JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 11, NO.

1, MARCH 2013 66

AbstractIn order to effectively imitate the dynamic
operation characteristics of the HVDC (high voltage
direct current) power transmission system at a real
500 kV HVDC transmission project, the electro-
mechanical-electromagnetic transient hybrid simulation
was carried out based on advanced digital power system
simulator (ADPSS). In the simulation analysis, the built
hybrid models dynamic response outputs under three
different fault conditions are considered, and by
comparing with the selected fault recording waveforms,
the validities of the simulation waveforms are estimated
qualitatively. It can be ascertained that the hybrid
simulation model has the ability to describe the HVDC
systems dynamic change trends well under some special
fault conditions.



Index TermsAdvanced digital power system
simulator, high voltage direct current power trans-
mission, hybrid simulation, transient response analysis.

1. Introduction
High voltage direct current (HVDC) technology has
been considered as a viable alternative to AC for long
distance power transmission and interconnection of power
systems. HVDC technology allows power transmission
between AC networks with different frequencies or
networks which may not be synchronized. Since there is no
skin effect on DC transmission line, inductive and
capacitive parameters do not restrict the transmission
capacity of HVDC systems. Besides, according to fast DC
power modulation configured in a HVDC projects control
system, the power oscillation in its related AC power grids
can be restrained timely, and that is helpful to enhance the
transient stability of power system
[1]
.


Manuscript received July 15, 2012; revised October 9, 2012. This work
was supported by the General Program of Chinese Postdoctoral Science
Foundation under Grant No. 2012M511595.
L. Chen is with the Post-Doctoral Scientific Research Workstation,
Hubei Electric Power Company, Wuhan 430077, China (Corresponding
author e-mail: stclchen1982@yahoo.com.cn).
K.-J. Zhang, Y.-J. Xia, and G. Hu are with Hubei Electric Power
Research Institute, Wuhan 430077, China.
Digital Object Identifier: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-862X.2013.01.012

In China, a number of HVDC projects have been put
into service, and meantime some novel HVDC technologies,
such as the light HVDC based on voltage source converters
(VSCs) and IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) power
semiconductors, have also been developed to promote the
application of power electronics. As a matter of fact, there
are five 500 kV HVDC power transmission projects
whose rectifier stations are located in Hubei Power Grid,
and the dynamic response characteristics of these HVDC
projects will undoubtedly play an important role in the
secure and stable operation of Hubei power system.
Therefore, it has the practical significance to study on
modeling and simulation of the five HVDC projects.
By reviewing the research status in HVDC simulation
field, it can be found that most of HVDC models are
constructed using non-real-time electromagnetic transient
simulation tools, such as PSCAD/EMTDC and MATLAB/
SIMULINK
[2][4]
. Admittedly, the models built by these
simulation tools can reflect the operation characteristics of
HVDC to a certain extent. However, since the scale of an
electromagnetic transient simulation model is limited by its
software algorithm, an equivalent treatment should be
applied into the AC power grids connected to the HVDC
model, and the interaction characteristics of AC-DC power
systems may not be effectively simulated. Advanced digital
power system simulator (ADPSS) independently developed
by China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) is a
real-time hybrid simulation software with great working
performance
[5],[6]
. This software can execute the electro-
mechanical-electromagnetic hybrid simulation, and a
HVDC model can be divided into an electromagnetic
transient sub-grid including HVDC primary equipment, a
control system, and an electromechanical sub-grid
consisting of the rest AC power systems. Consequently, not
only the scale of simulation study can be guaranteed, but
also its calculation accuracy may reach a higher level.
In this paper, taking the 500 kV HVDC power
transmission project from Jiangling to Echeng for modeling
object, its electromechanical-electromagnetic hybrid
simulation model was built according to the HVDC primary
equipments actual parameters and the classical parameters
of the control system based CIGRE (International Council
on Large Electric Systems) HVDC benchmark. In the
simulation analysis, the built hybrid models dynamic
Hybrid Simulation of 500 kV HVDC Power
Transmission Project Based on Advanced Digital
Power System Simulator
Lei Chen, Kan-Jun Zhang, Yong-Jun Xia, and Gang Hu
CHEN et al.: Hybrid Simulation of 500

