Analysis of interconnection between HVdc

transmission with Capacitor Commutated

Converter and AC power transmission system
S. Tsubota,Nonmember T. Funaki.hlernber
K. hiZatsuiira,Nonmember
Graduate School of Electrical Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, JAPAN
t subot a@p els .pwr .eng .osa ka-u .ac . j p

Abstract- Capacitor Commutated Converter (CCC) has
some advantages in operating at serious conditions with
comparing t o the conventional line commutated converter.
However, there remains some characteristics of the CCC
and the HVdc system of this are not discussed in detail yet.
To realize the CCC installation t o an HVdc system, further
more investigation of the interaction between CCC-HVdc
and AC power system. This paper performed the eigen-
value analysis of CCC-HVdc system including generator, ac
line, converter and dc line, to recognize the interaction be-
tween them. The results show that the CCC-HVdc system
enhances the system stability when comparing to the con-
ventional line commutated converter installed HVdc system.
Keywords- Keyword - HVdc, CCC, Commutation Capac-
itor, System Stability
I. INTROOUCTION
can mitigate the difficulty of the reactive power consump-
tion and the commutation failure; or we can consider reduc-
tion of shunt compensation and probability of continuous
operation t o an AC voltage drops and so on. CCC installa-
tion to an HVdc transmission system will benefit in terms
of power system stability with low cost. This paper focuses
on the stability improvement by CCC, through eigenvalue
analysis and transient analysis simulation.
The basic principle of CCC, voltage stability and start
conwrter operation connected t o ac system without ac
source has h e w discussed. This paper discuss about the
stability of CCC-HVdc and AV transmission system. As
a met hod of t,hc interaction analysis between CCC-HVtlc
arid AC systeni, eigenvalue analysis and EMTP simulatioiis
are performed.

The conventional AC/DC convert,er, which is used in an

HVdc transmission system, back-to-back AC system link rm
and frequency converter station, is a line commutated con-
verter using thyristor valve. This converter type shows
some characteristics as follows; (1) converter consumes a
large amounts of reactive power (2) commutation margin
angle of inverter station decreases wlien .4C voltage drops
or DC current increases (3) low order harmonics is rela-
tively large. (1) and (3) indicates t1ia.t large capacity of
shunt compensation and filter are needed. (2) becomes I I I
serious difficulty in inverter operation and induces commu-
Fig. 1. Capacitor Commutated Converter
tation failure in the worst case. Self-cornmut.ated converter
will solves or mitigates these problems because of t.he high
potential of such a converter
There are some studies of self-commutated converter in- 11. CAPACITOR COMMUTATED CONVERTER
stallation t o an HVdc system. They conclude that though
a self-commutated converter has high performance. but loss A . static characteristics
at the converter, over-current protection of' tlic valve and its
cost must be taken into account. Capacitor Commutated CCC has series compensation capacitor between con-
Converter (CCC) has similar circuit topology to the con- vert,a translorrner &lid thyristor bridge. The commutation
ventional line commutated converter (LCC) which is con- voltage of a CCC is the sum of the AC line voltage and
sisted of thyristor bridges. The difference twtween them the voltage clia.rget1in a capacitor, and it becomes greater
is whether converter has series capacitor per phase, which thiili that of a LCC. Therefore, maximum firing delay an-
is named commutation capacitor (CC) betweeil converter g k of a CCC betrornes larger than that of a LCC. It in-
transformer and thyristor bridge. Because of ihis CIC, CCC creases with thc c:onipensation by the capacitor at the rate
can enlarge the operatable conditions of a conwmr. This of i)n,,,,,,/3CF = 10[dey/lOO%o]. Here, CF(:compensation
is especially effective in inverter operation to prc,\cnt com- factor) = S , / S t , . . X,:CC reactance, X(,:converter trans-
mutation failure at large firing delay anglo. 'l'hcreforct CCC foi.nicrs reactaiiw.
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 Fig. 2. studied model (RectifiqLCC 1nverter;CCC)

