414

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Dynamic Model and Control of the NPC-Based

Back-to-Back HVDC System
Amirnaser Yazdani, Student Member, IEEE, and Reza Iravani, Fellow, IEEE

AbstractThis paper presents a comprehensive model of

the Back-to-Back (BtB) HVDC system based on the three-level
Neutral-Point Diode Clamped (NPC) converter. Based on the
developed model, a systematic design procedure for i) the ac-side
controllers, ii) the voltage balancer of the dc-side capacitors, and
iii) the net dc-bus voltage controller, are presented. The model is
developed based on the generalized state-space averaging method
and the principle of power balance. The developed model precisely
describes the system dynamics if the ac grids are strongly or
moderately stiff, and offers acceptable precision otherwise. The
averaged nature of the model inherently renders itself for analysis
in the SIMULINK/MATLAB environment, and thus provides
a computationally efficient tool for the design and the performance evaluation of the control. The accuracy of the developed
model and the controls are validated by comparing the results
from MATLAB/SIMULINK with those obtained from the exact
switching model of the system, based on digital time-domain
simulation studies, using the PSCAD/EMTDC software package.
Index TermsBack-to-Back HVDC system, current control,
generalized state-space averaging, multilevel converter, Neutral
Point Diode Clamped (NPC) converter.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE availability of high-power, high-frequency semiconductor switches with the gate-turn-off capability has made
the implementation of high-power Voltage-Sourced Converters
(VSCs) possible for utility applications, including HVDC systems [1].
The most widely used VSC configuration is the two-level
VSC [2]. Despite the rapid and ongoing developments in semiconductor technology, a major impediment to widespread utilization of the two-level VSC for utility applications is the high
cost and the lack of multi-supplier availability of switches with
high power, high voltage and high switching frequency ratings.
This issue is largely addressed by the multi-level VSC [3].
Among various multi-level VSC configurations, the threelevel Neutral Point Diode Clamped (NPC) converter [4], [5]
is the most widely accepted multi-level VSC configuration for
utility [6] and high-power industrial applications [7]. Thus,
the VSC-based HVDC systems have been mainly proposed
[8][11] or implemented [12], [13] based on the three-level
NPC converter technology.
Manuscript received September 10, 2004; revised February 17, 2005. Paper
no. TPWRD-00427-2004.
The authors are with Center for Applied Power Electronics (CAPE),
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3G4 (e-mail: yazdani@power.ele.utoronto.ca;
iravani@ecf.utoronto.ca).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2005.852344

The existing technical literature on the NPC-based HVDC

systems [8][13] primarily reports digital time-domain simulation results i) to demonstrate system performance of specific
HVDC configurations or ii) to suggest/evaluate specific control
strategies. To the best of our knowledge, the reported technical
literature does not present a comprehensive model or a systematic design procedure for the NPC-based HVDC system. The
main objective of this paper is to fill this gap. This paper
develops a control model for the three-level, NPC-based
Back-to-Back (BtB) HVDC system;
presents a systematic design procedure for the control
of the three-level, NPC-based, BtB HVDC system; the
control includes i) the ac-side current controllers, ii) the
voltage balancer of the dc-side capacitors, and iii) the
dc-bus voltage regulator;
evaluates the accuracy of the developed model and performance of the designed controllers, under various operating conditions and system scenarios, e.g., weak and stiff
ac systems;
identifies those system operating conditions and factors
that impact the accuracy of the model and result in deviations from the expected performance of the controllers.
The control model for the BtB HVDC system is developed
based on the generalized state-space averaging method [15]
and the principle of power balance in the system. The developed
model does not represent the switching details of the HVDC
system. Thus, it is readily implementable in the MATLAB/
SIMULINK environment. The accuracy of the model is
validated based on comparing the results from MATLAB/
SIMULINK with those obtained from detail time-domain simulation of the BtB HVDC test system in the PSCAD/EMTDC
environment.
This paper demonstrates the following.
If the ac grids of the HVDC system are adequately stiff, the
developed model accurately predicts the behavior of the
HVDC system, and the responses of the ac- and the dc-side
controllers closely agree with the expected behavior.
If the ac grids are weak, the performance by the developed
model is prone to some degree of inaccuracy. Thus, the responses of the ac- and the dc-side controllers deviate from
the design predictions. The reasons for the discrepancies
are explained in the paper.
The results and conclusions of this paper, presented for the
NPC-based BtB HVDC system, are equally valid for the conventional two-level VSC-based HVDC system. Hereinafter, for
the sake of compactness, we refer to a three-level NPC converter
as NPC.