kV HVDC Power Transmission Project Based on Advanced Digital Power System Simulator 67
response characteristics under three different fault
conditions were considered, and by comparing with the
fault recording waveforms, the validities of the simulation
waveforms were estimated qualitatively.
2. Simulation Principle of ADPSS
ADPSS is chiefly composed of terminal workstation,
manage console, calculation nodes, and communication
system
[7]
. The terminal workstation is used for building
detailed simulation model, and the manage console can
carry out the comprehensive management for data store and
routine calculation. Due to the use of the communication
network, the data exchange between different calculation
nodes can be realized.
After a simulation models electromechanical sub-grid
and electromagnetic sub-grid are divided clearly, the two
sub-grids simulation data will be uploaded to the manage
console, and different calculation CPUs will be assigned for
them. The two sub-grids will keep synchronization
simulation speed, and based on the hybrid simulation
interface, the two sub-grids can execute the data exchange
conveniently. In addition, the electromechanical sub-grid
can also obtain some other real-time simulation information
from the data interface. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram
of electromechanical-electromagnetic hybrid simulation.
3. Modeling Method of the Real
500

kV HVDC Project
The 500 kV HVDC project from Jiangling to Echeng
was built for the energy transmission from Three Gorges
Hydropower Station to Guangdong Load Center, and the
nonsynchronous interconnection of Huazhong Grid and
Southern Power Grid. This HVDC projects rated bipolar
transmission power is about 3000 MW, and its rated direct
voltage/current is 500 kV/3kA. In addition, the projects
rectifier and inverter sides are respectively located in
500 kV Jiangling and Echeng stations, and its configured
control system is manufactured by ABB Company. In the
following text, in consideration of the HVDC projects
primary equipment and control system, their modeling
methods are respectively presented.
3.1 Primary Equipment Model Building
Fig. 2 shows the simulation schematic diagram of the
500 kV HVDC project model. This simulation model is
composed of electromechanical and electromagnetic
transient sub-models. Due to the absence of structural and
operational parameters of Southern Power Grid, the AC
system connected to the projects inverter side is equivalent
to an infinite power source. This infinite power source with
the HVDC projects primary equipment and control system
is all built in the electromagnetic sub-grid, and the rest AC
power systems connected to the HVDC projects rectifier
side will be arranged in the electromechanical sub-grid.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of electromechanical-electromagnetic
hybrid simulation.


Fig. 2. Simulation diagram of the 500 kV HVDC project model.

Earth
electrode
Converter
transformer
AC side filter
Rectifier
Smoothing
reactor
DC line
Control
system
DC
filter
Inverter

JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 11, NO. 1, MARCH 2013 68

Table 1: Some primary parameters of the HVDC project
Primary equipment Simulation parameters
Smoothing reactor 290mH
11/13 order AC filter
R
1
=2000 , C
1
=1.617 F,
L
1
=43.82 mH, C
2
=57.8 F,
L
2
=1.226 mH
24/36 order AC filter
R
1
=500 , C
1
=1.617 F,
L
1
=7.25 mH, C
2
=9.7 F,
L
2
=1.209 mH
DC transmission line R=8.74 , L=0.84 H
12/24 order DC filter
C
1
=2 F, L
1
=11.71 mH,
C
2
=9.047 F, L
2
=5.84 mH
12/36 order DC filter
C
1
=2 F, L
1
=6.46 mH,
C
2
=3.752 F, L
2
=11.35 mH


Fig. 3. Logic diagram of the HVDC control system model.