B. constant margin angle chamcteristic Conventional HVdc transmission system has a voltage
instability phenomena at inverter station with ATR mode.
The overlap angle in the commutation of LCC increases
AyR changes firing angle of inverter station so that ac volt-
to the AC voltage drop or DC current increases. On the
age collapse continues. If short circuit ratio (SCR) of ac
contrary, the increment of DC current raises the voltage
power system at inverter station side is small and recti-
charged in the CC and it makes commutation voltage high,
fier station operates with APR, such an action is remark-
then the overlap angle in the commutation of CCC becomes
able and keeping of ac voltage is very difficult. CCC with
smaller than that of LCC.
high CC compensation factor installed in inverter station
Then, LCC decreases margin angle to an AC voltage
will keep ac volt.age stability, because constant margin an-
drop or a DC cureent increment for the same firing angle. gle characteristic of CCC can be contrary to the conven-
On the contraly, CCC increases margin angle t.o them and tional converter by adopt,ingCC compensation with high to
it becomes remarkable by rasing the CF. It means that some extent. CCC is basically line-comniut,ated converter,
CCC can operate in high power fact,or range with large so there is operational limitation, but greatly extend such
firing angle. As shown above, the AyR control of CCC
limitat,ion in comparison with the conveiitional converter.
shows opposite charecteristics to that. of LCC.
Fmlts occurred in ac transmission system at inverter
station side makes inverter station gate-shift sequence for
C. converter control system
prevention of comrnutation failure. This sequence rnoves
As a control system for ac/dc converter, CCC can iise p0wt.r factor o f invei ter station to zero, so delay exists from
conventional control system ; constant dc current con- fault removal to rmwery of power system. On the other
trol (ACR) at rectifier station, constant dc voltage control hand, CCC can contimte to operation with high power fac-
(AVR) and constant margin angle control (A3R) at in- tor (needless to change power factor to zero), the recovery
verter station. To control dc transmission power) constant time will be shorter than JXC. But in terms of transicnt
dc power control (APR) and other control may be applied and unbalanced situation, CCC also needs to have the pre-
at requests in terms of stabilization, cost, and so on. Each vention of commutation failure.
control component is almost same, only parameter adjust-
ment is required. But calculation rnodel for -4yR must be 111. STUDIED MODEL
prepared, because CCC characterist,ic rnodcl is more dif-
A . AC/DC tinnsniission system
ficult than LCC model (from CCC characteristic model,
LCC model can be led). Usually CCC niatheinatical model The HVdc system studied in this paper is shown in F i g 2
is complex, so we may change t.o simplified model. If closed AC system of the rectifier side and the inverter side is in-
loop type A r R (margin angle is directly detected), there is terconnected by tht. HVdc system. AC power source a t the
no difference both converter. rectifier side is generator and the inverter side is an infinite
bus. They are linked to the converter terminal thorough
D. effects of installation CCC in, electric power system 50km 2cct AC iransmission line. The rectifier is LCC and
the inverter is CCC. The control system of the converter is
CCC inverter station can operate with high power fac-
shown in Fig.3. The rectifier is conventionally operated in
tor, because of the extension of available maximum delay
ACR or APR, and the inverter is operated in AVR or AyR.
firing angle related to the CC's conipensation factor, hence
The used parameter in this study is indicated in table.1 and
the converter transformer and shunt cxmipensation capacity
11.
can be reduced. Reduction of shunt compensa.tion capacity
indicates not only cost benefits, but also the prcventation
B. constant margin (ingle control model
of over ac voltage at load drops and the movement of anti-
peak point of ac system impedance from low frequency .re- The firing angle prcdiction for ATR control of LCC ciln
gion to high. And CC acts reduction over dc c:uri-ent when be easily calcumtcd from AC voltage and DC current. But
fault is occurred in dc transmission system, heiice leakage thc ommu mutation proccess of CCC is diffrent from that of
impedance of converter transformer is able !;osmaller than LCC and the relation among firing angle, overlap angle,
the conventional's. margin angle. .4C volta.gc and DC current is complex and
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 TABLE I
SYSTEM PARAA4ETE:RS