0885-8977/$20.00 2006 IEEE

YAZDANI AND IRAVANI: DYNAMIC MODEL AND CONTROL OF THE NPC-BASED BACK-TO-BACK HVDC SYSTEM

Fig. 1.

415

Single-line diagram of a three-level NPC-based BtB HVDC system.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II

briefly reviews the mathematical model of the three-level NPC
converter. In Section III, the - and -axis current controllers
for the NPC are designed. Section IV combines the models of
the two NPC converters and formulates the dynamic model of
the three-level NPC-based BtB HVDC. The simulation results
of a study system, based on the control models and the designed
controllers, are reported in Section V. Section VI identifies the
factors that degrade the accuracy of the developed model.
Section VII concludes the paper.

To avoid unnecessary repetitions in the formulation, the quantities of NPC1 and NPC2 are indexed by 1 and 2, respectively.
The mathematical model of each NPC of Fig. 1, based on the
generalized state-space averaging method, is [15]

(1)

II. SYSTEM STRUCTURE AND MATHEMATICAL MODEL

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an NPC-based BtB
HVDC system. The system comprises two three-level NPC
converters. The dc-side of each NPC is composed of two
and
nominally-identical capacitors whose mid-points
are not connected. Resistor
represents the total switching
loss of the system [16]. The ac-side of each NPC is connected
filter and a three-phase
to a utility grid through a series
transformer. represents the combined effect of the on-state
loss of the corresponding NPC switches and the internal resistance of . The ac-side of each NPC is equipped with two
shunt filters tuned at the two dominant switching side-bands.
The shunt filters are to trap switching harmonics and prevent
the switching spikes from appearing at the Point of Common
Coupling (PCC). The synchronization signals for the control
system of each NPC are taken from the low-voltage side of the
corresponding transformer.
For simplicity and without the loss of generality, we assume
the following.
The voltage magnitudes of both grids are the same; however, the phases can assume any values.
The power switches, diodes and passive components of the
two NPCs are correspondingly identical.

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)
, 2 identify NPC1 and NPC2, respectively.
and
where
are the amplitude and the phase of the modulating waveform
and
are small positive offsets added to
respectively.
the modulating waveform in consecutive half-cycles to balance
the voltages of the capacitors, via changing the neutral point
, based on (3). A detailed explanation of the voltage
current
balancer system is given in [15].
and
are the -frame

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

components of the ac-side currents

see Fig. 1.
Defining

, and

of NPCk;

(6)

(7)
yields
(8)
(9)
and

are calculated as

Fig. 2.

Block diagram of the decoupled dq -frame current controllers.

(10)

(11)
and
are small values. Therefore, (4) to (7)
Usually,
can be approximated as
(12)
(13)
(14)
The dc-bus voltage dynamics can therefore be written as
(15)
Substitution for

and

(20)
Equations (19) and (20) represent two first-order, decoupled
and
are the new control variables which
subsystems.
are deduced from two independent PI controllers. Two PI conand
to produce
trollers process
and
, respectively.
and
are the feed-forward
terms to speed-up the control response to the ac line voltage
disturbances. The rotating reference frame is synchronized and
, where
is
aligned with the grid, in such a way that
the -axis voltage of the PCC in Fig. 1. The phase and the magnitude of the modulating waveform are then deduced by substiand
from (17) and (18) in (10) and (11), respectuting
tively. Fig. 2 shows the current controller block diagram.
If a PI controller is defined as
(21)

from (12) into (15) yields

where
quency domain is

, then the open-loop gain in the fre-

(16)
(22)
Equation (16) describes the dynamics of the dc-side net voltage
in terms of the circuit parameters, ac current components, modand phase angles of the modulating waveulation indices
forms .

Choosing
and
yields (23) and (24) for
the open-loop and the closed-loop systems, respectively.

