VDCOL Parameters Design of Multi-infeed HVDC

Based on A Simplified Model of DC P-Q Coupling

Recovery
BaorongZhou1
1.CSG Electric Power Research Institute, Guangzhou 510080,
Guangdong Province, China,

AbstractWhen several high voltage direct current (HVDC)

systems simultaneously recover after severe faults, absorbing
large amounts of reactive power from the receiving AC systems,
presents new challenges for the transient voltage stability of
multi-infeed HVDC (MIDC) systems. Actually DC power
recovery characteristics could be controllable to some extent by
selecting voltage dependant current order limiter (VDCOL)
parameters, but the quantitative relationship is complex and not
easy to use. This paper, with experiment method based on
PSCAD/EMTDC package and the CIGRE HVDC benchmark
system, explored the converter bus voltage profile and the
relationship of HVDC MW (P)and reactive power (Q) consumed
by the converter during and after various faults. Through
numerical analysis, the characteristic equation on P-Q has been
fit out. With which and VDCOL characteristics, a simplified
model of DC P-Q coupling recovery was constructed. Finally,
based on the above model, a design method of VDCOL
parameters was proposed with an objective function considering
minimum sum of reactive power demand peaks of MIDC
recovery. Some examples with different rated power
combinations of MIDC systems were studied to demonstrate the
feasibility of the proposed method.
Index Terms--multi-infeed HVDC systems (MIDC), design of
VDCOL parameters, simplified DC P-Q coupling recovery,
numerical analysis

I.

INTRODUCTION

Recently, with China's rapid economic development, the

energy demand keeps growing. Especially in the developed
southern areas, more large-scale DC transmission projects
need to be accessed to the receivinggrid of coast province. For
such MIDC system, once the system is attacked by severe
faults, the reactive power and the active power of the inverter
stations of the DC system would changerapidly.And in the
post-fault period, with DC power recovery from the bottom infault,a large number of Var is consumed by convertors. It is
mainly supported by AC system [1], which means the higher
requirements to the end system. If during the recovery process
in a few seconds, the end system couldnt afford enough
This paper is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities(2013ZM0028).
978-1-4799-7537-2/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE

ZhaobinDu2, IEEE Member, Donghao Luo2, Liyuan

Liu2, Fujun Zhan2
2.College of Electric Engineering, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou, China, epduzb@scut.edu.cn

reactive power, the voltage of inverter stations might stay at

low level for sometimes and it may cause the problem of
voltage instability of areas near the HVDC stations. Especially
when there are more HVDC stations stay closely in the
receiving system, the above problems are more highlight.
Thus, the research that focuses on reasonable control to the
DC recovery of large-scale MIDC systems in order to avoid
those voltage problems is more and more important.
Here the focus is the HVDC recovery process when
surviving from commutation failure. Then those analytical
relationships of relative electric quantities of HVDC systems
are still suitable with consideration of the switching of
classical control modes of HVDC. With the quasi-static
equations of HVDC [2], the DC output MW and Var of
convertors are easily obtained for each mode. However, fast
mode change, respecting to different conditions and limits in
the whole recovery process, makes it difficult to analyze the
key factors dominating DC P-Q characteristics and to optimize
the characteristics by a clear and simple way.
According to the analysis of practical control
characteristics of HVDC system after severe faults, the major
control of power recovery of HVDC after faults is VDCOL at
rectifier and constant extinction angle [2, 3]. VDCOL can
restrict the DC current when DC or AC voltage drops to a
particular value, which is used to reduce the probability of
commutation failure and meet the balance requirement of
dynamic reactive power of the whole system [4, 5]. VDCOL
maybe the most convenient method to control MIDC recovery
and becomes one of the research hotspots in the field at
present.
The VDCOL characteristic curve of reported coordinated
control of MIDC contains 4 controlling parameters,

VH , I H ,

VL and I L , which can change the recovery speed of HVDC

after faults[6]. However, in tradition, the VDCOL

characteristics curve is fixed whenever the voltage decline and
rebound, which does not consider the situations, such as
HVDC may or may not successfully absorb a large amount of

reactive power from the AC system during its recovery.

