Continuous Operation of Radial Multiterminal HVDC Systems Under DC Fault

• Published in: IEEE transactions on power delivery 2016-02, Vol.31 (1), p.351-361
• Main Authors: Rui Li, Lie Xu, Holliday, Derrick, Page, Frederick, Finney, Stephen J., Williams, Barry W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active control; Capacitors; Circuit faults; Continuous operation; Converters; dc fault; Direct current; Dynamical systems; Dynamics; Fault currents; Faults; HVDC transmission; Inductance; Inductors; modular multilevel converter (MMC); Networks; Reactors; Voltage control
• ISSN: 0885-8977; 1937-4208
• DOI: 10.1109/TPWRD.2015.2471089

For a large multiterminal HVDC system, it is important for a dc fault on a single branch to not cause significant disturbance to the operation of the healthy parts of the dc network. Some dc circuit breakers (DCCBs), for example, mechanical type, are low cost and have low power loss, but have been considered unsuitable for dc fault protection and isolation in a multiterminal HVDC system due to their long opening times. This paper proposes the use of additional dc passive components and novel converter control combined with mechanical DCCBs to ensure that the healthy dc network can continue to operate without disruption during a dc fault on one dc branch. Two circuit structures, using an additional dc reactor, and a reactor and capacitor combination, connected to the dc-link node in a radial HVDC system, are proposed to ensure that overcurrent risk at the converters connected to the healthy network is minimized before the isolation of the faulty branch by mechanical DCCBs. Active control of dc fault current by dynamically regulating the dc components of the converter arm voltages is proposed to further reduce the fault arm current. Simulation of a radial three-terminal HVDC system demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.