα (t − 2τ ) + jv β (t − 2τ ) ⎥ ⎣ . ⎦
⎢ ⎥ vα (t − mτ ) + jv β (t − mτ )
⎢ .. ⎥
⎣ . ⎦
vα (t − mτ ) + jv β (t − mτ ) An important issue that should be discussed here is the con-
⎡ ⎤ dition of invertibility of the Vandermonde matrix. According to
1 1 1 ··· 1 the proof presented in [19] and [20], the Vandermonde matrix
⎢ e−j ω g τ e−j h 1 ω g τ e−j h 2 ω g τ ··· e −j h m ω g τ ⎥ VM in (14) is invertible if
⎢ ⎥
⎢ −j 2ω g τ ⎥
=⎢ e e−j 2h 1 ω g τ e−j 2h 2 ω g τ · · · e−j 2h m ω g τ ⎥ e−j ω g τ = e−j h 1 ω g τ = e−j h 2 ω g τ = · · · = e−j h m ω g τ .
⎢ ⎥ (16)
⎢ .. .. .. .. .. ⎥
⎣ . . . . . ⎦
e−j m ω g τ
e−j m h 1 ω g τ
e−j m h 2 ω g τ
· · · e−j m h m ω g τ A. Stability Analysis
  
VM
Following the same procedure described in the Appendix,
the small-signal model of the proposed LES-PLL for a

⎡ ⎤ ⎡
vα (t) 1 0 1 0
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ vβ (t) ⎥ ⎢ 0 1 0 1
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ vα (t − τ ) ⎥ ⎢ cos(ωg τ ) sin(ωg τ ) cos(h1 ωg τ ) sin(h1 ωg τ )
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ v (t − τ ) ⎥ ⎢ − sin(ωg τ ) cos(ωg τ ) − sin(h1 ωg τ ) cos(h1 ωg τ )
⎢ β ⎥ ⎢
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ vα (t − 2τ ) ⎥ = ⎢ cos(2ωg τ ) sin(2ωg τ ) cos(2h1 ωg τ ) sin(2h1 ωg τ )
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ vβ (t − 2τ ) ⎥ ⎢ − sin(2ωg τ ) cos(2ωg τ ) − sin(2h1 ωg τ ) cos(2h1 ωg τ )
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ .. ⎥ ⎢ .. .. .. ..
⎢ ⎥ ⎢
⎢ . ⎥ ⎢
. . . .
⎢ ⎥ ⎣
⎣ vα (t − mτ ) ⎦ cos(mωg τ ) sin(mωg τ ) cos(mh1 ωg τ ) sin(mh1 ωg τ )
vβ (t − mτ ) − sin(mωg τ ) cos(mωg τ ) − sin(mh1 ωg τ ) cos(mh1 ωg τ )
⎤⎡ ⎤
1 0 ··· 1 0 vα ,1 (t)
0 1 ··· 0 1 ⎥ ⎢ vβ , 1 (t) ⎥
⎥⎢ ⎥
cos(h2 ωg τ ) sin(h2 ωg τ ) ··· cos(hm ωg τ ) sin(hm ωg τ ) ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎥ ⎢ vα , h 1 (t) ⎥
⎥⎢ ⎥
− sin(h2 ωg τ ) cos(h2 ωg τ ) ··· − sin(hm ωg τ ) cos(hm ωg τ ) ⎥ ⎢ vβ , h 1 (t) ⎥
⎥⎢ ⎥
cos(2h2 ωg τ ) sin(2h2 ωg τ ) ··· cos(2hm ωg τ ) sin(2hm ωg τ ) ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎥ ⎢ vα , h 2 (t) ⎥ (13)
− sin(2h2 ωg τ ) cos(2h2 ωg τ ) ··· − sin(2hm ωg τ ) cos(2hm ωg τ ) ⎥ ⎢ vβ , h 2 (t) ⎥
⎥ ⎢
⎥
⎥⎢ ⎥
.. .. .. .. .. ⎥⎢ .. ⎥
. . . . . ⎥⎢ . ⎥
⎥⎢ ⎥
cos(mh2 ωg τ ) sin(mh2 ωg τ ) ··· cos(mhm ωg τ ) sin(mhm ωg τ ) ⎦ ⎣ vα , h m (t) ⎦
− sin(mh2 ωg τ ) cos(mh2 ωg τ ) ··· − sin(mhm ωg τ ) cos(mhm ωg τ ) vβ , h m (t)
340 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO. 1, JANUARY 2017

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the proposed LES-PLL for a multidisturbance case.

