2020 IEEE 16th International Conference on Control & Automation (ICCA)
Oct 9-11, 2020 (Virtual) Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Fast Simulation of MMC-HVDC Systems Using A
Generalized Equivalent Circuit Model of MMC
Ligang Zhao1, Guangyue Xu2 , Chao Hong1, Guanbiao Huang1, Di Shi2, Tinghui Zhou1, Hongyue Zhen1, Xiaoshan Wu1,
Chaoyang Jing2
1
State Key Laboratory of HVDC, Electric Power Research Institute, CSG, Guangzhou 510663, China
2
eMIT, LLC, Pasadena, CA 91106
Abstract—Due to its salient features, the modular multilevel
converter (MMC) has become the most advanced power
converter topology for high-voltage dc (HVDC) transmission.
Modeling and MMCs plays an important role in analyzing and
understanding performance of MMC-HVDC systems under
various conditions. Unfortunately, the detailed switching model
is time consuming and turns out to be infeasible when it comes
to simulating large-scale MMC-embedded power systems. To
improve the computational efficiency of time-domain
simulations for such applications, this paper presents a
generalized equivalent model for MMC based on various sub-
module circuits and arm configurations. The proposed
equivalent model can significantly accelerate the simulation of
MMC-HVDC systems while keeping its internal dynamics under
both the fault and normal operating conditions. The proposed
model can also work with different types of control strategies.
Simulation results based on PSCAD/EMTDC validate the
effectiveness of the proposed model.
Index Terms-Modular multilevel converter (MMC),
equivalent circuit model, power system simulation, high-voltage
direct current (HVDC).
I. INTRODUCTION
The past few years has witnessed an increasing number of
modular multilevel converter (MMC) based HVDC projects
worldwide [1]. Because of its salient features including
modularity and scalability, MMC has becomes the
predominant converter topology for medium and high voltage
applications, especially for voltage-sourced converter HVDC
transmission systems. The MMC is built up by identical but
individually controllable submodules with each acting as a
controllable voltage source. This characteristic complicates the
modeling of MMC from both the mathematical and
computational aspects. Integration of MMC-HVDC into the
conventional ac system will affect the dynamic characteristics of
the system and therefore it is of great necessity to investigate such
dynamics with appropriate models.
Presently, the most used submodule (SM) topologies for
MMC are the half-bridge (HB) and the full-bridge (FB) ones.
Due to the capability of bidirectional voltage generation, an
MMC composed of full bridge submodules is also capable of
operating as an ac-ac converter. However, the higher number of
semiconductors results in higher losses. Thus, the HB based
978-1-7281-9093-8/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
MMC is a more common choice. However, in case of a dc-side
fault, a HB based MMC cannot block the fault current from ac
grid. A number of submodules have been proposed and
researched to improve the fault-blocking performance of MMC,
such as the unipolar-voltage full-bridge, the clamp-double (CD)
and the three-level/five-level cross-connected (3LCC/5LCC)
submodules [2], [3].
In order to analyze the dynamic performance of power
systems with MMC-HVDC under various operating
conditions, it is critical to have an accurate and efficient
model [4]-[8], which is one of the major challenge associated
with such studies. The detailed switching model is
complicated and very time consuming and thus infeasible due
to the large number of semiconductor switches in high-level
systems. To address this challenge, a number of MMC models
have been developed to accelerate the electromagnetic
transient (EMT) simulation. In general, these models can be
classified as the average models and the equivalent circuit
model [9]-[14]. The authors of [10]-[11] propose several
equivalent models for half-bridge MMC without considering
dc fault conditions and therefore the applications of such
models are limited. An equivalent circuit model is proposed
in [12] for half-bridge MMC based multiterminal dc systems,
using a hybrid HVDC breaker to interrupt fault current. In
[13], an equivalent EMT simulation model is proposed for
self-blocking MMC, which can block fault current under dc
fault condition. The proposed model improves upon the full
switching model but is still computationally expensive. In
[14], the authors propose an equivalent simulation model for
hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation, which can be used for
both half-bridge and full-bridge MMCs. Although the
computation expense is much improved, the model is not
cost-effective for large-scale power system applications.
There are still room for the existing MMC models to be
further improved and more generalized. The existing models
only consider and work with the HB submodule, the FB
submodule, and the unipolar full-bridge (UFB) submodule
[9]-[14]. In order to implement a generalized and efficient
MMC model, other fault-blocking submodule configurations
should be considered as well, including the clamp-double
submodule, 3LCC/5LCC submodule, etc. In addition, various
operating conditions should be investigated for the MMCs
1605
 based on various SM configurations. In this paper, we propose using numerical methods. Finally, the arm voltage can be
an equivalent circuit model for hybrid MMCs based on calculated from voltages of the inserted capacitors.
various submodule circuits and arm configurations. The
proposed model can be used for simulating MMC-HVDC
systems and dc grids in large-scale ac and dc hybrid power
systems under different operating conditions.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.
Section II presents the operational principles of hybrid MMC
and the proposed equivalent circuit model. Section III present
the simulation model built in PSCAD/EMTDC, case studies
and experimental results. Section V compares the proposed
model with existing models while Section VI concludes this
paper.