III. AC-SIDE CURRENT CONTROL

(23)

To decouple the and current components in (8) and (9),

the following changes of variables are defined [16]:

(24)

(17)
(18)

The time constant

determines the current controller response time and is usually chosen in the range of 1.5 ms to
5 ms. The quadrature current controller is designed in a similar manner. Thus

Substituting (17) and (18) in (8) and (9), respectively, yields

(19)

(25)

YAZDANI AND IRAVANI: DYNAMIC MODEL AND CONTROL OF THE NPC-BASED BACK-TO-BACK HVDC SYSTEM

IV. DC-BUS VOLTAGE CONTROL

Control of the dc-bus voltage can be achieved based
and
on (16). However, since (16) contains
which correspond to the multiplications of the
based on
state variables and the control inputs, control of
(16) is not straightforward. A modified form of (16) can be
obtained based on the principle of power balance.
and rearranging
Multiplying both sides of (16) by
the result, we obtain

417

The total instantaneous outgoing power of the two NPCs, as

in (27), is

(31)
Let the -axis current references

and

be defined

as
(32)
(33)

(26)
Substituting for
in (26), we have

and

, 2, from (13) and (14)

(27)
and
The terms
in (27) represent the instantaneous outgoing powers of
the ac-side terminals of NPC1 and NPC2, respectively. Each of
those power components has to balance the instantaneous power
absorbed by the corresponding line reactors, in addition to the
instantaneous power delivered to the corresponding utility grid.
, but multivariable and
Equation (27) is linear with respect to
and
, since
and
are
nonlinear with respect to
dependent on
and
.
The exact power balance between the NPCk terminals and the
ac system is given as

where
is the current command corresponding to the
desired power exchange between Grid1 and Grid2. A positive
corresponds to a positive power flow from Grid1 to
corresponds to a small active
Grid2, and vice versa.
current drawn from the both grids, to compensate for losses,
and to regulate the dc-bus voltage [14]. The responses of the
current controllers (24) and (25) to commands (32) and (33) are
(34)
(35)
where
(36)
(37)
and
.
The real and reactive power components, delivered to each
grid, are given by

(28)

(38)

is the stored energy of the three interface inductors

where
(see Fig. 1) expressed in the -frame. It is shown in the Appendix that

(39)
and
from (34) and (35) in (31), and
Substituting for
term, we obtain
neglecting the

(29)
Substituting for
result, we find

from (29) into (28), and rearranging the

(30)

(40)

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Substituting for
from (40) into (27), and rearranging the result, we conclude

(41)
In (41),
is the output,
is the control input, and
,
and
are the disturbance inputs.
, (41) can be rewritten as
Assuming

The transfer function given by (44) has two poles. One pole is
, which describes the dynamics of the closedlocated at
loop -axis current controller. This pole is far from the origin,
since the closed-loop current controller is fast. The other pole of
. In the system of Fig. 1,
repre(44) is located at
sents the switching losses and is a large resistor. Hence, this pole
is close to the origin. To avoid steady-state errors in the dc-bus
, and the impacts of the
voltage, due to the uncertainties of
and
,
should be determined
disturbances
by a PI controller.
If the system is subject to ac voltage imbalance, e.g., a singlephase to ground fault, a 120-Hz sinusoidally varying voltage
component appears on the dc voltage. The amplitude of the
120-Hz voltage component is proportional to the magnitude of
the negative-sequence AC voltage and the amount of real power
flow in the system. The 120-Hz component can adversely affect
the overall system performance via the dc-bus voltage regulation
loop. Therefore, a notch-filter tuned at 120 Hz is recommended
in the dc-bus voltage controller to cut the loop at 120 Hz. Thus,
the following dc-bus voltage controller is suggested:

(42)
is the grids rated voltages. Equation (42) can also be
where
written in a transfer function form as

(45)
. In the controller of (45),
where
and
and the notch-filter
the PI controller coefficients
parameters and
can be determined based on methods
such as root-locus, Bode plots, etc., to achieve a satisfactory
performance.
The overall dc-bus regulation system, accounting for the disturbances, can readily be simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK,
based on (24), (25), (36), (37), and (43).
V. MODEL VALIDATION AND CASE STUDIES

(43)
It can be seen from (43) that the dc-bus voltage dynamics are
.
in turn is the response of the
linear with respect to
to
. Therefore,
current closed-loop control system
the dc-bus voltage dynamics are linear with respect to the com. This conclusion facilitates the controller design
mand
remarkably as it makes the use of the linear system theories and
control design methods possible. The dc-bus voltage dynamics
is however nonlinear with respect to the real and reactive power
and
.
commands
Resistor is practically small. Therefore, based on (43), any
and
cause a momentary dc-bus voltage
changes in
drop. The transient voltage drop, due to these commands (disturbances), can be evaluated based on (43).
to
is given by
The transfer function from