TABLE I
CONTROL PARAMETERS

Parameter Value

Proportional gain, k p 597

Integral gain, k i 63 165
Delay length, τ 1 ms
Fig. 4. Small-signal model of the LES-PLL for a multidisturbance case. Sampling frequency, f s 10 kHz
Grid nominal frequency, w n 2π 50 rad/s
Amplitude of the FFPS component, V 1 1 p.u.
multidisturbance case can be derived as shown in Fig. 4. Notice
that, for m = 1, this model is the same as that derived for a
single-disturbance case (see Fig. 2).
Using Fig. 4, the closed-loop transfer function can be
obtained as
 m
MD 1 + e−τ s V1 kp s + V1 ki
Gcl (s) =
2 s2 + V1 (kp − mτ ki /2)s + V1 ki
(17)
where the superscript MD means this transfer function is for
a multidisturbance case. Applying the Routh–Hurwitz stabil-
ity test to (17) determines the stability range of parameters
2k
as 0 < ki < m τp .

IV. MODEL ACCURACY ASSESSMENT

The stability analysis performed before and the control de-
sign guidelines that will be presented later are based on the
derived small-signal model. Therefore, the accuracy of this
model needs to be verified. To this end, a three-disturbance case
(m = 3) of the proposed LES-PLL for detecting and separating
the FFPS component, FFNS component, the fifth harmonic of
the negative sequence, and the seventh harmonic of the posi- Fig. 5. Accuracy assessment of the small-signal model of the LES-PLL
tive sequence is considered. The dynamic performance of this under (a) +10 Hz frequency step change and (b) +10 Hz/s frequency
LES-PLL is then compared with that predicted by its small- ramping change.
signal model. Table I summarizes the control parameters of the
LES-PLL and its small-signal model. Selecting these param-
eters are based on the control design guidelines that will be
presented in Section V. Two test cases for the model accuracy V. DESIGN GUIDELINES
assessment is considered: 1) an exaggeratedly large frequency
step change of +10 Hz, and 2) a frequency ramping change A. LES Filter
of +10 Hz/s for 0.4 s. Fig. 5 shows the obtained results. As Designing the proposed LES filter involves two important
can be seen, the model perfectly predicts the LES-PLL dynamic decisions: 1) the number of harmonics/disturbances that the
response. LES filter should detect, and 2) the length of its delays.
GOLESTAN et al.: AN ADAPTIVE LES FILTER-BASED PLL FOR SYNCHRONIZATION AND SIGNAL DECOMPOSITION PURPOSES
Fig. 6. Effect of delay length on the magnitude-frequency response
of the proposed LES filter in the detection of the FFPS component.
A three-disturbance case (h 1 = −1, h 2 = −5, h 3 = +7) is considered.
The sampling frequency and nominal frequency are considered to be
10 kHz and 50 Hz, respectively.
For sure, considering more harmonic/disturbance components
in the LES filter results in a higher filtering capability and,
therefore, a better detection accuracy. However, it increases the
required computational effort. Therefore, this decision involves
a tradeoff between the filtering capability and the computational
burden.
The response time of the LES filter, on the other hand,
is mainly affected by the delay length τ . Indeed, from the
transient response point of view, a short delay (the small-
est possible value for this delay is one sampling period) is
favorable. Using a very short delay, however, degrades the
noise immunity of the LES filter. To better visualize this fact,
Fig. 6 shows the magnitude-frequency response of the pro-
posed LES filter (the three-disturbance case) in detecting the
FFPS component for different values of the delay length τ .
Similar Bode plots can be obtained for the proposed LES
filter in extracting the targeted harmonic/disturbance compo-
nents. It is clear from Fig. 6 that the smaller the value of
τ , the lower the noise immunity of the LES filter is. There-
fore, the delay length τ should be selected so that a compro-
mise between the noise immunity and speed of response is
achieved.
It is worth mentioning that the condition of the invertibility
of the Vandermonde matrix should also be taken into account in
selecting the delay length τ . It should also be noted that large
values of τ , in addition to improving the noise immunity of the
LES filter, result in rejecting some extra harmonics/disturbances
in detecting a targeted component.
B. Synchronous Reference Frame Phase-Locked Loop
For the sake of convenience, the closed-loop transfer function
(17) is repeated with some extra information as
 m
MD 1 + e−τ s V1 kp s + V1 ki
Gcl (s) =
2 s2 + V1 (kp − mτ ki /2) s + V1 ki
   