output 2,800M W
Generator H 4.0sec
D 1.opu
ac line rectifier side 50km2cct Vdcref
inverter side 50km2cct.
dc line lOOkm
H JdC 2,800hIw-
f500kT.'
440 x 8M V A Fig. 3. converter control
Converter transformer 500kV/llOkT
18%(%Z)
Converter REC LCC ogy. The difference between them is the imaginary part of
type INV LCC or CCC the eigenvalue in inverter side. The oscialation frequency
Converter REC 1 ACR or APR of this mode of CCC is higher than that of LCC. This can
control INV I AVR or.4rR be deduced as follows that the CCC can operate higher
power factor than the LCC in inverter operation and it
TABLE I1
reduces the arnount of shunt compensation in quite small
CONDITION
valuc. It reaches to about 15% of converter ratings. This
means that reactive power supplied from AC filter is suf-
ficient for CCC. The reactive power compensation of LCC
system base ; 1,00OMVA, 500kV, 60Hz reaches upto 60% of the converter ratings. The reduction
of rcactive power compensation is favorable not only t o the
dc power = 2.8pu (system base) cost performance bul also t o the low order harmonic sta-
dc voltage = 1 . O m (dc base) bilit,y improvement by shifting the resonance frequency of
the -4C syst,em.
However! the CCC make the damping of DC line mode
the firing angle cannot be obtained algbraicdly. There- worse in comparison to the LCC, though it is stable a.nd
fore the firing angle for -4ya7n.maRoperation of CCC must monotonous da.inping. This tendency is common in regard-
be calcurated numerically by iterative corivergence calcu- less with the inverter control mode. The detecting uint
ration. These equations for calcurating firing angle of .4yR mode Idm (dc current detector) and PLL are almost con-
is implemented in the eigenvalue analysis by linearizing i t stant value that is determined by time coiist.aiit of detector.
at the operationg point. There are not,able difference between CCC and LCC in
APR mode, Idc - clc line mode and Idc - ACR mode. 'The
IV . EIGENVALUE
,4N A LYSIS difference of APR mode eigenvalue between inverter control
The eigenvalue analysis results of the CCC-HVdc sys- of AfiR and AyR. for is very small as shown in table.111and
tem are given in this section. Tile analysis is divided in IV. ?.'hough that. diffrence for LCC is large, and it indicates
two steps to distiguish the interaction among CCC output,, that t,he changirig control from AVR t o AyR makes APR
converter control system, DC line and AC system. mode of eigenvalue 10 unstable direction. AyR of CCC can
(1) Considering the converters, converter controller, DC be expected to stabilize the interaction between converter
line and AC system supposing that the g e n c r a h is con- cont,rol systems. On the other hand, in AVR operation,
stant voltage source. eigenvalue of dc current - dc line or ACR mode of CCC
(2) Considering all the model in the system (generator is wtrse than that, of LCC though it has stable negative
model consists of 2-mass model and park modcl with .4VR value.
and governor)
B. CCC-HVdc transmission system and generator
Ta.ble.V and VI shows the typical mode of eigenvalue
A . Interaction between converters a n d DC lirre analysis using tlctail(:d generator model of step (2). In this
The eigenvalue analysis result in accordance with the case, almost all tlie eigenvalue related to generator vari-
step (1) is given in Table.111 and IV. 'I'abie.111 shows the ab!es are not affectcd by the type of inverter. But dc cur-
typical mode of the obtained eigenvalue to the system with rent - clc line. rnotle and dc current - ACR mode eigenvalues
APR(rectifier) and AVR (invctrter-). Table.1V is diffrent arc! largely a.ffec:tec-lhg t,hem. This tendency of eigenvalue
from table.111 in the inverter control mode of ArK. is nearly equal to previous simplifed model results.
The eigenvalues of AC syssein - shunt con!pensation Hecc after, wt: discuss about APR - .4yR. mode eigezi-
mode of converter terminal gives stable negative !;:rge value valuc:. Fig.4 sliows the change of the real part of APR
in regardless with the inverter contro! and converter topol- mod<: eigciivaluc to the short circuit capacity of the AC

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 TABLE 111 TABLE V
TYPICAL
EIGENVALUES OF STEP(1 ) (APR-AVR) T\l-ICAI. EIGENVALUES OF STEP(2) (APR-AVR)

