HVDC Valves---ABB

Basic Requirement: 1.shall be able to carry current only in forward direction. 2. Non conducting valve shall be able to sustain a forward and reverse blocking voltage. The valve is designed for a max blocking voltage about three times the rated direct voltage of the 6-pulse converter bridge.

HVDC Valves
3. transition from the blocking condition to the conducting condition takes place when the valve is given a control pulse(firing pulse)It remains in the conducting state until the current through the valve is reduced to zero. 4. the valve is also designed for over current condition .the maximum over current occurs for a direct short circuit across a valve an the amplitude is mainly determined by the reactance of the converter transformer. In addition it should have; High reliability Low losses Minimum installation and maintenance costs.

HVDC Converter
HVDC converter normally built with two 6-pulse converter bridges in cascade. Transformers feeding 6-p bridges are star-star and star-delta (YY and YD) respectively ,introducing a phase shift of 30o between two bridges. a12-pulse converter with thyristor valves is normally built with three physical units , quadruple valves, Quadruple valve is air insulated and water cooled Each single valve is protected with a valve arrester which is mounted on one side of the quadruple valve.

The Thyristor
v v v v

Cathode Gate cv v cv Anode

Hvdc valves
Ref power semiconductor devices and circuits edited by Andre A Jacklin

 The AC/Dc converter is subjected to very high voltages and each valve in the converter bridge must be able to withstand several hundred kV. The line current is normally in the range of 1000 to 4000 A. The modern HVDC valves are based on thyristors. The voltage capability of the single thyristors is limited to less than 10 kV and a large number of thyristors must therefore be connected in series to support this voltage. The thyristor string is often organized in thyristor modules with current limiting inductors in between.

 Most thyristors are located at a high electric potential, making certain demands on the valve designs. The necessary means for firing and protection of thyristors must be energized by valve current at each particular thyristor level. Triggering signals between the firing and protection means and controls system at ground potential must be transmitted optically.

 The LTT should be self protected against voltage triggering i.e. 1. the thyristor must not be damaged by spurious triggering due to an excessively high off state voltage (leakage current), 2. excessively fast dVo/dt ( displacement current) or 3. an unintended forward blocking voltage during the reverse recovery period (stored charge)

HVDC valve requirement

HVDC valve design is installation specific .the main aspects are ; i) converter must be able to operate at steady state under specified condition within rather wide current and voltage ranges. ii) uninterrupted operation must continue during transitory AC fault and disturbances . iii)Lightning strikes and earth faults must not damage the converter valves.

Features of Full size self protected LTTs

The main data for a 45 cm2 LTTs Off state voltage 7000 V Line current 1600 A On state voltage 1.7 V at 1600 A Minimum optical triggering power 10 mw at =940 nm for LED and 5mw at 840 nm for LD. dVo/dt capability 4000 V/ s to 7000 V/ s dI/dt , single pulse capability 3000 A/ s dI/dt , 50 Hz capability 800 A/ s Max operating temp 80o

Valve firing
current voltage

Indicating pulse Control pulse Firing pulse

 Optical indicating pulse is generated at each thyristor level as soon as the anode cathode voltage across the thyristor has reached an appropriate level for safe turn on. When the converter control system generates the control (CP) the valve control system will send optical firing pulses to all thyristor levels of the string.

Triggering of ETT
In ETT (Electrically triggered thyristor) case FP triggers the TCU (Thyristor control unit) to release gate pulse from a precharged capacitor.
R R

FP
TCU IP

ETT

ETT Triggering
FP triggers the LTT (light Triggered Thyristor) And supplies gate pulse to ETT R LTT

FP

ETT IP TCU C

LTT Triggering
A new 45 cm 2 7 kV self protected LTT was developed in 1987. For short turnon delay a high optical power ( > 30 mw, =940 nm) results in td ,< 4 s. A R FP LTT IP TCU C R

Optical firing systems

One LED per LTT carrying 3.5 A and generate 45 mw for 10 s
OR

One LD (Laser diode) per two LTT carrying 1.5 A supplying 70 mw for 100 s

Optical firing systems

When using direct light triggering a new principle for generating firing pulses from the valve control electronics. A high frequency indicating pulses are generated by TMU ( Thyristor monitoring unit) as long as LTT voltage exceeds 110 volts . The optical firing signal (FP) starts at the beginning of the control pulse command and will last as long as IP is generated. The FP signal is then cut off as soon as all the thyristors in the valve have turned on , thus reducing the stress on the light sources. The firing pulse length will normally be about 20 sec but operating at low delay angle or low ac voltage will require longer pulses. The maximum pulse length is limited to 100 sec.

Voltage across thyristor 110V

FP

LTT Safer firing voltage

IP TMU

IP
CP FP t

Improved LTT Triggering System

Improved LTT firing system

Improved LTT firing system based on commercially available 50 mw continuous laser diode (originally intended for office automation products) are used as light source. No light reserve redundancy is needed as the thyristor will operate by self triggering in case of missing regular pulse. The light pulses are cut off by TMU (thyristor Monitoring Unit) signals when thyristor have turned on in order to save LD life time.

Voltage across thyristor 110V

LTT LD FP 50mw TMU

IP

Safer firing voltage

IP
CP FP t

Improved LTT Triggering System