II. PROPOSED EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL

In this section, an equivalent circuit model is proposed for
hybrid MMCs with fault-blocking capability which can
significantly accelerate simulation speed and improve
computational efficiency. HBSMs and FBSMs are utilitized
for the study.
A. Hybrid MMC Basics
Fig. 1 Block diagram of the MMC and various SM circuits.
A schematic diagram of the MMC and various SM circuits
are shown in Fig. 1. The operational principles of various SM
configurations have been studied in [15]. The operating states
of the HB submodule include inserted, bypassed, and blocked.
The various fault-blocking submodules consist of parallel-
connected or series-connected HB submodules.
The operating conditions of MMCs mainly include the
precharing/startup process, the normal operating condition,
and the fault condition. Under normal operation, each arm can
be simplied to be a controllable voltage source, through the
control of which the grid currents and circulating currents can
be controlled. When a dc fault occurs, all controllable
switches are turned off and capacitors will be charged through
anti-parallel diodes. A HBSM will be bypassed and the line-
to-line voltage of the ac grid will be supported by the
capacitors in the fault-blocking SMs. Voltage of these
capacitors are determined by the magnitude of line-to-line
voltage.
B. Overview of the Proposed Equivalent Circuit Model
Fig. 2 shows a generalized flowchart of implementing the Fig. 2 The flowchart of implementing the equivalent circuit model for
equivalent circuit model for MMCs. First, a set of fixed MMC.
parameters are determined including the rated power, rated
voltage, step time of simulation, number of SMs per arm Fig. 3 shows the schematic diagrams of MMCs based on
(NSM), and configuration of the SM. Based the aforementioned the switching model and the proposed equivalent circuit
information and the operating conditions of MMC, the model, respectively. According to Fig. 3(a), the gating signals
switching states of arm circuit can be determined. Before are generated based on grid voltages, MMC arm currents, and
calculating each capacitor voltage, the capacitor current is capacitor voltages from the main circuit. By replacing the
determined from the arm current and the SM switching states. standard switching model with the proposed equivalent circuit
Based on the calculated capacitor current, the capacitor model, more information needs to be exchanged, as shown in
voltage can be obtained through solving differential equations Fig. 3(b). Using the proposed model, the SM capacitor