(44)

To evaluate the degree of accuracy and examine the validity of

the developed models, (24), (25), (36), (37), and (43) in conjunction with the dc-bus voltage controller of (45) are realized in the
MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. Hereinafter, we refer to
this set of equations as the control model. The results obtained
from the control model are compared with the corresponding results obtained from the detailed switching model of the HVDC
system of Fig. 1, in the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment.
The PSCAD/EMTDC-based simulations are conducted for the
system of Fig. 1 under the following conditions:
Both grids are ideal voltage sources. Moreover, the transformers are ideal. Hereinafter, this configuration is referred to as the Ideal configuration. The results of the Ideal
configuration are expected to closely agree with their corresponding counterparts obtained from the control model
(in MATLAB/SIMULINK).
Both grids are ideal voltage sources. Hereinafter, this configuration is called the StiffStiff configuration.
Both grids are weak and identical. The short circuit capacity of each grid is about 125 MVA. Hereinafter, this
configuration is called the WeakWeak configuration.
Grid1 is weak with a short circuit capacity of 125 MVA.
Grid2 is an ideal voltage source. Hereinafter, we call this
configuration the WeakStiff configuration.

YAZDANI AND IRAVANI: DYNAMIC MODEL AND CONTROL OF THE NPC-BASED BACK-TO-BACK HVDC SYSTEM

419

TABLE I
PARAMETERS OF THE STUDY HVDC SYSTEM

We refer to a utility grid as stiff if its short-circuit ratio is greater

than 5.0. Table I shows the parameters of the system of Fig. 1
used for the studies. Since, in the HVDC system of Fig. 1, the
synchronization signals are obtained from the low-voltage sides
of the transformers, the leakage inductance of each transformer
can be regarded as a part of the inductance of the corresponding
grid. Thus, the short-circuit capacities of stiff grids, according to
the parameters given in Table I, are 1100 MVA, corresponding
to the short-circuit ratios of 20. The short-circuit capacities of
weak grids are 125 MVA, corresponding to the short-circuit ratios of 2.27.
The internal resistance of each ac-side interface inductor is
assumed to be 30 m . During the operation of NPC, at each instant, either two IGBT switches or one IGBT and one diode conduct. Thus, is approximately the summation of the on-state
resistances of two switches and the internal resistance of the inductor, i.e., 32
. Based on the system parameters and the current controller gains indicated in Table I, the closed-loop current
controller time constant is 2 ms. Thus
(46)
Moreover, based on the system and the controller parameters,
the closed-loop poles of the dc-bus voltage regulation system
are at
,
and
, resulting in about
30.6 phase margin and less than 50 ms settling time in response
to a step reference.
A. DC Voltage Change in the Standby Mode of Operation
kV to
kV)
(From
Initially,
is set to 30 kV and
is set to zero corresponding to zero real power flow in the system. Both NPCs
operate at unity power factor, i.e.,
. At
s,
is subjected to a step change from 30 to 29 kV. Fig. 3
compares the dc-bus voltage response obtained from the con-

Fig. 3. DC-bus voltage response to a step change in V

when P = P = 0 MW.

from 30 to 29 kV

trol model with the simulation results of PSCAD/EMTDC corresponding to the four grid conditions described previously.
As expected, the simulation results of the Ideal configuration
and the control model closely match. Fig. 3 also shows that the
results of the control model closely match those of the StiffStiff,
the WeakWeak, and the WeakStiff configurations. The reason
is that for the system in the standby mode of operation, the assumption of
is reasonably valid, regardless of the
grids stiffness. Hence, the derivation of (42) from (41) is still
valid. Since the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation models represent
the switching details, the corresponding results in Fig. 3 illustrate switching ripples on the dc-bus voltage.
B. Real Power Change (From
MW)

to

Initially, the system is in the standby mode of operation, and

is set to 29 kV. Both NPCs are operating at unity power
factor. At
s,
is ramped up from 0 to 1.36 kA
within 12.5 ms, corresponding to a power flow change from 0
to 25 MW, from Grid1 to Grid2. Fig. 4 compares the dc-bus
voltage responses obtained from the four system configurations
with that of the control model.
The results of the Ideal and the Stiff-Stiff configurations
show close agreement with that of the control model (see
Fig. 4) since the assumption of
is valid. However,

