Adaptive Reclosing Scheme Based on Traveling Wave Injection For Multi-Terminal dc Grids

The hybrid dc circuit breaker(HCB)has the advantages of fast action speed and low operating loss,which is an idealmethod for fault isolation ofmulti-terminal dc grids.Formulti-terminal dc grids that transmit power through overhead lines,HCBs are required to have reclosing capability due to the high fault probability and the fact that most of the faults are temporary faults.To avoid the secondary fault strike and equipment damage that may be caused by the reclosing of the HCB when the permanent fault occurs,an adaptive reclosing scheme based on traveling wave injection is proposed in this paper.The scheme injects traveling wave signal into the fault dc line through the additionally configured auxiliary discharge branch in the HCB,and then uses the reflection characteristic of the traveling wave signal on the dc line to identify temporary and permanent faults,to be able to realize fast reclosing when the temporary fault occurs and reliably avoid reclosing after the permanent fault occurs.The test results in the simulation model of the four-terminal dc grid show that the proposed adaptive reclosing scheme can quickly and reliably identify temporary and permanent faults,greatly shorten the power outage time of temporary faults.In addition,it has the advantages of easiness to implement,high reliability,robustness to high-resistance fault and no dead zone,etc.

A review of the protection for the multi-terminal VSC-HVDC grid

The multi-terminal VSC-HVDC grid is believed to be widely applied in the future power system. The dc line protection is the key technique for operation security and power supply reliability of the dc grid. In this paper, the single-ended protections, namely, the traveling-wave based protection and transient-variable based protection, as well as the pilot protections, mainly including the directional pilot protection and current differential protection, are discussed in detail. With the analyzed protections, the effective main and back-up protection strategy can be configured for the dc line in multi-terminal VSC-HVDC grid.

Nyquist Stability Analysis and Capacitance Selection for DC Current Flow Controllers in Meshed Multi-terminal HVDC Grids

Controllability of DC current/power flow is essentialin multi-terminal HVDC (MTDC) grids, particularly for theMTDC grids in a meshed topology. In this paper, consideringmeshed MTDC (M2TDC) grids with the installation of twoline/multi-lineDC current flow controllers (CFCs), a small-signalmodel of the DC CFCs integrated M2TDC grids is derived,studying the impact of the power losses of the DC CFC andtheir influence on the analysis of energy exchanges. The systemstability analysis is analysed using the Nyquist diagram, which ismore suitable for analyzing complex nonlinear systems with morecompact and reliable indicators of stability in comparison withgain/phase margins shown in the Bode diagram. In addition, aselection method of the interconnected capacitor of the DC CFCis proposed under different operating conditions. The impact ofthe switching frequencies of the DC CFC on the control ranges ofthe DC current flows is analyzed. The effectiveness of the Nyquistanalysis and the capacitance selection method is verified bysimulation studies using PSCAD/EMTDC. The obtained control ranges of the DC CFC with different switching frequenciesand capacitances would be useful for practical engineeringapplications.

Modeling,Control,and Protection of Modular Multilevel Converter-based Multi-terminal HVDC Systems:A Review

Multi-terminal direct current(MTDC)grids provide the possibility of meshed interconnections between regional power systems and various renewable energy resources to boost supply reliability and economy.The modular multilevel converter(MMC)has become the basic building block for MTDC and DC grids due to its salient features,i.e.,modularity and scalability.Therefore,the MMC-based MTDC systems should be pervasively embedded into the present power system to improve system performance.However,several technical challenges hamper their practical applications and deployment,including modeling,control,and protection of the MMC-MTDC grids.This paper presents a comprehensive investigation and reference in modeling,control,and protection of the MMC-MTDC grids.A general overview of state-of-the-art modeling techniques of the MMC along with their performance in simulation analysis for MTDC applications is provided.A review of control strategies of the MMC-MTDC grids which provide AC system support is presented.State-of-the art protection techniques of the MMCMTDC systems are also investigated.Finally,the associated research challenges and trends are highlighted.

Analysis and Control of Modular Multi-terminal DC Power Flow Controller with Fault Current Limiting Function

In order to overcome the problems of power flow control and fault current limiting in multi-terminal high voltage direct current(MTDC)grids,this paper proposes a modular multi-terminal DC power flow controller(MM-DCPFC)with fault current limiting function.The topology structure,operation principle,and equivalent circuit of MM-DCPFC are introduced,and such a structure has the advantages of modularity and scalability.The power balance mechanism is studied and a hierarchical power balance control strategy is proposed.The results show that MM-DCPFC can achieve internal power exchange,which avoids the use of external power supply.The fault characteristics of MM-DCPFC are analyzed,fault current limiting and self-protection methods are proposed,and the factors affecting the current limiting capability are studied.The simulation models are established in PLECS,and the simulation results verify the effectiveness of MM-DCPFC in power flow control,fault current limiting,and scalability.In addition,a prototype is developed to validate the function and control method of MM-DCPFC.