mode Inverter -
mode Inverter
CCC(220%) LCC CCC(220%) LCC
ac line - -62.60 (301.54Hz) -62.5 1 (301.53Hz) dc line -8.26 (314.75Hz) -11.97 (315.24Hz)
Sh C (Rec) -47.85 (184.75Hz) -47.87 (184.75Hz) APR -4.95 -4.86
ac line - -105.52 (484.49Hz) -62.56 (310.63Hz) Geri current + -45.06 (51.09Hz) -48.46 (50.97Hz)
Sh C (Inv) -121.71 (373.46Hz) -50.90 (195.22Hz) Idc + dc line
dc line -10.20 (315.01Hz). -13.75 (315.54Hz) Gen current + -18.79 (20.64Hz) -25.28 (19.83Hz)
Pdm(APR) -20.75 -21.02 Idc i- ACR
APR -5.01 -4.92
+
Idc dc line -17.87 (54.31Hz) -22.12 (54.06Hz)
+
Idc ACR -15.04 (17.09Hz) -21.10 (16.33Hz)
TYPI(,.AL
TABLE VI
EIGENVALUES OF STEP(S) (APR-AYR)
Vdm - AVR -13.79 (1.80Hz) -14.48 (3.87Hz)
Idm(R,ec) -974.45 -974.45
PLL(ReC) -49.89 I mode I1 Inverter I
PLL(Inv) -51.61 -53.85 CCC(220%) LCC
dc line -8.08 (314.85Hz) -10.78 (314.83Hz)
TABLE IV APR -4.87 -3.90
TYPICAL
EIGENVALUES OF STEP( 1) (APR-AYR) Gen current + -45.63 (51.21Hz) -43.48
Idc + dc line --
Gen currrnt + -20.94 (20.78Hz) -10.70 (20.33Hz)
Idc + ACH
I mode

ac line -
CCC(220%)
-62.62 (301.54Hz)
Inverter
LCC
-62.60 (301.54H~)
Sh C (Rec) -47.85 (184.75Hz) -47.86: (184.75Hz)
value.
ac line - -156.23 (544.8411~) -72.08 (319.23Hz)
Sh C (Inv) -204.15 (444.33Hz) -68.24 (205.79Hz)
dc line -10.00 (315.10Hz) -12.80 (315.10Hz)
PdmlAPR) -21.68
I
I -23.00
APR [ -4.93 -3.95
Idc + dc line I -18.67 (54.45Hz) -15.64 -0- CCC(so%)
I +
Idc ACR iI -17.04 i l 7 . 2 5 H mI -7.68 (16.82Hz)' 1 -A-CCC(llO%)

Idm(Rec) I
-974.44 1 -974.48 -P-ccc(zzoss)
-+- CCC(330%)
PLL(Rec) I -49.89 j -49.91
I
1 J

I 1dm;Inv)' I -994.12 I -1039.54 I

AyR '
PLL (Inv) -51.67
LL-.;I
0 -
-5 -4
I
-3
1 I'
-2
I I
-1
I
0
Real [A} [l/sec]
system a t inverter termirial/ Both IJCC and CCC tend t o
move toward unstable region with increasing the line length Fig. 4. APR mode; APR-AyR
or decreasing Effective Short Circuit Ratio (ESCR) a t in-
verter side. If cont.ro1of inverter is AVR, APR mode is not
affected by the line length. F i g 5 is the change of generator V. SIMULATION
- converter mode eigenvalue. It shows that this mode be-
come quite stable near to ESCR=l by increasing t,he CC Fig.7 and 8 are the transient response of the CCC-IIVdc
amount. Both the eigenvalues indic;tt.e tha.t the higher CC systcm obtained by using EMTP. The model used in the
compensation, the more stable eigenvalue can be obtained. siinulation 15 same as that of Fig2 with lO0km length A C
Generally, it can be said that. CCC gives more st.al)leeigen- line at the invcrter terminal. In the simulation, 3 phases
value than LCC, and it is not sensitive to the AC system opcii (3LO) of 1 ciicxit to the inverter AC system is given
short circuit capacity. at T=2(scc) as a disturbance.
Fig6 gives the calcurated minirnum ESCR to CC The firing angle of the inverter is different between CCC
amount which satisfies all the eigenvalue to have negative and LCC fo1 steady state, becase of the AyR operation of
real part. It shows that the CCC make the inverter op- the iinerter. LCC system required the shift operation of
eration easy to an weak AC system having small ESCR the irivcrter t o thc disturbance so as not to occiir a conimu-
0-7803-5935-6/00/$10.00 ( c ) 2000 IEEE 2929
 z 1.8'

.-
E
1 .o
O r
-60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 0 100 200 300
Real [h}[l/sec] CC compensation factor (=XclXtr)
I ' I I)I I Fig. 6. CC compensation factor - min{ESCR}

-
-0- CCC(W%)
CCC(110%)
-P- CCC(na%)
-eCCC(339%)
fects on the eigenva!ue of APR mode, dc current -dc line -
generator current mode and dc current - ACR - generator
current mode. The eigenvalue of CCC does not affected
by the connected AC system shorciruit capacity so much,
which is quit,c diffcrcnt form LCC.
EhZTP simulation also indicates that CCC is superior to
L,CC at APR. - ,4-[lt operation.

