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IEEE ENERGY CONVERSION CONGRESS & EXPOSITION

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Raleigh, N NC C September 15-20, 2012 12 2

Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, N NC C 500 Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601 601 www.ecce2012.org org g

Tuesday, September 18, 3:30PM-5:00PM

21

Converters for Micro Grid Applications - II Tuesday, September 18, 3:30PM-5:00PM, Room: Exhibit Hall
3:30PM ZVS Range Extension of 10A 15kV SiC MOSFET Based 20kW Dual Active Half Bridge (DHB) DC-DC Converter Gangyao Wang, Chushan Li and Alex Huang, North Carolina State University, United States; Zhejiang University, China 3:55PM Hybrid Single-Phase Multilevel Inverters as Renewable Energy Interfaces with Near-Minimum THD Voltage Output Bill Diong, Leon Tolbert, Faete Filho and Bailu Xiao, Southern Polytechnic State University, United States; The University of Tennessee Knoxville, United States 4:20PM LCL Filter Design for Grid-connected Voltage-source Converters in High Power Systems Byung-Geuk Cho and Seung-Ki Sul, Seoul National University, Korea (South) 4:45PM Analysis and Control of Multi-Level Dual Active Bridge DC-DC Converter M. A. Moonem and Hariharan Krishnaswami, University of Texas at San Antonio, United States

Power System Compensators Tuesday, September 18, 3:30PM-5:00PM, Room: Exhibit Hall
3:30PM Fuzzy Control Strategy Applied to a Voltage Regulator (OLTC) Raul Carballo, Rodolfo Echavarria and Manuel Benjamin Ortiz-Moctezuma, Universidad Politecnica de Victoria, Mexico 3:55PM Control of Thyristor-Based Commutation Cells Stefan P. Engel and Rik W. De Doncker, PGS, E.ON Energy Research Center, RWTH Aachen, Germany 4:20PM Improving Power Flow in Transformers Using a BTB Converter to Balance Low Voltage Feeders Janeth Alcala and Victor Cardenas, Universidad de Colima, Mexico; Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Mexico 4:45PM Control and Design Principle of SVC-MERS a New Reactive Power Compensator with Line Frequency Switching and Small Capacitor Daisuke Shiojima, Miao-miao Cheng, Takanori Isobe and Ryuichi Shimada, Tokyo institute of technology, Japan 5:10PM New Synthetic Test Circuit for Testing Thyristor Valve in HVDC Converter Byung-Moon Han, Myongji University, Korea (South) 5:35PM A Comparison Of Tank Topologies For Resonant Front End Dc-Dc Boost Converter For PV Microinverter Shiladri Chakraborty, Indian Institute Of Technology,Kanpur, India

Plenary Poster Session: PWM Controllers Tuesday, September 18, 3:30PM-5:00PM, Room: Exhibit Hall
P4301 Using Gate Resistance to Control Phase Node Ringing of Synchronous Buck Converter Zhiyang Chen and Isauro Amaro, ON Semiconductor, United States P4302 Digital Constant On-time V2 Control for Low-ESR Capacitors with Capacitor Current Estimator Pei-Hsin Liu, Yingyi Yan, Paolo Mattavelli and Fred C. Lee, Virginia Tech, United States P4303 Enhancements of the Multiple Input Buck Converter used for Envelope Tracking Applications by Improved Output Filter Design and Multiphase Operation Pablo F. Miaja, Miguel Rodriguez, Alberto Rodriguez and Javier Sebastian, University of Oviedo, Spain; University of Colorado, United States P4304 A Monolithic CMOS Synchronous Buck Converter with a Precise and Low-cost Current Sensing Scheme Yu Du and Alex Huang, FREEDM Systems Center, North Carolina State Univ, United States

New Synthetic Test Circuit for Testing Thyristor Valve in HVDC Converter
Hyun-Jun Kim, Do-Hyun Kim, Byung-Moon Han
Depart. Of Electrical Engineering Myongji University Seoul, Korea erichan@mju.ac.kr

Jae-Hun Jung, Eui-Cheol Nho

Depart. Of Electrical Engineering Pukyung National University Busan, Korea nhoec@pknu.ac.kr

Abstract This paper proposes a new synthetic test circuit to confirm the switching behavior of thyristor valve in HVDC converter. The proposed circuit consists of a 2-phase chopper with IGBT switch and auxiliary circuit to supplies low-voltage high current to the test valve during on-state. The operation of proposed circuit was verified through theoretical approach and computer simulation. Based on computer simulation results, a hardware scaled model for the proposed circuit was built and tested to confirm the feasibility of implementing a real test facility. The proposed synthetic test circuit could be widely used to test the thyristor valve with synthetic manner. Index Terms Synthetic Test Circuit, Thyristor Valve, HVDC (High Voltage DC) Converter, 2-Phase Chopper, Auxiliary Circuit

I.