2ζ ω n (ω n ) 2
(18)
in which ζ is the damping factor and ωn is the natural fre-
quency. Therefore, the control parameters of the SRF-PLL, kp
341
and ki , may be determined by selecting appropriate values for ζ
and ωn .
Regarding the damping factor ζ, the selection is rather
easy because √there are only two recommended options: ζ = 1
and ζ = 1/ 2. Considering ζ = 1 makes the PLL dynamic
behavior more damped and, therefore, results in a higher √
stability margin. On the other hand, choosing ζ = 1/ 2
provides a faster dynamic response for the PLL. Obviously,
each option has its own advantages and disadvantages and,
therefore, one has to make a selection based on their design
priorities.
About the natural frequency ωn , the decision process is a
bit more complicated as there are many factors that should
be taken into account. These factors include the speed of
response, noise immunity, stability margin, level of coupling
between phase and frequency variables, phase error during
a frequency ramping change, and filtering of high-frequency
harmonics/disturbances that exist in the grid voltage but has
not been considered in designing the LES filter to reduce the
computational effort. It is worth mentioning that considering a
large value for the natural frequency ωn corresponds to a wide
bandwidth for the PLL that makes its dynamic response fast
and reduces its phase error under a frequency ramping change.
It, however, degrades the PLL noise immunity, stability margin
and high-frequency harmonics/disturbances filtering capability,
and increases the coupling between phase and frequency vari-
ables, which causes large transients in the estimated frequency
when a phase-angle jump happens [21]. Therefore, selecting
the natural frequency ωn involves a tradeoff decision between
aforementioned factors.
Once ζ and ωn are selected, ki and kp can be calculated using
ki = (ωn )2 /V1
 
mτ (ωn )2
kp = 2ζωn + /V1 . (19)
2
VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed synchro-
nization and signal decomposition technique, some experimen-
tal results are presented in this section. These experimental
results are obtained by using a real-time hardware platform
(dSpace ds1006). Here, like the case described in Section IV,
separating and detecting the FFPS component, FFNS compo-
nent, 5− harmonic component, and 7+ harmonic component
is considered. This case, as mentioned earlier, is correspond-
ing to a three-disturbance case, m = 3. The same control pa-
rameters summarized in Table I, which are corresponding to
ζ = 1 and ωn = 2π40 rad/s, are used for obtaining experimental
results.
To highlight the effectiveness of the proposed LES-PLL, the
multiple CCF-based PLL (MCCF-PLL) [9] is also implemented
and its results are compared with those of the LES-PLL. The
control parameters of the MCCF-PLL are tuned using the sym-
metrical optimum method as recommended in [22]. The selected
342 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO. 1, JANUARY 2017
Fig. 7. Experimental results for the test case 1.
values are: kp = 138, ki = 7961, and ωp = 2π52 rad/s (ωp is
the cutoff frequency of CCFs).
Four test cases are designed.
1) Test case 1: The grid voltage is balanced and without
harmonic distortion. Suddenly, an asymmetrical voltage
sag with a phase-angle jump of +40◦ happens. Before
the voltage sag, the amplitude of all phases is 1 p.u., and
after voltage sag the amplitude of phases A and B drops
to 0.25 p.u.
2) Test case 2: The grid voltage is first balanced and without
the harmonic distortion. Suddenly, 0.4 p.u. FFNS com-
ponent, 0.3 p.u. 5− harmonic component, and 0.2 p.u.
7+ harmonic component are superimposed on the grid
voltage. During this test, the grid frequency is fixed at
+47 Hz.
3) Test case 3: The grid frequency undergoes a ramping
change of +10 Hz/s.
4) Test case 4: The grid frequency is at its nominal value. A
frequency step change of +2 Hz suddenly occurs.
Fig. 7 shows the obtained results for the test case 1. The
phase error signal (which is the difference between the real and
estimated phase angles) in the LES-PLL converges to zero in
about one cycle of the fundamental frequency. For the MCCF-
PLL, however, this time is about two cycles. The faster detection
of the FFPS and FFNS components by the LES-PLL can also
be clearly observed in Fig. 7.
The experimental results for the test case 2 are depicted in
Fig. 8. These results, again, confirm the faster dynamic per-
formance of the LES-PLL in the detection of fundamental and
harmonic components.
GOLESTAN et al.: AN ADAPTIVE LES FILTER-BASED PLL FOR SYNCHRONIZATION AND SIGNAL DECOMPOSITION PURPOSES 343

Fig. 8. Experimental results for the test case 2.

