Thesis
Multilevel voltage source converters in high voltage direct current transmission systems
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2012
- Thesis identifier
- T13264
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- This research focuses on voltage source multilevel converters in high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems. The first Voltage Source Converter based HVDC (VSC-HVDC) systems with series connected IGBTs in a two-level converter represented a solution to meet industrial and economical requirements but is associated with significant drawbacks such as high dv/dt and di/dt, high switching loss, and poor output voltage and current quality. To overcome these issues, the multilevel converter was proposed for HVDC application. The Modular Multilevel Converter (M2C) was the first multilevel converter to be commercially used in the power industry. In this thesis, the M2C is investigated mainly in terms of operating principle, capacitor size and capacitor voltage ripple, capacitor voltage balancing technique and modulation scheme. The results of this investigation show that the M2C offers the following features: improved efficiency, lower supporting voltage and current in the switching devices and low dv/dt. These features make the M2C suitable for HVDC systems. Two new operational principles and modulation strategies for a Hybrid Cascaded Multilevel Converter (HCMC) are proposed in this thesis. Both modulation schemes extend the modulation index linear range and improve the output waveform quality. This gives the HCMC a higher power density than any known multilevel converter topology for the same dc link voltage and switching device rating. Simulations for both types of multilevel converter (M2C and HCMC) are supported by practical results from scaled hardware laboratory converters. Mathematical analysis and calculation of conversion loss for both types of multilevel converter and for the conventional two-level converter are performed. It is shown that both M2C and HCMC provide lower conversion loss compare to the conventional two-level converter. A control strategy for these two multilevel converters in point-to-point and multi-terminal HVDC systems is also studied. Simulation results show that these two converters are able to operate over the entire specified P-Q capability curve and are capable of riding through ac faults without imposing any over-voltage or over-current on the converter switches.
- Resource Type
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2012
- Former identifier
- 948179
- Embargo Note