INTRODUCTION

The power converter in HVDC system is the most important element, which converts AC power to DC power or vice versa. The HVDC power converter can be classified into current source type and voltage source type, based on the type of switching valves. Thyristor-based current source converter, which was first installed in the beginning of 1980, is still continuously under construction all over the world [1]. Voltage source HVDC power converter was first commissioned in Gotland, Sweden in 1999. The number of installation is continuously increased because of many advantages over current source type HVDC converter. However, the power rating and operation voltage of voltage source HVDC power converter are still much lower than that of current source HVDC power converter. So, its application is focus on the grid connection of large off-shore wind farm [2]. The HVDC power converter operates in extremely highvoltage and high power condition. So, many units of thyristor are connected in series to comprise one valve in the power converter. The normal or abnormal operation of power converter should be tested before it is commissioned in the site. A huge test facility is required when the power converter

is tested under full power and voltage, which consumes a huge amount of power and expense. And safety is also a big issue due to extremely high testing voltage. In order to solve this problem an effective test scheme was derived, in which the turn-on and turn-off characteristic of thyristor valve is tested under operation current and voltage when the power converter operates under full voltage and current. The test circuit to implement this scheme is called the STC (Synthetic Test Circuit). [3,4,5] The STC consists of a low-voltage high-current source to provide the forward current during turn-on state, and a lowcurrent high-voltage source to provide the reverse voltage and forward voltage during turn-off state. The STC is a critical item for the manufacturer to build and install a current source converter in HVDC system. The world leading manufacturer in HVDC power converter such as ABB, Siemens, or Alstom has operated its own STC.[6,7,8] This paper proposes a new STC which provides turn-on current through a low-voltage large-current source composed of a 2-phase chopper with auxiliary circuit. The operation of proposed STC is analyzed using computer simulations. Based on the simulation results a hardware scaled model was built and tested to confirm the simulation results. II. OPERATION OF SYNTHETIC TEST CIRCUIT

Fig. 1 shows a general configuration of STC. It is composed of a low-voltage high-current source which provides a large current to the test valve VT during turn-on state, and a low-current high-voltage source with a resonant circuit which provides the reverse voltage and forward voltage to the test valve. The resonant circuit changes the polarity of voltage applied to the test valve by properly turning on or off the auxiliary valve.

This work was financially supported by the 2nd Brain Korea 21 Project of MEST and the advanced human resource development program of MKE through the Smart Grid Center in Myongji University (20114010203030).

2 reversed, and the auxiliary valve Va3 and the test valve VT turn off. If the auxiliary valve Va4 turns on, the reversed voltage of capacitor Cs is applied to the test valve VT as shown in Fig. 3d. If the auxiliary valve Va5 turns on, the current path CsVa5-L2 forms another resonant circuit as shown in Fig. 3e. After half period of resonance, the voltage polarity of capacitor Cs is reversed and the auxiliary valves Va5 and Va4 turn off as shown in Fig. 3f. If the auxiliary valve V a3 turns on, a forward voltage is applied to the test valve VT. The forward voltage is lower than the initial value due to the losses of components. In order to compensate this reduction, the auxiliary valve Va2 turns on and the voltage across capacitor Cs rises as shown in Fig. 3g. If the voltage across capacitor Cs is fully charged, the auxiliary valve Va2 turns off automatically as shown in Fig. 3h

Figure. 1. Configuration of Synthetic Test Circuit

The resonant circuit is comprised of three auxiliary thyristor valves Va3-Va5, a resonant capacitor Cs, and two reactors L1 and L2. The auxiliary thyristor Va1 applies turn-on current to the test valve, and the auxiliary valve Va2 provides high voltage to the resonant circuit. Several structures are available to configure the lowvoltage high-current source. ABB proposes a back-to-back converter with two six-pulse thyristor bridges, while Alstom proposes a thyristor converter with series-connected STATCOM (Static Synchronous Compensator). Siemens also proposes a similar current source with ABBs, in which the resonant circuit has a different structure. Whatever structure is selected, the STC should have a current source to provide enough turn-on current and maintain proper commutation overlap by setting the commutation inductance as small as possible. Also the STC can continuously provide the high voltage with reverse and forward polarity, and the voltage level can be properly adjusted during test. The required high voltage is normally obtained from the rectified voltage in distribution system. If the test voltage is over this level, a Cockcroft-Walton bridge is utilized to raise it up to the proper voltage level. The operational principle of STC can be explained with the voltage-current waveform of test valve in Fig. 2, the equivalent circuits for each mode in Fig. 3, and the operation sequence in table I.