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Fig. 5. dc-bus voltage response to a step change in the reactive power delivered
to Grid1 from 0 to 10 MVAr.
Fig. 4. DC-bus voltage response to a ramp change in power from 0 to 25 MW
from Grid1 to Grid2.

there are deviations in the results of the WeakWeak and the

WeakStiff configurations from that of the control model, while
the patterns of the responses are fairly similar. In the cases of
the WeakWeak and the WeakStiff configurations,
of the
weak grid(s)which depends on
and to a stronger extent
on does not remain constant or close to the nominal value.
Therefore, derivation of (42) from (41) yields a poor approximation. The accuracy of the control model can be improved by
taking the stored energy of the grid inductance(s) into account
in the formulation. However, the inductance of the grid(s) is not
precisely known. Therefore, the dc-bus voltage controller must
be adequately robust to the model uncertainties and deviations.
Fig. 4 also shows that in all configurations the disturbance
is rejected within 50 ms, and the dc-bus voltage is regulated at
29 kV after the transients.
C. Reactive Power Change (From

to

MVAr)

Initially, real power of 25 MW flows from Grid1 to Grid2,

is set to 29 kV, and both NPCs operate at unity power
factor. At
s,
is changed stepwise from 0 to
kA. This corresponds to 10 MVAr of reactive power
delivered to Grid1. Responses of the configurations to this disturbance, based on the PSCAD/EMTDC models, are shown

in Fig. 5. The results of the Ideal and StiffStiff configurations

closely agree with, while the results of the WeakWeak and Weak
Stiff configurations significantly deviate from, that of the control
model. The reason is that, for Grid1,
strongly depends
on the reactive power exchange between the NPC1 and Grid1.
Therefore, the assumption of
is no longer valid.
The dc-bus voltages of the Ideal and StiffStiff configurations return to their pre-set values within 15 ms (see Fig. 5).
The dc-bus voltages of the WeakWeak and WeakStiff configurations, however, take longer to revert to their predisturbance
values.
D. DC Voltage Change Under Load Condition (From
kV to
kV)
Initially, real power of 25 MW flows from Grid1 to Grid2,
NPC2 operates at the unity power factor, and NPC1 supplies
10 MVAr to Grid1. At
s,
is stepwise changed
from 29 to 30 kV. Fig. 6 shows close agreements between the
dc-bus voltage responses obtained from the PSCAD/EMTDC
models and the control model. It should be noted that other than
the small changes in
(and
as a result) to move the
dc-bus voltage from 29 to 30 kV, the real and reactive current
components do not change in this case. Therefore,
remain
fairly constant, and the derivation of (42) from (41) is valid.

YAZDANI AND IRAVANI: DYNAMIC MODEL AND CONTROL OF THE NPC-BASED BACK-TO-BACK HVDC SYSTEM

Fig. 6. DC-bus voltage response to a step change in V

when P = P = 25 MW and Q = 10 MVAr.

E. Real Power Flow Reversal (From

MW)

421

from 29 to 30 kV,

MW to

Initially, real power of 25 MW flows from Grid1 to Grid2 and

is set to 30 kV. NPC2 operates at the unity power factor,
and NPC1 supplies 10 MVAr to Grid1. At
s,
is
kA within 25 ms, correramped down, from 1.36 kA to
sponding to a power flow reversal from 25 MW to
MW,
from Grid1 to Grid2.
Fig. 7 shows the dc-bus voltage responses. The results of
the Ideal and StiffStiff configurations closely agree with that
of the control model. However, the results of the WeakWeak
and WeakStiff configurations show discrepancies to that of the
control model, while their patterns of variations do agree. The
reason is that under weak grid conditions,
do not remain
constant, and the assumption of
is not valid.
F. Overall System Performance
The WeakWeak configuration is subjected to the following
sequence of events.
From
s to
s, the NPC controls are disabled,
while the HVDC system is connected to the grids. Hence, the
dc-bus capacitors are charged through the antiparallel diodes
of the NPC converters, and the dc-bus voltage reaches to about
24.5 kV. At
s, the controllers are activated, while
and
; to provide a soft

Fig. 7. DC-bus voltage response to a power flow reversal of 25 to

from Grid1 to Grid2.

