Improved Active Frequency Drift Anti-islanding Detection Method for Grid Connected Photovoltaic Systems

As more distributed generators join the utility grid, the concern of possible undetected islanding operation increases. This concern is due to the safety hazards this phenomenon imposes on the personnel and equipment. Passive anti-islanding detection methods monitor grid parameters to detect islanding, whereas active methods inject a perturbation into the current waveform to drive these parameters out of limit when islanding occurs. The performance of active methods, such as conventional active frequency drift (AFD), is limited by the amount of total harmonic distortion (THD) they inject into the grid, which defines its nondetection zone. In this paper, an improved AFD anti-islanding method is presented based on a different current distortion injection waveform. The proposed method generates 30% less THD compared to classic AFD, resulting in faster island detection and improved nondetection zone. The performance of the proposed method is derived analytically, simulated using Matlab and verified experimentally using a prototype setup. A single-phase grid-tied photovoltaic distributed generation system is used for the simulation and experimental setup, and considered as potential application.