(a) to-t1

(b) t1-t3

(c) t2-t3

(d) t3-t4

(e) t4-t5

(f) t5-t6

Figure. 2. Voltage-Current Waveform of Test Valve

(g) t7-t8

(h) at t9

Figure. 3. Equivalent Circuit for Each Operation Mode

At first it is assumed that the capacitor Cs is charged with the polarity shown in Fig. 3a. When the auxiliary valve V a1 and the test valve VT turn on, the current source provides the turn-on current. If the auxiliary valve Va3 turns on, the auxiliary valve Va1 turns off and the current path Cs-Va3-L1VT forms a resonant circuit. The polarity of capacitor Cs is

3
TABLE I. OPERATION SEQUENCE OF AUXILIARY VALVE

Time t0 ~ t1 t0 t1 t2 t3 t3 ~ t4 t4 ~ t6 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7 t8 t9

t1 ~ t3

Valve Va1 VT Va3 Va1 Va3 Va4 Va5 Va3 Va4 Va5 Va2 Va2 Va1 VT

Path ON ON ON OFF OFF OFF ON ON ON OFF OFF ON OFF ON ON Va1 - VT

Cs - Va3 - L1 - VT Cs - VT - L1 Va4 Cs - Va5 L2

Figure. 5. Valve Voltage and Test Valve Current

t7 ~ t8 t9

Va2 L2 - VT Va1 - VT

III.

NEW SYNTHETIC TEST CIRCUIT

A new STC was devised through detailed operation analyses of the existing circuits developed by ABB, Siemens, and Alstom. The newly proposed STC has a low-voltage high-current source which is comprised of 2-phase chopper and auxiliary switching circuit. The resonant circuit to supply the reverse and forward voltage in turn-off period has same structure as the circuit explained in the previous chapter. Fig. 4 shows a configuration of proposed STC, in which the current source is described in detail. In this figure the left side shows the current source for supplying turn-on current to the test valve, while the right side shows the resonant circuit and the high voltage source.

Figure. 4. Configuration of Proposed Synthetic Test Circuit

The current source to supply the turn-on current consists of a 6-pulse thyristor bridge, unidirectional 2-phase chopper, and an auxiliary valve turn-off circuit. The rising rate of test valve current is controlled by adjusting the output voltage of 6-pulse phase-controlled rectifier. The circuit to turn off the auxiliary valve Va1 consists of a 6-pulse diode rectifier, two IGBT switches, and capacitor C. The operational principle of new STC can be explained using the gate-pulse diagram shown in Fig. 5, the equivalent circuit for each mode in Fig. 6, and the operation sequence of each switching element in table 2.

Fig. 5 shows timing diagram of the gate pulses for each switching element, the test valve voltage, and the voltage across the auxiliary valve Va1. At t0 the test valve VT, auxiliary valve Va1, chopper switches IGBT1 and IGBT2, and the auxiliary switch IGBT3 turn on and the supplying current to the test valve starts to build up. This current stops rising at t1, after then keeps constant value until t2 by the PWM switch operation of 2-phase chopper. At t2 the chopper switches IGBT1 and IGBT2 turn off to decrease the test valve turn-on current. The rising or falling rate of valve turn-on current is determined by the chopper input voltage and the inductance of La and Lb. The falling current ends at t4 when the switch IGBT3 and the auxiliary valve Va1 turn off. At t3 a resonant current composed of the capacitor Cs and inductor L1 occurs, which ends at t5. When the switch IGBT4 turns on at t4, the voltage across the auxiliary valve Va1 has a negative value. Fig. 6 shows equivalent circuits classified according to according to the operation mode, in which the 6-pulse phasecontrolled rectifier and the 6-pulse diode rectifier is represented by equivalent voltage source Vin1 and Vin2. The commutation inductance determines the current increasing rate di/dt when IGBT1, IGBT2, IGBT3, Va1, and VT turn on. It is assumed that the capacitors Cs and C are initially charged with the polarity shown in Fig. 6a. When the turn-on current reaches the desired value, both switches IGBT1 and IGBT2 operate in PWM switching pattern to maintain the constant current. When the PWM switching is over, the magnetic energy stored in La and Lb produce free-wheeling current through the path composed of Diode1(Diode2)-La(Lb)IGBT3-Va1, and VT. The free-wheeling current keeps flowing until it decreases down to zero. Before it reaches zero, the auxiliary valve Va3 turns on to simulate the turn-off di/dt characteristic of VT by injecting the resonant current whose equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 5c. So, the current through VT has a shape of overlapping the supplying current and the resonant current. Even though the supplying current reaches zero, the auxiliary valve Va1 cannot be perfectly off. For confirming the perfect turn-off, reverse voltage is applied to the Va1 by turning on IGBT4. The reverse voltage of Vin2-Vin1 is applied through the path composed of C-IGBT4-La(Lb)-