025 MW

start-up,
is slowly ramped up from 24 kV to the rated
value of 30 kV. At
s,
is changed stepwise from
30 to 29 kV. At
s,
is ramped up from 0 to
1.36 kA, corresponding to a real power flow of 25 MW from
Grid1 to Grid2. At
s,
is step-wise changed from
0 to
kA, corresponding to reactive power delivery of
10 MVAr to Grid1. At
s,
is step-wise changed
from 29 to 30 kV. At
s,
is ramped down from
1.36 to
kA, to reverse the real power flow.
The system response to the foregoing events, obtained from
PSCAD/EMTDC, is shown in Figs. 810. Fig. 8 shows the real
and reactive current/power components of NPC1. Correspondingly, Fig. 9 shows the real and reactive current/power components of NPC2. Fig. 10 shows the dc-bus voltage. Figs. 8 and 9
indicate that during changes in the dc-bus voltage,
and
undergo small changes. This is due to the reaction of the voltage
controller through changing
. Figs. 8 and 9 further show that
and
are mirror images of each other. This is expected
based on (34) and (35) since
is small.
Figs. 8 and 9 demonstrate that the - and -axis current components of each NPC are well decoupled. However, due to the
grids weaknesses and the existence of the leakage inductances
of the transformers, the real and reactive power components are
not decoupled and, thus, glitches are visible during transients.

422

Fig. 8. Responses of the Grid1 quantities during 2.5 s of operation.

Figs. 8 and 9 also demonstrate that the reactive power exchanged

with each grid can be independently controlled. Fig. 10 demonstrates that the dc-bus voltage is well regulated during the sequence of disturbances.
Fig. 11 shows the capacitor voltages of NPC1 and NPC2 before and after the 25-MW power flow is commanded. Fig. 11
shows that the voltage balancing system [15] keeps the dc voltages equal. Fig. 11 also shows the NPC1 line currents. The magnitudes of the line currents are smoothly increased to their preset
amplitudes of 1.36 kA.
Fig. 12 shows a magnified version of
and
current
waveforms about
s. Fig. 12 shows that
and
are almost decoupled. Furthermore,
follows its reference as
a first-order exponential function.
reaches its steady-state
value within 10 ms, corresponding to the time constant of 2 ms.
This verifies the arguments of Section III about decoupling the
dynamics of the - and -axis current components, and adjusting
the gains of the PI controllers. Fig. 12 also shows the phase a
voltage of the low-voltage side of the transformer and the phase
a current of NPC1. Before
s, the voltage and the current are 180 out of phase. This indicates that Grid1 is delivering
power at unity power factor. After
s, the phase shift is
increased to about 200 , and NPC1 delivers 10 MVAr to Grid1.
Hence, the amplitude of voltage has slightly increased with respect to the predisturbance condition.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

Fig. 9.

Responses of the Grid2 quantities during 2.5 s of operation.

Fig. 10. Response of the dc-bus voltage during 2.5 s of operation.

VI. DISCUSSIONS
Section V evaluates the accuracy of the control model and the
corresponding controllers, under stiff and weak grid conditions.
Section V demonstrates that the control model precisely predicts the system behavior under stiff grid conditions. However,
it becomes less accurate under weak grid conditions, particularly if the weak grid is subjected to a step change in reactive
power exchange with the HVDC system (see Fig. 5, Case C).
The accuracy of (43) and, therefore, that of the control model,
strongly depends on the validity of the assumption that
. The reason is that (43) is deduced from (41) based on this
assumption.

YAZDANI AND IRAVANI: DYNAMIC MODEL AND CONTROL OF THE NPC-BASED BACK-TO-BACK HVDC SYSTEM

Fig. 11. Responses of the dc capacitor voltages of NPC1 and NPC2 and the
NPC1 line currents to a power export of 25 MW from Grid1 to Grid2 at t =
0:8 s.

Fig. 12. Responses of the Grid1 quantities to a reactive power supply of

10 MVAr to Grid1 at t = 1:0 s.

In (41), if
and/or
affects
impact on

and
, a change in
. This is due to the presence of term
. Moreover, a change in
has higher
under high (real) power transfer levels, i.e., large

423

Fig. 13. DC-bus voltage responses of the Weak-Weak configuration to the step
changes in reactive power.