1606

Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 (a) switching model
Fig. 3 Schematic diagrams of MMC based on the dynamic switching model and the proposed equivalent circuit model.
voltages are numerically calculated and fed to to the control
strategy. In addition to the gating signals for SMs, the
controller also generates gating signals for arm branches.
C. Configuration and Operational Principles
To develop an equivalent circuit of the arm branch, SMs
are classified as unipolar SMs and bipolar SMs. The unipolar
SMs include HB SM, unipolar FB SM, and 3LCC SM; the
bipolar SMs include the FB SM, the clamp-double SM, and
5LCC SM. Under normal operating conditions, the unipolar
SMs have the same behavior as HB SM, while the bipolar
SMs have similar behavior with FB SM. In addition, the FB
SM can also work as HB SM. Therefore, the FB SM
configuration can simulate the behaviors of various SMs,
which is selected as the configuration of arm branch, as shown
in Fig. 4.
The operating modes and switching states of the proposed
arm branch are determined by the SM configurations and the
operating modes of MMC, which are listed in Table I and
discussed below.
• Precharging condition: The precharging/startup process
consists of the uncontrollable precharging and the
controllable precharging stages. During the precharging or the
startup process, to simulate the behavior of HB-MMC, only
S4 needs be turned on. During uncontrollable precharging
stage, the MMC consisting of the fault-blocking SMs are fully
blocked. In this case, all switches in the proposed arm circuit
are turned off. In the controllable precharging stage, the MMC
consisting of the fault-blocking SMs has the same behavior as
HB-MMC.
• Normal operating condition: Under normal operating
conditions, the MMC based on the unipolar SMs operates as
the HB MMC. In this case, S1 and S4 are turned on. For
bipolar SMs, the arm voltage can be either positive or
1607
Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
(b) equivalent model
negative, and the switching states are determined by the
polarity of arm voltage. When it is positive, S1 and S4 are
turned on; otherwise S2 and S3 are turned on.
• DC fault condition: Under this condition, the HB-MMC
cannot block fault current feeding from the ac grid. To
simulate its behavior, only S4 of the proposed arm circuit is
turned on. The fault-blocking SMs can block the fault current
by turning off all switches. To simulate its behavior, all
switches of the proposed arm circuit are turned off. In addition,
MMC based on bipolar SMs can work as STATCOM and it
has the same switching states as normal condition.
Fig. 4 Configuration of the arm branch.
In order to calculate the arm voltage, the capacitor voltages
should be determined first. In each SM, the relationship
between the capacitor current and voltage is defined below.
dv
ic  C c (1)
dt
where vc represents the capacitor voltage and ic the capacitor
current. The capacitor voltage is related to the integration of
capacitor current, which can be solved by numerical methods.
The capacitor current is related to the arm current and the
switching state of each SM.
 TABLE I similar operating behaviors. As analyzed in [12], the average
OPERATING MODES AND SWITCHING STATES OF THE PROPOSED MODEL
capacitor current can be derived as
Operating condition SM varm
S S S S 1  d arm
1 2 3 4 ic ,ave  iarm (4)
2
An
Uncontrollabl
HB
y
0 0 0 1 where darm is the duty cycle of each submodule per arm.
Prechargin e An
Other 0 0 0 0
g y III. CASE STUDIES
An
Controllable All 0 0 0 1 This section presents and discusses experimental results
y
Unipola
+ 1 0 0 1 which validate the effectiveness of the proposed model. A
r
Normal point-to-point MMC-HVDC system is selected as the study
+ 1 0 0 1
Biporlar system and built in PSCAD/EMTDC, as shown in Fig. 5, with
- 0 1 0 0
An
system parameters listed in Table II.
HB 0 0 1 1
y
DC fault
An
Other 0 0 0 0
y

Under normal operating condition and for the controllable

precharging stage, various SMs are regarded as series-
connected or parallel-connected HB SMs. In this case, the
capacitor current is given by:
ic  SSM iarm (2)
where SSM is the switching function of the HB SM defined by
1，inserted,
SSM   (3)
0，bypassed.
Under dc fault condition or during the uncontrollable
precharging stage, when all switches are turned off, all SMs
are blocked. Under this condition, only positive arm current
flows through the capacitor in HB SM, and the FB, UFB,
3LCC, and 5LCC SMs have the same behavior. Either
positive or negative arm current flows through the capacitor.
In this case, the capacitor current is determined by ic=|iarm|.
For the CD SM, when the arm current is positive, the two HB
SMs are connected in series and the capacitor current is |iarm|.
As the arm current becomes negative, the two HB SMs are in
paralleled with two capacitors sharing the arm current.
Therefore, the capacitor current is 0.5·|iarm|.
Once the capacitor voltage is determined, the arm voltage
can be calculated based on the voltages of the inserted
capacitors. Under controllable conditions, the arm voltage is
the sum of capacitor voltages in ON-state SMs. Under
uncontrollable conditions, the arm voltage is determined by
summing the voltages of the inserted capacitors.
Fig. 5 Schematic diagram of the MMC-HVDC system under study.
A. Case Study I-the Proposed Equivalent Circuit Model
A half-bridge MMC-HVDC system is modeled and
simulated using the detailed switching model (DSM) and the
proposed equivalent circuit model (ECM) as discussed in Fig.
3, respectively. Currents of phase A, dc currents, and
capacitor voltages are compared and shown in Fig. 6-Fig. 8.
During 0.6 to 0.7 s, when a dc fault occurs, the HB-MMC
cannot block the fault current fed from ac grid. As shown in
Fig. 6-Fig. 7, waveforms of arm currents and capacitor
voltages generated by the switching model and the proposed
model match each other, demonstrating the accuracy of the
proposed equivalent circuit model. Fig. 8 shows the capacitor
voltages from the two models under different operating
conditions, which again demonstrates that the proposed
equivalent circuit model can effectively model and simulate
the MMC-based systems for various operating conditions.
TABLE II
SYSTEM PARAMETERS OF THE MMC-HVDC SYSTEM
Paremeters Nominal Value

D. Reduced-order Equivalent Circuit Model Rated power 25 MW

DC link voltage 60 kV
In order to further improve computational efficiency so that AC grid line-to-line voltage 30 kV RMS
MMC-HVDC system can be simulated in large-scale power Numver of SMs per arm, NSM 20
systems, the proposed equivalent circuit model can be Arm inductance 5 mH
modified by reducing the number of state variables, i.e., Capacitance per SM 1000 μF
capacitor voltages. This reduced-order model assumes that all Rated capacitor voltage per SM 3 kV
capacitor voltages are well balanced and only the average DC line inductance 1 mH
capacitor voltage of each arm is considered to calculated the DC line resistance 1Ω
arm voltage. DC line capacitance 100 μF
Under normal operating condition, various SMs have