4 IGBT1(IGBT2)-Vin1 as shown in Fig. 5d. When the resonant current reaches zero, the test valve VT and auxiliary valve Va3 turn off. And the voltage polarity across the capacitor C s is reversed through the path Cs-Va3-L1-VT as shown in Fig. 6e. When the auxiliary valve Va4 turns on, this reverse voltage is applied to the test valve VT as shown in Fig. 6f. Other operation modes for supplying the forward voltage across the test valve are same as the operation mode described in Chapter II.
t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 IGBT1 IGBT2 Va3 IGBT3 Va3 IGBT4 VT Va3 Va4 IGBT4 Va4 PWM OFF PWM OFF ON OFF OFF ON OFF OFF OFF OFF ON Diode1(Diode2) - La(Lb) -IGBT3-Va1 - VT Diode1(Diode2) - La(Lb)-IGBT3 -Va1 - VT & Cs - Va3 - L1 - VT Cs - Va3 - L1 - VT

IV.

SIMULATION ANALYSIS

(a)

(b)

(c)

Computer simulation with PSCAD/EMTDC software was carried out to verify the operation and performance of proposed STC. The proposed STC considered in simulation has a scale down rating with 30A forward current and 200V reverse voltage in order to compare the simulation results with the experimental results of scaled hardware model. The circuit parameters were properly determined in order to simulate the actual phenomena in the real-size STC. Table III shows circuit parameters which was used in the scaled hardware model. The current source, voltage source, IGBT switches, and thyristor switches were represented using the built-in model in PSCAD/EMTDC, while the gate pulse generator and switching control were represented by a separate user-defined model.

TABLE III.

CIRCUIT PARAMETER FOR SCALED MODEL OF STC

Component Vin1 Vin2 (d)

Value

Unit

Voltage Source La , Lb C L1 L2 Cs
(f)

25 50 200 0.5 1000 9 2 15

V V V mH uF mH mH uF

(e)

Figure. 6. Equivalent Circuit for Each Operation Mode

TABLE II.

OPERATION SEQUENCE OF EACH SWICHING ELEMENT

Time

t0

Component VT ON IGBT1 ON IGBT2 ON IGBT3 ON Va1 ON IGBT4 OFF IGBT1 IGBT2 PWM ON PWM ON

Path IGBT1(IGBT2) - La(Lb) -IGBT3Va1 - VT IGBT1(IGBT2) - La(Lb) -IGBT3-Va1 - VT

t1

Fig. 7 shows simulation results when the test valve turns on and off in the proposed STC. Fig. 8a shows the supplying current from the 2-phase chopper. Both IGBT currents have a ripple due to the chopper switching, in which the current ripple through IGBT1 has 180o phase shifted from that through IGBT2. It is clear that the phase interleave scheme works perfectly to reduce the current ripple. In Fig. 8b the first graph in black shows the current wave form when the test valve turns off and on. And the first graph in red shows the current wave form of the auxiliary valve Va1. The test valve current has a wave form with superposition of the auxiliary valve Va1 current and the resonant current. The second graph shows the voltage across the test valve. At the

5 instant when the test valve current is zero, the reverse voltage is applied to the test valve. After half period of resonance the voltage polarity across the resonant capacitor changes to be positive. The voltage across the test valve gets to zero. The third graph shows the voltage across the auxiliary valve va1, in which this voltage has negative value while the resonant circuit operates. After then this voltage has similar shape with reverse polarity to the voltage across the test valve. Therefore, it is clear that the voltage-current characteristic of simulation results is identical to the graph in Fig. 2. power circuit including the test valve, auxiliary valves, IGBT switches, and inductors and capacitors for the resonant circuit. The main controller composed of DSP TMS320F28335 has enough A/D and D/A ports, and CAN communication port to send gate signal and control signal.

