A Robust Nonlinear Sliding Mode Controller for a Three-Phase Grid-Connected Inverter with an LCL Filter

In distributed power generation systems, grid-connected inverters are becoming an attractive means of delivering the energy generated from renewable sources into the grid. However, the performance of the current controller drastically decreases in the presence of model uncertainty, grid harmonics, filter parametric, and grid impedance variations, which can jeopardize the entire system’s stability. This paper presents a novel design of a super-twisting integral sliding mode control (ST-ISMC) strategy for the first time in the application of a three-phase voltage source grid-connected inverter. The designed controller has shown robustness and maintains a low total harmonic distortion (THD) in the presence of filter parameters drift, grid impedance variation, and grid harmonics distortion. The super-twisting action is added to remove the chattering problem associated with the conventional SMC strategy, and integral action is adopted to improve the grid’s current steady-state error. The modeling and simulation of a complete system are carried out using MATLAB/SIMULINK. Finally, a real-world hardware prototype system is fabricated to demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed controller.