REFERENCES
I I I I
,I.[keve, J.A.Haron, and G.A.Hanley, "A Technical Assessment
oc Artificial Cornmutalion of HVDC Converters with Series
Frequency [Hz] Capacitors':, IEEE Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems,
.:o!.PAS--87, No.: 0 , Octohcr 1968, pp 1830 -1840
Fig. 5 . generator - converter mode; APR-Ayll. 1-1.h.1.Tur mI i , K .U'.Mnnz ies and D. A. Wood ford, " FEASIBILITY
ISSTON WITH FORCED COMMUTATION
AD", IEEE Trans. on Power Apparatus and
!Systems, vc;l.PAS- :03, No.6, June 1981, pp1256-1262
tation failure. by the type of converter But CCC does nore 'I'.Jonssoii arid P.Rjorklund, "Capacitor Commutated Converter
require sucn kind of o p e r a t h l lo the given distrubance. lor HVDCY, Stockholm Power Tech Conference, June 1995, Pro-
Then LCC inverter requires relatively long recovery time ceedings: Povier Eiectronics, pp 44-51
ereira, D.P.Brandt, A.M.Gole and A.Daneshpocy,
from AyR to AVR as shown in Fig.8. This may cause un- omn,utated Converter Circuit Configurations for
stable phenomena of .4PR - .41R insrration. CCC inverter ion". PE-045-PWRD-0- 12-1997
does not show such kind of diffciilty to the disturbance. A.E.Hanimad and W.Kuhn, " A COMPUTATION ALGO-
RITHhl FOH .4SSI?SSlNG VOLTAGE ST.4BILITY A?' AC/DC
I ~'r~STt(:ONNF:C'I.IONS", IEEE 'I'rans. on Power Systems,
VI. CONCLIISIOIII \'ol.f~\VliS-i~ Nu.1~ Februa.ry 1986, pp209-216
U.Franken aiid (.:..%ndersson, "ANALYSIS OF HVDC CON-
This paper gave the eigenvalue analysis result for the Vl3RTER.S (:ONNECTED T O WEAK AC SYSTEMS", IEEE
'I'rans. on Power Systems, Vo1.5, No.1, February 1990
HVdc system with a CCC installed at the inverter termi-
nal. The control system of CCC is almost same as that of
the LCC. But the commutation process of CCC is complex
and different from that of LCC, because of the commu-
tation capacitor effect. Therefore, AyR control sequence
of CCC is required t o use different forinula from that of
LCC. The studied eigenvalue analysis took into account of
the difference of the AYR formula bctween the converter
topology. By considering these co1:tiol model and output
characteristics difference, the eigenvalue analysis results are
summarized as follows,
(1) CCC can work with conventiond control system for
LCC with minimum modificatioli.
(2) The influence of CCC at the iiivcrter is not found to
the generator connected to the rectifbr side, which can be
confirmed by the eigenvectors.
(3) The difference of the converter topology of inverter af-
0-7803-5935-6/00/$10.00 (c) 2000 IEEE 2930
 2.0r-j
1.5

1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5

time [sec]

1.5 1
1.5 -

O.O t
1.5
I L -
3.0
l 3.5 d
> 0.5 -

ao 1, ijy
0.0
1.5-2. I I I
3.0
I , ,.
3.5

L -I

- 1
1.5 3.0 3.5
2.0 time2ijsecl
I I !

[--
I
1

I
>
u
20
t 1
g 20 --I
O t A . L A - d
1.5 3.0 3.5

" L 0.0 -
I l - . L I - i . I J
A
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
time [sec]

Fig. 7. LCC-CCC(220%) ; !cct-:ll.O (Invertet skip) Fis 8 . LC'C!-LCC ; Icct-SLO (Inverter side)
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