1608

Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 (a)
(b)
Fig. 6 Simulation results of the HB-MMC-HVDC based on the DSM and
the proposed detailed ECM: (a) phase current, and (b) dc current.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7 Capacitor voltages of the HB-MMC-HVDC based on the DSM and
the proposed detailed ECM: (a) MMC1, and (b) MMC2.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 8 Capacitor voltages of MMC1 of the HB-MMC-HVDC based on: (a)
the DSM, and (b) the proposed detailed ECM.
MMCs based on the FB, unipolar FB, 3LCC, and 5LCC
SMs have similar behaviors. Fig. 9-Fig. 11 show the arm
currents, phase currents, and capacitor voltages of the full-
bridge MMC-HVDC system modeled by the DSM and the
proposed ECM under various operating conditions.
Simulation results using the proposed equivalent model match
that of the switching model, which again demonstrates the
effectiveness of the proposed equivalent circuit model for
various operating conditions.
1609
Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 9 Simulation results of the FB-MMC-HVDC based on the DSM and
the proposed detailed ECM: (a) phase current, and (b) dc current.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 10 Capacitor voltages of the FB-MMC-HVDC based on the DSM and
the proposed detailed ECM: (a) MMC1, and (b) MMC2.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 11 Capacitor voltages of MMC1 of the FB-MMC-HVDC based on: (a)
the DSM, and (b) the proposed detailed ECM.
For a clamp-double MMC-HVDC system, the two
capacitors in each SM are connected in parallel under fault
conditions. The waveforms of arm currents and capacitor
voltages of the CD-MMC-HVDC based on the DSM match
the proposed ECM, as shown in Fig. 12. Under dc-fault
condition, FB-MMC can still operate as STATCOM to
compensate reactive power for ac grid. Simulation results of
DSM and proposed ECM are shown in Fig. 13-Fig. 14.
 18-Fig. 19, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the
proposed reduced-order ECM.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Fig. 12 Simulation results of MMC1 of the CD-MMC-HVDC system based
on the DSM and the proposed ECM: (a) arm currents, and (b) capacitor
voltages.
(b)
Fig. 15 Simulation results of MMC1 of the HB-MMC-HVDC based on the
DSM and the proposed reduced-order ECM: (a) phase current, and (b) dc
current.

Fig. 13 The capacitor voltages of FB-MMC operating as STATCOM.

(a)

(b)
(a) Fig. 16 Capacitor voltages of (a) MMC1, and (b) MMC2 of HB-MMC-
HVDC based on DSM and reduced-order ECM.

(b)
Fig. 14 Simulation results of FB-MMC based on detailed ECM operating as Fig. 17 Average capacitor voltage of MMC1 of the HB-MMC-HVDC based
STATCOM: (a) grid voltage and currents, and (b) capacitor voltages. on the proposed reduced-order ECM.

B. Case Study II-the Proposed Reduced-order Equivalent

Circuit Model
If capacitor voltage balancing strategies are not considered,
the proposed detailed ECM can be modified by assuming all
capacitor voltages are well balanced. The reduced-order ECM (a)
has higher efficiency by neglecting dynamics of capacitor
voltage. The HB-MMC-HVDC system is modeled and
simulated by the DSM and the proposed reduced-order ECM.
The phase-a arm currents and capacitor voltages of MMC1 of
the HB-MMC-HVDC system are compared and shown in Fig.
15-Fig. 17. Based on the simulation results, the arm currents (b)
and capacitor voltages coincide and the proposed reduced- Fig. 18 Simulation results of MMC1 of the FB-MMC-HVDC basedon the
DSM and the proposed reduced-order ECM: (a) arm currents, and (b)
order ECM is applicable for various operating conditions. capacitor voltages.
For the FB-MMC-HVDC, the arm currents and capacitor
voltages under various operating conditions are shown in Fig.