Therefore, the setting of parameters is less adaptive [7, 8]. In
order to solve the problem, some scholars have improved the
characteristics of VDCOL.
The literature [7] uses the improved VDCOL
characteristic curve that the voltage parameters are higher
during faults and the curve shifts to the right during recovery,
which eases the reactive power demand of HVDC to the end
system and improves the system stability margin. The work
[9] proposes a self-adaptive fuzzy VDCOL control that adjusts
DC current automatically according to the state of the system,
without the fixed VDCOL parameters. The recovery of MIDC
at the same time will cause a great impact on the AC end
system, so the DC active power should recover in sequence
according to the different VDCOL control characteristics.
Some scholars have done researches on the time-delay blocks
of the VDCOL. In [10], the time constants of VDCOL are set
smaller, when the voltage drops, making VDCOL response
quickly, and set larger for the voltage recovery avoiding
current vibration and instability. In [11], by optimizing the
time constants of the VDCOL of MIDC, it shows the demand
for reactive power of HVDC during the recovery has reduces.
However, the mechanism analysis on coordinated VDCOL
control during the recovery of MIDC isnt presented in the
research.
Considering the complex model of HVDC some research
on the relationship of DC P-Q characteristics and VDCOL
control is qualitative in the field of MIDC and other works
evaluate the VDCOL parameters effects on DC P-Q recovery
characteristics by simulations, trying different classical
parameters. The analytical work is not so many. In view of the
above questions, this paper firstly, with experiment method
based on PSCAD/EMTDC package and the CIGRE HVDC
benchmark system, explored the converter bus voltage profile
and the relationship of HVDC output P, and Q consumed by
the converter and the effecting factors during and after
various faults. Then through numerical analysis, a coupling
characteristic equation on P and Q has been fit out. Further
the DC P-Q recovery equation is connected with VDCOL
characteristics, and a simplified model of DC P-Q coupling
recovery based on bus voltage and VDCOL parameters was
constructed. For applications, based on the above model, a
design method of VDCOL parameters was proposed with an
objective function considering minimum sum of reactive
power demand peaks of MIDC recovery.
In this paper, section II, based on the CIGRE HVDC
benchmark through the electromagnetic transient simulation
platform PSCAD/EMTDC, explored the responses of DC in
terms of V, P, and Q in-and-after faults, and established a
simplified model of DC P-Q coupling recovery with VDCOL
characteristics. The third section proposed an optimization
model of dynamic reactive power demand of MIDC recovery,
with the VDCOL parameters as control variables. The
examples were tested and the optimal setting of the VDCOL
parameters was discussed in section IV. Finally, conclusions
were given.

II.

THE POWER RECOVERY CHARACTERISTICS OF INVERTER

STATION

For the traditional HVDC system both during faults and

the recovery process after faults, the behaviors of major
electrical quantities, such as voltage, P and Q of inverter and
the mechanism on their trend could be explored and analyzed
in theory or by simulations. In order to build a relative clear
and simplified relation between P-Q-V and the classical
VDCOL control curve, this paper firstly carries out
comprehensive simulation analysis, based on the CIGRE
HVDC benchmark[12]contained in PSCAD/EMTDC. The
model used is as shown below:

Figure 1. Structure diagram of CIGRE HVDC standard test system

A. the Typical Recovery Characteristics of the Inverter

Station after Faults
The frequently severe faults, grounding faults beginning at
2s and lasting for 100ms on inverter station bus, are set for
test. Other light faults are less attention in terms of the impact
of HVDC on AC system stability. The simulation duration is
4s. In details, many kinds of faults with different grounding
impedance, namely various severity of problem, are tried to
produce various voltage dips and record the DC recovery
characteristics. For every case, the interaction among active
power P of DC, Q consumed and voltage amplitude V of
converter bus and trend and change is analyzed respectively.

Figure 2. P,Q,V characteristics of three-phase grounding fault with near zero

grounding impedance

Fig. 2 shows the typical curves of variables of inverter due

to commutation failure of HVDC after the severe enough fault
occurs. The voltage goes down to near 0 in a very short time.
The P and Q drop to 0, too. The three electrical quantities
begin to recovery after fault elimination. P occurs oscillation
in the recovery process due to the oscillation of DC current
and extinction angle. The oscillation may not exist when the
controls work well, and P enhances smoothly. Usually the two
peak values of P in recovery process are lower than the steadystate value. However the Q and voltage may appear over-shoot

with small amplitude. Noticeably the recovery process

involves fast HVDC control modes change.
Based on the acting control mode, VDCOL at rectifier and
constant extinction angle, in recovery process of HVDC after
faults, the inverter Pdi and Qdi characteristics is described by
major variables: the AC commutation voltage

