Control of Line-Commutated

Converter Based HVDC Link

Mukesh Bhesaniya

HVDC Control

Equivalent Circuit of an HVDC link

Change of current and therefore power transfer can be achieved by altering

any one of the four possible parameters:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Control angle of the rectifier

Control angle of the inverter
Rectifier transformer secondary voltage by tap-changer
Inverter transformer secondary voltage by tap-changer

Combined Rectifier-Inverter Characteristics

Control Strategies
Basis for selection of control
Prevention of large fluctuations in dc link current
Maintaining Dc link voltage near rated value
Maintaining power factors at the sending end and receiving end
Prevention of commutation failure in inverter
It is desirable to have current control at rectifier and constant
extinction angle control at inverter from the consideration given
below.
Increase of power in a link is achieved by reducing which
improves the power factor at rectifier
The inverter can now be operated at minimum thereby
minimizing the reactive power at inverter.
The current during line faults are automatically limited with
rectifier station in current control.

CIGRE HVDC Benchmark Test System

Source : N. Watson and J. Arrillaga, Power Systems Electromagnetic Transients Simulation