Fig. 4. V-I characteristic of the HVDC control system model.
The actual HVDC project consists of the following
primary components: converter transformers, smoothing
reactors, AC side filters, DC side filters, DC transmission
lines, rectifiers, and inverters. There are actually 12
single-phase-duplex-winding converter transformers
installed at the rectifier/inverter side, and in order to reduce
the calculation node and improve the simulation velocity, 4
three-phase-duplex-winding transformer models are
adopted in the simulation. The smoothing reactor is
imitated by a linear inductor model, and the models of the
AC and DC side filters are constructed based on their
practical structures and tuning parameters. As the frequency
analysis of DC transmission line is not the emphasis of this
simulation, the DC line whose length is 941 km can be
simulated by the series of a few lumped-parameter line
models. For the rectifier/inverter equipped with a large
number of common thyristors, the internal fault occurring
at power electronic equipment is not considered here, and
the single converter valve is simulated by an ideal
switching element with the parallel buffer circuit.
Table 1 indicates some primary parameters of the
studied 500 kV HVDC project, and the detailed structure
characteristics of the AC and DC filters can refer to [8].
3.2 HVDC Control System Modeling
Fig. 3 denotes the logic diagram of the HVDC control
system model. This control model is according to the
CIGRE HVDC benchmark system, and its configuration
characteristics can be described as follows.
The constant-current controller is arranged at the
rectifier side, and the constant-current and constant-voltage
as well as constant-gamma controllers are configured at the
inverter side, and the inverters firing angle will depend on
the minimum among the outputs of the three controllers.
Besides, the rectifier and inverter will both configure the
voltage dependent current order limiter (VDCOL) which
can reduce the reference value of direct current (I
dref
) in
case of the large decline in direct voltage, so as to suppress
the overcurrent and maintain the system voltage.
In normal state, there is a small margin (I
dmarg
) between
the direct current references of the two constant-current
controllers. Since I
dref-inverter
will be smaller than I
dref-rectifier
,
the output of the constant-current controller configured in
the inverter side will be regulated to its maximum, and
accordingly this controller will not be selected among the
three controllers. Then, the inverters firing angle will be
dominated by the constant-voltage controller or the
constant-gamma controller.
Fig. 4 reflects the V-I characteristic curve of the HVDC
control system model. The HVDC system normally
operates at point X, as shown in Fig. 4. However, during a
severe contingency producing a voltage drop on the AC
system connected to the rectifier side, the operating point of
the HVDC system will move to point Y. Consequently, the
rectifiers firing angle will be forced to reach its setting
minimum value, and the inverters control mode will switch
to the constant-current mode from the original constant-
voltage or constant-gamma mode. Similarly, a voltage drop
on the AC system feeding the inverter will force a control
mode to change to the gamma regulation. It is worth noting
that the gamma reference can be revised by the delta
gamma error (DGE) provided by the constant-current
controller. The above-mentioned HVDC control system
model is built in ADPSS using the classical parameters
offered by CIGRE, which can be achieved in [9].
CHEN et al.: Hybrid Simulation of 500

kV HVDC Power Transmission Project Based on Advanced Digital Power System Simulator 69
















(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Comparison between the simulation and fault recording waves of U
d
and I
d
under rectifier-side bus ground fault: (a) simulation
results and (b) fault recording waves.
















(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Comparison between the simulation and fault recording waves of U
d
and I
d
under inverter-side bus ground fault: (a) simulation
results and (b) fault recording waves.
4. Simulation Analysis of the Real
500 kV HVDC Project
On the basis of the electromechanical transient
simulation model, the load flow calculation was carried out
at a special time, and the HVDC projects actual bipolar
transmission power was about 1175 MW, and the per-unit
value was 0.39 p.u. Then, U
dref
and I
dref
could be set as 1 p.u.
and 0.39 p.u, respectively. To estimate the availabilities of
the built HVDC hybrid model, the AC system fault and the
DC line fault were simulated, and further the simulation
results were compared with the fault recording waves from
a 500 kV/3 kA HVDC project based ABB control
[10]
.
4.1 AC Bus Ground Fault Simulation
Supposing that the single-phase (phase A) ground fault
happened at the AC buses connected to the rectifier and
inverter at t =5 s respectively, and the fault duration was
100 ms and the ground resistance was 0.04 . Fig. 5 and
Fig. 6 respectively show the comparison between the
simulation and fault recording waves of U
d
and I
d
under the
two fault conditions. From these figures, it is found that the
hybrid models direct voltage/current simulation waves can
have approximately the same dynamic trend as fault
recording data under the grounded short-circuit happening
at the AC bus connected to the converter, and the HVDC
simulation models effectiveness is proved to a certain
extent. With regard to the above two fault cases, the
inverter sides control regulator would both switch to the
constant-current mode for maintaining the direct current.
4.2 DC Line Ground Fault Simulation
Assuming that the ground fault happened at the DC line
connected to the inverters output end at t = 5 s, the fault
duration was 200 ms, and the ground resistance was 4 .
Fig. 7 shows the comparison between the simulation and
fault recording waves of U
d
and I
d
under this fault condition.
Once the

DC line fault occurred, affected by an actual
0
4
6
8
I
d

(
p
.
u
)

4.9 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
Time (s)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
4
4
U
d