Fig. 9 illustrates the results of test case 3. As shown, shows the obtained results for the test case 4, is another
the LES-PLL benefits from a much lower phase error proof to verify the effectiveness of the proposed LES-
during the frequency ramping interval. Fig. 10, which PLL.
344 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO. 1, JANUARY 2017

stability test to its characteristic polynomial. To facilitate tuning

the control parameters, some control design guidelines were also
presented. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed LES-PLL
was analyzed through extensive experimental results and was
highlighted through a comparison with a state-of-the-art PLL,
i.e., the MCCF-PLL. It was shown that the proposed LES-PLL
offers a fast dynamic response and a high detection accuracy
and, therefore, it can be a good candidate for the synchroniza-
tion and signal decomposition purposes.

APPENDIX
SMALL-SIGNAL MODELING
According to Fig. 1, the FFPS component extracted by
the proposed LES filter for a single-disturbance case can be
described as

1 
v̂α , 1 (t) = k1 vα (t) + k2 vα (t − τ ) + k3 vβ (t)
2k1

−k4 vβ (t − τ ) (A-1)
1 
Fig. 9. Experimental results for the test case 3. v̂β , 1 (t) = k1 vβ (t) + k2 vβ (t − τ ) − k3 vα (t)
2k1

+ k4 vα (t − τ ) . (A-2)

Substituting (2) and (3) into (A-1) and (A-2) and applying some
simple mathematical manipulations gives

1
v̂α ,1 (t) =
2{cos([h − 1]ω̂g τ ) − 1}
⎧
⎨
V1 cos(θ1 − [h − 1]ω̂g τ ) − V1 cos(θ1 )
⎩

+ V1 cos(θ1 − ωg τ + hω̂g τ ) − V1 cos(θ1 − ωg τ + ω̂g τ )

≈0
  
+ Vh cos(θh − [h − 1]ω̂g τ ) − Vh cos(θh − hωg τ + ω̂g τ )
⎫
⎬
+ Vh cos(θh − hωg τ + hω̂g τ ) − Vh cos(θh ) (A-3)
  ⎭
≈0

1
v̂β , 1 (t) =
2{cos([h − 1]ω̂g τ ) − 1}
⎧
Fig. 10. Experimental results for the test case 4. ⎨
V1 sin(θ1 − [h − 1]ω̂g τ ) − V1 sin(θ1 )
⎩
VII. CONCLUSION
+ V1 sin(θ1 − ωg τ + hω̂g τ ) − V1 sin(θ1 − ωg τ + ω̂g τ )
The aim of this paper was developing an LES filter-based
≈0
PLL for the synchronization and signal decomposition purposes   
in power and energy applications. To facilitate its understand- + Vh sin(θh − [h − 1]ω̂g τ ) − Vh sin(θh − hωg τ + ω̂g τ )
ing, the proposed LES-PLL was first designed for a single- ⎫
disturbance case, and it was then extended to a multidisturbance ⎬
+ Vh sin(θh − hωg τ + hω̂g τ ) − Vh sin(θh ) . (A-4)
case. The stability of the suggested LES-PLL was analyzed by   ⎭
deriving its small-signal model and applying the Routh–Hurwitz ≈0
GOLESTAN et al.: AN ADAPTIVE LES FILTER-BASED PLL FOR SYNCHRONIZATION AND SIGNAL DECOMPOSITION PURPOSES
Using these equations, the input signal of the proportional-
integral controller, vq , can be obtained as
vq (t) = −sin(θ̂1 )v̂α , 1 (t) + cos(θ̂1 )v̂β , 1 (t)
V1  F. Blaabjerg, “New positive-sequence voltage detector for grid synchro-
= sin(θ1 −[h−1]ω̂g τ − θ̂1 )
2{cos([h−1]ω̂g τ )−1}
+ sin(θ1 − ωg τ + hω̂g τ − θ̂1 )
 power converters under distorted grid conditions,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Elec-
− sin(θ1 − ωg τ + ω̂g τ − θ̂1 ) − sin(θ1 − θ̂1 ) .
(A-5)
By assuming a quasi-locked state, i.e., θ̂1 ≈ θ1 and ω̂g ≈ ωg ,
and by defining θ1 = θn + Δθ1 , θ̂1 = θn + Δθ̂1 , ωg = ωn +
Δωg , and ω̂g = ωn + Δω̂g , where ωn is the nominal value of
the grid frequency and θn = ωn dt, (A-5) can be approximated
by
 
