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arXiv · 2609.21913

Improved Droop Control in DC Microgrids via Voltage-Locked Loop Synchronization

Ognjen Stanojev·Jovan Krajacic·Enea Bianda·Orcun Karaca·Mario Schweizer
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Abstract

DC microgrids are low- or medium-voltage networks designed to connect and manage DC-based sources and loads. A key challenge in operating DC microgrids is maintaining the DC voltage within certain predefined limits while ensuring its stability. Droop control, the most common method towards addressing this challenge, enables decentralized voltage control and power sharing, but suffers from poor transient performance, resulting in voltage dips and overshoots in applications with fast varying loads such as AI datacenters. This paper introduces an improved droop control method based on voltage-locked loop synchronization, which ensures DC voltage stabilization with significantly improved transient response and achieves the desired load sharing between the available source converters. The core design principle is reflected in the functional separation of the control scheme into a virtual DC machine (VDCM) that operates as a spinning wheel and a virtual current source connected in parallel. The transient response is provided by the VDCM to damp and stabilize DC bus voltage variations, while the slow droop response is provided by the virtual current source to ensure steady-state power balance. The performance of the proposed method is validated in an experimental microgrid setup.

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Ognjen Stanojev, Jovan Krajacic, Enea Bianda, Orcun Karaca, Mario Schweizer. 2026-09-18. Improved Droop Control in DC Microgrids via Voltage-Locked Loop Synchronization. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21913

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