Basic Topology and Key Devices of the Five-Terminal DC Grid

Due to their high controllability and flexibility,DC power grids have broad application prospects in the fields of networking of renewable energy and the power supply for oceanic archipelagos and future cities.This paper describes the system topology,control strategy,DC breaker configuration,and research,development and testing of converter valves and DC breaker equipment of the Zhoushan multi-terminal DC transmission system.Zhejiang Zhoushan has unique geographical and developmental features to demonstrate the irreplaceable technical advantages of a DC power grid for providing reliable power supply.The experience gained from the Zhoushan DC power grid project can offer valuable insights into the development and utilization of this technology worldwide.

A DC Current Flow Controller for Meshed Modular Multilevel Converter Multiterminal HVDC Grids

This paper proposes the design of a novel DC current flow controller(CFC)and evaluates the control performance of balancing and regulating the DC branch currents using the DC CFC in a meshed multi-terminal HVDC(MTDC)grid.The DC CFC consists of two identical full bridge DC-DC converters with the capacitors of the two converters being connected in parallel.The scalability of the DC CFC is easily achievable due to the identical bridge converter topology;the cost of this DC CFC is also relatively low due to its simple physical structure and low voltage ratings.The control performance of the DC CFC is tested on a meshed 3-terminal(3-T)HVDC grid,which is based on modular multilevel converters(MMC).The DC branch current control in the meshed MTDC grid is achieved using the proposed control strategy of the DC CFC,and is verified through case studies on the real-time digital simulator(RTDS).

A modular multilevel power flow controller for meshed HVDC grids

Based on the comparison of existing power flow controllers(PFC)in meshed HVDC grids,the full-bridge modular multilevel converter based PFC(MMPFC)is proposed.At first,the general branch current calculation method of meshed HVDC grids with the PFC is presented,and then,the issue of over-voltage on the thyristor based PFC is described and analyzed.Through the analysis of different operating modes of the full-bridge sub-module,the mechanism of over-voltage ride through of the MMPFC is indicated.The control strategy of the MMPFC,which is used to control branch current and keep capacitor voltage balancing,is elaborated.Finally,the performance on current regulation,bidirectional operation and over-voltage ride through is simulated and verified in a built model with PSCAD/EMTDC.

Fast Protection Strategy for DC Transmission Lines of MMC-based MT-HVDC Grid

Multi-terminal high voltage DC(MT-HVDC)grid has broad application prospects in connecting different energy sources,asynchronous interconnection of power grids,remote load power supply,and other fields.At present,the key technologies that affect the development of MT-HVDC transmission system include swift fault identification and location in the DC line and its rapid isolation.Traditional fault monitoring relies on line communication,which cannot guarantee the rapidity and reliability of protection;moreover,it may even cause device damage.A fault identification scheme based on a single-terminal transient is presented in this paper.This scheme calculates the line inductance by using the rise rate of fault current at the initial stage of the fault,and determines the occurrence of the fault by comparing the observed line inductance with the set value,which lays a foundation for calculating the location of the fault point using distance protection.A simulation model on the PSCAD/EMTDC platform is built;the simulation example verifies that the proposed scheme can identify faults under dissimilar conditions while maintaining a low error level on the premise of no communication lines so as to meet the protection requirements of the MT-HVDC grid.

A comprehensive review of DC fault protection methods in HVDC transmission systems

High voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission is an economical option for transmitting a large amount of power over long distances. Initially, HVDC was developed using thyristor-based current source converters (CSC). With the development of semiconductor devices, a voltage source converter (VSC)-based HVDC system was introduced, and has been widely applied to integrate large-scale renewables and network interconnection. However, the VSC-based HVDC system is vulnerable to DC faults and its protection becomes ever more important with the fast growth in number of installations. In this paper, detailed characteristics of DC faults in the VSC-HVDC system are presented. The DC fault current has a large peak and steady values within a few milliseconds and thus high-speed fault detection and isolation methods are required in an HVDC grid. Therefore, development of the protection scheme for a multi-terminal VSC-based HVDC system is challenging. Various methods have been developed and this paper presents a comprehensive review of the different techniques for DC fault detection, location and isolation in both CSC and VSC-based HVDC transmission systems in two-terminal and multi-terminal network configurations.