Vaci , DC

current I d and extinction angle i . That is

Pdi = U di I di = (2.7 kiVaci cos i Lci I d ) I d

Other

Q = I (2.7k V ) 2 (2.7 k V cos 6 L I ) 2

d
i aci
i aci
i
ci d
di

variables definition could be referred in[2]. The trends of DC

P-Q could be analyzed by these following sensitivities:
Pdi
>0
Vaci
Id

Pdi
<0
i

2.7 kiVaci
cos i ( Id
12 Lci

>

Pdi
>0
Id

2.7 kiVaci
cos i
12 Lci

Pdi
<0
Id

Q* = 0.611e

Qdi
Qdi
>0,
>0.
i
Id

As it can be concluded from typical fault simulations, the

voltage of the converter bus can demonstrate a relative clear
and dependant recovery characteristic, when the source is
strong enough. Here, the voltage recovery characteristic for
the three-phase fault with the ground impedance
0.01+j0.01is chose as the benchmark. The voltage

V*

expression, aci , dependant on time can be obtained by fitting

according to the simulation curves, which is shown as follows:

(1)

B. the P and Q Coupling Characteristic of DC after Faults

Similarly to above part, the coupling relationships between
P and Q is worth further studying with the simulation curves
of different fault cases.

(b)

Fig.3. (a) shows the recovery processes of P up to the first

peak after eliminating fault, and (b) reflects the second peak of
P after the setback of DC recovery or oscillation of DC
current and extinction angle. Fit these curves with the Curve
Fitting Toolbox in MATLAB and get a better result with the

Vac* , j = f v (t )

*
I d , j = f I (VH , j , VL , j , I H , j , I L , j , Vac , j )
*
*
Pd , j = f p (Vac , j , I d , j )
Qd* , j = f q ( Pd*, j )

where

(2)

*
di

*
ac ,

V V

*
ac

V is voltage of the inverter converter

V*

bus in pu, di is the inverter DC voltage in pu, the first

equation of the model is referred to the above voltage
expression (1), the second equation is the jth DC recovery
current based on the VDCOL and referred to the following
rule[3,16]:
I d , j I ref ,r

I H
Vdi VH

I IL
= H
(Vdi VL ) + I L VL < Vdi < VH
VH VL
I L
Vdi VL

The 3rd equation is DC power output at the inverter station

P * Vac* , j I d , j
and seen as d , j
. The last equation is referred to the
above P-Q coupling characteristic (2).
For convenience, this paper uses the voltage characteristics
of typical faults to construct the simplified model. However,
the voltage drop in practical system is different, and so is its
recovery process. Using corresponding voltage recovery
characteristics in different situations can make the model more
accurate.
By simulation tests with the default VDCOL parameters of
the CIGRE model of PSCAD/EMTDC, the accuracy of the
proposed simplified model of P-Q coupling recovery is
demonstrated well enough for engineering field.
III.

Figure 3. Curves of reactive power (Q/Mvar.) with active power(P/MW)

after different three-phase fault cases

P* 0.7404

0.6757

These above rules of HVDC recovery can be further used

to guide the research on the design of VDCOL parameters of
MIDC.
C. the Simplified Model of DC P-Q Coupling
RecoveryCosidering VDCOL
Based on the quasi steady state model of HVDC system
[13-16] and the above fitting rules of DC recovery, the
simplified model of DC P-Q coupling recovery as follow:

if

Qdi
), and Vaci > 0 ,

619.8t 3 245.4t 2 + 29.14t 0 t 0.18

*
Vaci
=
t

0.989 0.1364e 0.3344

t > 0.18

Gaussian type of fit. The resultant equation is shown as

follow:

OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF VDCOL PARAMETERS IN

MIDC SYSTEM

As the voltage stability problems of MIDC system is

mostly concerned here. Based on the above simplified model,
this paper constructs an optimization model that how to
control the VDCOL parameters to secure minimum sum of
reactive power demand peaks of MIDC recovery.
On the assumption that the receiving AC system of MIDC
systems can ideally provide enough reactive power, the
objective function of VDCOL parameters optimization can be
built based on minimizing the peak demand of reactive power
in MIDC systems during the recovery process. This optimized
system can reduce the impact of HVDC system on the
receiving AC system when the HVDC recovers. The efforts

can also minimize the maximum demand of reactive power

under non ideal conditions, e.g. reactive power could be not
enough, and contribute to recovery of AC and DC system.
Suppose there are n HVDC circuit recover in the same

system has lighter impact on the receiving AC system, when

the HVDC system with higher rated power recovers faster.
Table I. Optimal parameters of

j HVDC circuit is Pn, j and the

j HVDC circuit is Qd , j
reactive power consumed in the

time, the rated power of in the

(1jn,n is an integer greater than 1).The inverter stations of

several HVDC systems are close, namely the effect of network
is neglected here. Besides, reactive power source in every
HVDC is ample and controllable. Then the objective function
of optimization model is as follows:
n

Qmax,min = min(max Qdj )

j =1

(4)

Qmax,min

is the minimum of the reactive power peaks

consumed in every inverter stations after optimization.
Constraint conditions are the same as the above proposed
simplified model of DC P-Q, equation (3).