Δθ1 + Δθ1 − τ Δωg τ Δω̂g
vq (t) ≈ V1 − Δθ̂1 + (A-6)
2 2
which corresponds in the Laplace domain to
1 + e−τ s τ Δω̂g (s)
vq (s) ≈ V1 Δθ1 (s) − Δθ̂1 (s) + . no. 10, pp. 921–924, 1989.
2 2
(A-7)
Based on (A-7) and the LES-PLL structure (see Fig. 1), it is easy
to derive the small-signal model of the LES-PLL as depicted
in Fig. 2.
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Saeed Golestan (M’11–SM’15) received the
B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from
Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz,
Iran, in 2006, and the M.Sc. degree in elec-
trical engineering from Amirkabir University of
Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2009. He is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree in the Depart-
ment of Energy Technology, Aalborg University,
Aalborg, Denmark.
His research interests include phase-locked
loop and nonlinear filtering techniques for power
engineering applications, power quality measurement and improvement,
estimation of power system parameters, and microgrid.
Esmaeil Ebrahimzadeh (S’16) was born in
Isfahan, Iran, in 1988. He received the B.Sc. de-
gree in electrical engineering from Malek-Ashtar
University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, in 2010,
and the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, in
2013. He is currently working toward the Ph.D.
degree in the Department of Energy Technology,
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
His research interests include power-
electronic converters, power quality, renewable
energy systems, and power system protection.
346 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 64, NO. 1, JANUARY 2017

Josep M. Guerrero (S’01–M’04–SM’08–FM’15)
received the B.Sc. degree in telecommunica-
tions engineering, the M.Sc. degree in electron-
ics engineering, and the Ph.D. degree in power
electronics from the Technical University of Cat-
alonia, Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and 2003, re-
spectively.
Since 2011, he has been a Full Professor with
the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg
University, Aalborg, Denmark, where he is re-
sponsible for the Microgrid Research Program.
Since 2012, he has been a Guest Professor with the Chinese Academy of
Science, Beijing, China, and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astro-
nautics, Nanjing, China, and since 2014, he has been a Chair Professor
with Shandong University. His research interests include different mi-
crogrid aspects, including power electronics, distributed energy-storage
systems, hierarchical and cooperative control, energy management sys-
tems, and optimization of microgrids and islanded minigrids.
Dr. Guerrero was awarded by Thomson Reuters as an ISI Highly Cited
Researcher in 2014.
Frede Blaabjerg (F’03) received the Ph.D. de-
gree from Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark,
in 1992.
From 1987 to 1988, he was with ABB Scan-
dia, Randers, Denmark. In 1992, he became an
Assistant Professor at Aalborg University, where
he became an Associate Professor in 1996 and
a Full Professor of power electronics and drives
in 1998. He is currently with the Department
of Energy Technology, Faculties of Engineer-
ing and Science, Aalborg University. His cur-
rent research interests include power electronics and applications, such
as in wind turbines, photovoltaic systems, reliability, harmonics, and
adjustable-speed drives.
Prof. Blaabjerg was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
POWER ELECTRONICS from 2006 to 2012. He was a Distinguished Lec-
turer of the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) from 2005 to 2007
and of the IEEE Industry Applications Society from 2010 to 2011. He
was nominated by Thomson Reuters as one of the 250 most cited re-
searchers in engineering in the world in 2014. He received 15 IEEE Prize
Paper Awards, the IEEE PELS Distinguished Service Award in 2009, the
European Power and Drives Association Power Electronics and Motion
Control Council Award in 2010, the IEEE William E. Newell Power Elec-
tronics Award in 2014, and the Villum Kann Rasmussen Research Award
in 2014.

Juan C. Vasquez (M’12–SM’14) received the

B.S. degree in electronics engineering from the
Autonomous University of Manizales, Maniza-
les, Colombia, and the Ph.D. degree in auto-
matic control, robotics, and computer vision from
the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona,
Spain, in 2004 and 2009, respectively.
He was with the Autonomous University of
Manizales as a Teaching Assistant and the Tech-
nical University of Catalonia as a Postdoctoral
Assistant in 2005 and 2008, respectively. In
2011, he was an Assistant Professor and since 2014, he has been an
Associate Professor in the Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg
University, Aalborg, Denmark, where he is the Vice Program Leader of
the Microgrids Research Program. From February 2015 to April 2015,
he was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Power Electronics Systems,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute ans State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
His current research interests include operation, advanced hierarchical
and cooperative control, optimization, and energy management applied
to distributed generation in ac and dc microgrids. He has authored or
coauthored more than 100 technical papers on microgrids, 60 of them
published in IEEE journals.
Dr. Vasquez is a Member of the IEC System Evaluation Group SEG4
on LVDC Distribution and Safety for use in Developed and Developing
Economies, the Renewable Energy Systems Technical Committee (TC-
RES) of the IEEE Industrial Electronics, IEEE Power Electronics, IEEE
Industry Applications, and IEEE Power and Energy Societies.