(a) Scaled hardware test set-up

(a) Interleaved current waveform of 2-phase chopper

(b) Controller and Gate drive

(b) Current and voltage waveform of VT and Va1 Figure. 7. Simulation Results for Proposed Synthetic Test Circuit (b) Power circuit Figure. 8. Test Set-up for Proposed Synthetic Test Circuit

V.

SCALED MODEL EXPERIMENT Fig. 9 shows experimental results of the scaled hardware model for the proposed STC. Fig. 9a shows the current waveform from the 2-phase chopper, in which the superposed current is displayed on Ch2, while the current waveforms through each IGBT switch are displayed on Ch3 and Ch4. Through the experimental results it is confirmed that the superposed current has negligible ripples even though each IBGT current has large amount of ripples. Fig. 9b shows the turn-off characteristic of the auxiliary

Based on simulation results, a scaled hardware model was built using same circuit parameters as in the simulation. Fig. 8a shows a picture of the scaled hardware model and its test set-up. Three DC power supplies were used to supply the turn-on current and the reverse voltage for the test valve, and the reverse voltage for the auxiliary valve. Fig. 8b shows an enlarged picture of DSP controller, sensing bode, and gate drives for IGBT and Thyristor switches. Fig. 8c shows a

6 valve Va1 and the test valve VT. The test valve current is displayed on Ch1 and the voltage across the auxiliary valve Va1 is displayed on Ch2. The voltage across the test valve is displayed on Ch3 and the gate pulse for IGBT4 is displayed on Ch4. Through these waveforms, it is confirmed that the reverse voltage is properly applied to the auxiliary valve Va1. Fig. 9c shows the voltage across the test valve and current through the test valve. These waveforms are identical to the theoretical waveforms in Fig. 2 and the simulated waveforms in Fig. 7. Through these experimental results, it is confirmed that the proposed STC can be utilized to test the three kinds of operation, forward conduction, reverse sustain, and forward sustain of thyristor valve. VI. CONCLUSION

In this paper a new STC was proposed which can be utilized to test the switching operation of thyristor valve in HVDC power converter. The proposed STC consists of a 2phase chopper with IGBT switch and auxiliary circuit to supplies low-voltage large current to the test valve during onstate. The resonant circuit consists of inductor, capacitor, and auxiliary valves which can supply the reverse voltage and the forward voltage during off-state. The operation feasibility of proposed STC was first verified through theoretical analysis and computer simulations. Based on computer simulation results, a scaled hardware model for the proposed STC was built and tested to confirm the feasibility of implementing a real test facility. The proposed STC could be widely used for testing the thyristor valve in HVDC Converter if it is built in real size. REFERENCES
[1] M. Sampei, H. Magoroku, M. Hatano "Operating Experience of Hokkaido-Honshu High Voltage Direct Current Link", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 12, No. 3, July 1997 U. Axelsson, A. Holm, C. Liljegren, M. Aberg, K. Eriksson, O. Tollerz "The Gotland HVDC Light project-experiences from trial and commercial operation", Eletricity Distribution, 2001. Part1:Contributions. CIRED. 16th International Conference and Exhibition on (IEE Conf. Publ No. 482) Power electronic for electrical transmission and distribution systems Testing of thyristor valves for static VAR compensators. (IEC 61954, 1999) Test circuits for HVDC thyristor valves. (Cigre Task Force 03 of Working Group 14.01, Technical Brochure 113, April 1997) CH. Gao, K. P. Zha, J. L. Wen Study on Synthetic Test Method for UHVDC Thyristor Valves The International Conference on Electrical Engineering 2009. B.L. Sheng E. Jansson A. Blomberg H-O Bjarme D. Windmar. A New Synthetic Test Circuit For the Operational Tests of HVDC Thyristor Modules Paper presented at IEEE PELS APEC2001 Conference on March 04-08, 2001, at Anaheim, USA. Conf. Proceedings pp.12421246. T. Bauer, H.P. Lips, G. Thiele, T. Tylutki, M. Uder "Operatonal Tests on HVDC Thyristor Modules in a Synthetic Test Circuit for the Sylmar East Restoration Project" IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 12, No. 3, July 1997 M.L. Woodhouse, T. Simanwe "A New Facility for Testing HVDC and SVC Thyristor Valves" B4-309, CIGRE 2006

[2]

(a) Current waveform of 2-phase chopper

[3]

[4] [5]

[6]

[7]

[8] (b) Turn-on and Turn-off characteristic of Val and VT

(c) Turn-on and Turn-off characteristic of VT Figure. 9. Scaled-Hardware Experimental Results