The decision variable is voltage control parameters H

and VL , respectively. And each parameter of VDCOL is
provided with a certain range, so this paper uses the
exhaustion algorithm to find optimal settings of
MIDC system.
IV.

VH or V in
L

THE EXAMPLES ANALYSIS

In calculating process,

VH ranges from 0.6 to 0.95, with

step size 0.01; while the other 3 parameters,

VL , I H ,and I L

of VDCOL do not change. In 2 DCs and 3DCssystems, the

optimal values of H for different HVDC MW ratings that

meet the objective function of the minimum sum of reactive
power peaks are obtained in Table I and Table II and the
analysis as below.
As can be seen from Table I, selecting the lower limit in

Pn1 / MW

V
select the lower limit of H , and the medium capacity DC
selects the upper limit.
Based on the characteristics of VDCOL, it can be found

I d changes slower with the bigger setting voltage VH ,

V
when it only adjusts H . Namely, the recovery of the 2 DCs

that

Pn 2 / MW

VH 1

VH 2

500
800
1000
2000
3000

0.6
0.6
0.6
0.95
0.95

0.95
0.95
0.95
0.6
0.6

1000
1000
1000
1000
1000

VH in the3 DCs system

Table II. Optimal parameters of

order

Pn1 / MW

Pn 2 / MW

Pn 3 / MW

VH 1

VH 2

VH 3

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
3000
3000
1000
1000
1000
1000

1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
3000
3500
2000
3000
2000
3000

500
1000
1500
2000
4000
5000
500
500
3000
4000
5000
5000

0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.95
0.95
0.6
0.95
0.6
0.6
0.95
0.95

0.95
0.95
0.6
0.6
0.95
0.95
0.95
0.6
0.95
0.95
0.95
0.95

0.6
0.6
0.95
0.95
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.6

Similarly, V L is optimized as follows. The range of V L

changes from 0.1 to 0.5, and step size is set to 0.01. The
optimization design of V L in 2 DCs and 3 DCs systems is
shown in Table III and Table IV.
The optimal limit combination of V L for 2 DCs and 3 DCs
systems, in Table III and Table IV, are similar to Table I and
Table II. The reason is that if only V L moves, current
changes with voltage in a faster speed according to the
classical VDCOL curve as V L is higher, but current would
not start recovering until the converter voltage reaches to a
higher value. In contrary, DC enters a rapid recovery process
earlier, as V L is set lower.
Table III. Optimal parameters of

V
the range of H for the DC system with higher rated

power and the upper limit for the lower rated power DC
system can minimize the peak demand of reactive power
during recovery process, when the two DCs recover in the
same time. If two DC systems are of the same rated power, the
optimal VDCOL control scheme is that one DC VDCOL
chooses the upper limit and the other chooses the lower limit.
The VDCOL setting rule for 3 DCs is similar to the 2 DCs
system after optimization, which is shown in Table II. The DC
system with obviously higher rated power is recommended to

VH in the2 DCssystem

VL

in the2 DCssystem

Pn1 / MW

Pn 2 / MW

VL1

VL 2

1000
1000
1000
1000
1000

500
800
1000
2000
3000

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5

0.5
0.5
0.5
0.1
0.1

Table IV. Optimal parameters of

VL

in the3 DCs system

order

Pn1 / MW

Pn 2 / MW

Pn 3 / MW

VL1

VL 2

VL3

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
3000
3000
1000
1000
1000
1000

1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
3000
3500
2000
3000
2000
3000

500
1000
1500
2000
4000
5000
500
500
3000
4000
5000
5000

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5
0.1
0.5
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5

0.5
0.5
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5

0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.5
0.1
0.1

V.

CONCLUSION

Based on the CIGRE HVDC benchmark, this paper fits out

the simple algebraic formulas about the P and Q
characteristics of the inverter in post fault, and proposes a
simplified model of DC P-Q coupling recovery. By involving
the classical VDCOL control characteristics in this model, the
P and Q could be obtained in an analytical way in terms of
VDCOL parameters. In order to study the effect of MIDC
system recovery on the voltage stability of system,
the optimization model considering minimum sum of peak
demand of reactive power of MIDC is also proposed to design
the VDCOL parameters on the basis of the simplified model.
Finally, some examples are used to prove the feasibility and
practicability of the proposed method. The more accurate DC
power recovery model and the optimization target selection
will be further improved in the future research.
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