1610

Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 [2] R. Marquardt, “Modular multilevel converter: An universal concept for
HVDC-networks and extended DC-bus-applications,” Inter. Power
Electronics Conf., pp. 502-507, Jun. 2010.
[3] A. Nami, J. Liang, F. Dijkhuizen, and G. Demetriades, “Modular
multilevel converters for HVDC applications: Review on converter
cells and functionalities,” IEEE Trans. Power Electronics, vol. 30, no.
1, pp. 18-36, 2015.
Fig. 19 Average capacitor voltage of MMC1 of the FB-MMC-HVDC based [4] P. Wang, X.-P. Zhang, P. F. Coventry, and R. Zhang, “Start-up control
on the proposed reduced-order ECM. of an offshore integrated mmc multi-terminal hvdc system with reduced
dc voltage,” IEEE Trans. Power Sys., vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 2740–2751,
IV. DISCUSSION ON COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY 2016.
[5] J. Wang, Y. Su, H. Huang, etc., “Online probabilistic security risk
In order to evaluate computational efficiency of the assessment implementation at China Southern Power Grid towards
proposed equivalent circuit model, the simulation speeds for smart control center,” 7th Annual IEEE Green Technologies Conf., pp.
74-81, 2015.
various MMC-HVDC systems based on the detailed [6] Y. Wang, Z. Yuan, and J. Fu, “A novel strategy on smooth connection
switching model, detailed equivalent circuit model, and the of an offline mmc station into mtdc systems,” IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
reduced-order equivalent circuit model are compared as listed vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 568–574, 2016.
[7] R. Li, L. Xu, etc., “Active control of dc fault currents in dc solid-state
in Table III. The system simulation time is 1s with time step transformers during ride-through operation of multi-terminal hvdc
set to 10 μs. Simulations are conducted on desktop with systems,” IEEE Trans. Energy Convers., vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 1336–1346,
Windows 10, 2.60 GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU, and 8 2016.
GB of RAM. [8] G. P. Adam and B. W. Williams, “Half-and full-bridge modular
multilevel converter models for simulations of full-scale hvdc links and
As Table III shows, the proposed ECM can significantly multiterminal dc grids,” IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics
improve the computational efficiency as compared with the in Power Electronics, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 1089–1108, 2014.
conventional DSM while maintaing high accuracy. [9] J. Peralta, H. Saad, etc., “Detailed and averaged models for a 401-level
mmc–hvdc system,” IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 1501–
TABLE III 1508, 2012.
COMPARISON OF SIMULATION SPEEDS FOR VARIOUS MMC-HVDC
SYSTEMS BASED ON THE DSM AND THE PROPOSED ECM [10] J. Xu, C. Zhao, etc., “Accelerated model of modular multilevel
converters in pscad/emtdc,” IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 28, no.
Simulation Settings 1., pp. 129-136, 2013.
Simulation time step= 10 μs; Simulation time= 1 s. [11] H. Saad, J. Peralta, etc., “Dynamic averaged and simplified models for
ECM (s) MMC-based HVDC transmission systems,” IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
MMC configuration DSM (s) vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 1723–1730, 2013.
Detailed Reduced-order
HB 1656.21 30.67 11.52 [12] H. Yang, Y. Dong, etc., “Average-value model of modular multilevel
converters considering capacitor voltage ripple,” IEEE Trans. Power
FB 8512.72 31.34 11.73 Del., vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 723–732, April 2017.
CD 21877.39 30.31 12.38 [13] N. Ahmed, L. Ängquist, etc. “Efficient Modeling of an MMC-Based
3LCC 29097.14 30.84 12.21 Multiterminal DC System Employing Hybrid HVDC Breakers,” IEEE
Hybrid (HB and FB) 3179.83 30.56 11.94 Trans. Power Del., vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 1792–1801, 2015.
[14] W. Xiang, W. Lin, etc., “Equivalent Electromagnetic Transient
Simulation Model and Fast Recovery Control of Overhead VSC-HVDC
V. CONCLUSION Based on SB-MMC,” IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 778–
In this paper, a generalized equivalent circuit model is 788, April 2017.
proposed for modeling and simulating MMCs based on [15] B. Li, D. Xu, etc., “Closed-loop precharge control of modular multilevel
converters during start-up processes,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol.
various SM circuits and arm configurations. The proposed 30, no. 2, pp. 524–531, Feb. 2015.
equivalent circuit model considers all internal states and can
be used to investigate internal dynamic control strategies. To
further improve computational efficiency, a reduced-order
equivalent circuit model is derived by considering the average
capacitor voltage and neglecting its dynamics. Experimental
results show that the proposed equivalent circuit models can
efficiently and accurately model and simulate MMC-HVDC
systems with various submodule circuits and arm
configurations under different operating conditions.

REFERENCES
[1] List of HVDC Projects, Wikipedia. [Online]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HVDC_projects. Accessed Feb.
2020.

1611

Authorized licensed use limited to: Birla Inst of Technology and Science Pilani Dubai. Downloaded on March 24,2023 at 11:26:42 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.