. Equation (43) does not reveal these effects. If Gridk is

depends on the real- and, to a larger extent, on the
weak,
reactive-power exchange. Consequently, under nonzero power
flow conditions, (43) indicates the highest degree of inaccuracy
for the WeakWeak and the WeakStiff configurations.
Fig. 13(a) shows the response of the Weak-Weak configuras, the
tion when 25 MW flows from Grid1 to Grid2. At
reactive power supplied to each grid is step changed from 0 to
and
10 MVAr. Since both grids are identically weak,
undergo similar changes; thus,
remains small.
Consequently, (43) can provide a more accurate prediction of
the system dynamics. A comparison between Figs. 13(a) and 5
MVAr,
) con(the Weak-Weak configuration,
firms this prediction.
Fig. 13(b) shows the response of the Weak-Weak configuration when 25 MW flows from Grid1 to Grid2. In this case,
10 MVAr is delivered to Grid1 and 10 MVAr is absorbed from
and
Grid2. Consequently, the patterns of variations of
are opposite of each other, and
is large. Thus,
the control model is expectedly less accurate. A comparison between Figs. 13(b) and 5 confirms this prediction.
Fig. 13(c) shows the response of the Weak-Weak config. At
uration in the standby mode of operation, i.e.,
s, the reactive power delivered to Grid1 is step changed
from 0 to 10 MVAr, while NPC2 operates at unity power
undergoes changes, while
remains
factor. Therefore,
unchanged. Since
, based on (41),
is expected
. A comparison between
to have an insignificant effect on
Figs. 13(c) and 5 reveals that under this conditions, the control
model more accurately predicts the system response.

424

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 21, NO. 1, JANUARY 2006

VII. CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

This paper presents a control model for the three-level NPCbased Back-to-Back (BtB) HVDC system. The model is developed based on the generalized state-space averaging method and
the principle of power balance. The developed model is readily
implementable in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment and
provides a convenient vehicle for the design and performance
evaluation of the controllers. The developed model precisely
predicts the system behavior, at any operating point and to any
control command, if the ac grids are strongly or moderately stiff.
Under weak ac grid conditions, the model correctly predicts the
system pattern of behavior, but underestimates the magnitude of
the response of the dc-bus voltage to disturbances. Under weak
ac grid conditions, the model is least accurate when i) the BtB
HVDC system transfers the rated real power, and ii) the reactive power exchanged with the weak grid(s) is subject to a step
change.
Based on the developed model, the ac- and the dc-side controllers of a 55 MVAr BtB HVDC test system are designed.
The accuracy of the model, and the performance of the designed controllers are validated by comparing the results from
MATLAB/SIMULINK and those obtained from time-domain
simulation studies of the detailed switched model of the test
system in the PSCAD/EMTDC environment. The mathematical
developments and the conclusions of the paper are equally valid
for the conventional two-level VSC-based BtB HVDC system.
APPENDIX
CALCULATING THE ENERGY STORED IN THE AC REACTORS
The stored energy in a three-phase, decoupled set of inductors
is
(47)
are the phase currents and assumed to be balanced.
where
,
and
Without the loss of generality, the phase-angle of
are assumed to be 0,
and
degrees, respectively.
Thus
(48)
(49)
(50)
where

is the peak value. From (48) and (50), we deduce

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Amirnaser Yazdani (S02) received the M.Sc.

degree from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran,
and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Canada, both in electrical engineering
in 2001 and 2005, respectively.
From 1995 to 2002, he was a design engineer at Maharan Engineering Corp., Tehran, where he worked on
the design and control of switching power converters
and railway signalling systems. His research interests
include the design and dynamic modeling and control
of power converters and energy systems.

(51)
The peak value

can be expressed in terms of

and

as
(52)

Substituting (52) in (51) and the resultant in (47) yield

(53)

Reza Iravani (M85SM00F03) received the

B.Sc. degree from Tehran Polytechnic University,
Tehran, Iran, in 1976 and the M.Sc. and the Ph.D.
degrees from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg,
MB, Canada, in 1981 and 1985, respectively, all in
electrical engineering.
He is currently a Professor with the University of
Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. His research interests include power electronics and power system dynamics and control.