(
p
.
u
)

1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
4.9 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
Time (s)
U
d

(
p
.
u
)

I
d

(
p
.
u
)

0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Time (s)
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Time (s)
1.0
1.0
1
0
1
2
U
d

(
p
.
u
)

2
1
0
1
I
d

(
p
.
u
)

4.9 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
Time (s)
4.9 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
Time (s)
I
d

(
A
)

U
d

(
k
V
)

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Time (s)
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Time (s)
600
400
200
0
200
400
600
800
4.5k
JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 11, NO. 1, MARCH 2013 70
















(a)















(b)
Fig. 7. Comparison between the simulation and fault recording
waves of U
d
and I
d
under DC line ground fault: (a) simulation
results and (b) fault recording waves.
HVDC control system, an emergency dephasing operation
would be performed on the rectifier/inverter according to
the DC traveling-wave protection, and the firing angles of
the two converters will be regulated to their own maximum
values for bleeding the DC fault current.
Since the protection strategy was not constructed in the
HVDC control system simulation, there were a few
differences between the direct currents simulation and fault
recording waves. Compared with the condition that the
recording DC fault current was cleared and its amplitude
would become zero, the simulated DC fault current was
limited to a lower level. After the line fault was moved, the
HVDC simulation model could return to its initial
steady-state quickly and in time.
5. Conclusions
Aiming at a practical 500 kV HVDC power trans-
mission project, its electromechanical-electromagnetic
transient hybrid simulation model was built based on
ADPSS, and the running characteristics under different
fault conditions were imitated. By comparing the
simulation results with the real fault recording waves, it
was observed that the simulation model could describe the
selected 500 kV HVDC systems dynamic response well
under some special fault conditions. When the AC bus fault
happened, the direct voltage and current simulation waves
could have approximately the same dynamic change trend
as the recording data. In case that the DC line fault occurred,
there would be a few differences between the two kinds of
waves, and in contrast with that the recording DC fault
current was cleared, the simulated DC fault current was
limited to a lower level. To more fully imitate the HVDC
project, the building of protection strategy in the control
model will be performed in future.
References
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[4] D.-C. Yang, T.-Q. Liu, and X.-Y. Li, Visualization of the
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G.

Li,

Hybrid

electromechanical-electromagnetic

simulation
to transient process of large-scale power grid on the basis of
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[7] T.-L. Ye, X.-W. Wang, J. Gao, and H. Fan, Applying and
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[10] L.-F. Xiong, Modeling of HVDC converter firing control,
M.S. thesis, College of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing,
China, 2011 (in Chinese).
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5 1.5
1
0.5
0
0.5
I
d

(
p
.
u
)

5.0 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8
Time (s)
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
0.5
0
0.5
1.0
1.5
U
d

(
p
.
u
)

5.0 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8
Time (s)
500
0
500
1000
U
d

(
k
V
)

5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Time (s)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Time (s)
I
d

(
A
)

CHEN et al.: Hybrid Simulation of 500

kV HVDC Power Transmission Project Based on Advanced Digital Power System Simulator 71
Lei Chen was born in Hubei, China in 1982.
He received both the B.S. degree and the
Ph.D. degree from the Huazhong University
of Science and Technology (HUST), Hubei in
2004 and in 2010, both in electrical
engineering. He is currently working at the
Post-Doctoral Scientific Research
Workstation of Hubei Electric Power
Company. His research interests include power system real-time
simulation, smart grid, and superconducting power application.

Kan-Jun Zhang was born in Hubei, China in
1977. He received both the B.S. degree and
the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from HUST in 1998 and 2008, respectively.
He is currently working with the Hubei
Electric Power Research Institute. His
research interests include power system
real-time simulation, smart substation, as well
as relay protection and control.
Yong-Jun Xia was born in Hubei, China in
1978. He received both the B.S. degree and
the M.S. degree from the Wuhan Institute of
Technology in 1999 and 2002, respectively,
and the Ph.D. degree from HUST in 2006, all
in electrical engineering. He is currently
working at the Hubei Electric Power
Research Institute. His research interests
include power system real-time simulation, smart substation, as
well as relay protection and control.

Gang Hu was born in Shanghai, China in 1958. He is currently
working with the Hubei Electric Power Research Institute. His
research interests include smart substation, as well as relay
protection and control.
(Photograph not available at the time of publication)