Study of Protection Strategy for VSC Based
HVDC System
Hongtao Liu, Zheng Xu,Member, IEEE,
Abstract-This paper studies the operation performance of a
voltage source converter (VSC) based HVDC (VSC-HVDC
system) system under some characteristic faulted conditions
with and without protection measures. A protection strategy is
proposed to enhance the continuous operation performance of
the VSC-WDC system. The strategy utilize a newly developed
over-current limitation controller to suppress the VSC over-
currents and use a voltage chopper to suppress over-voltages
on the DC side of the VSC. Digital simulation is done to verify
the validity of the proposed protection strategy.
Index Terms-Voltage Source Converter (VSC), HVDC,
SVPWM, Protection,Faults.
I. INTRODUCTION
VSC-HVDC system systems provide attractive technical
advantages for applications. It can adjust reactive power of
the ac systems at both ends independently while maintaining
continuous balance of real power flow between the two ends.
Besides, it can also provide power to passive ac networks
such as load on an island [ 11. All those advantages over the
conventional line-commutated converter HVDC systems
come from the different structure of the VSC-HVDC system
system. The VSC-HVDC system system makes use of fully
controllable power electronic devices such as IGBT and
GTO as its components and employs self-commutation
~
techniques. Current technology can manufacture VSC-
HVDC system systems with a maximal transmission capacity
of 300Mw [21.
For continuous operation, the VSC-HVDC system should
supply as much electric power as possible during faults.
Controls must be adjusted to provide the optimized response
over the range of normal system operation, transient, and
faulted conditions. The reliable operation of a VSC-HVDC
system require that at any time the circuit elements should
not exceed its ratings. The protection is used to suppress
over-voltage, over-current, and over-heating.
This paper presents some protection strategies to shield
the equipments and to clear some critical faults. Protection
schemes can be put into practice by the equipped AC
Project 50277034 supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China.
Project No. G1998020310 supported by National Key Basic Research
Special Fund of China
Hongtao Liu, Zheng Xu and Ying Huang are with the Department of
Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027 P. R. China
(e-mail: hvdc@cee.zju.edu.cn).
0-7803-8110-6/03/$17.00 02003 IEEE
Ying Huang
breakers, DC transmission line switches and DC voltage
choppers. In addition, some schemes can be realized through
monitoring currents and voltages and triggering the IGBTs
of the VSC bridge appropriately. When the control system is
used for protection, the protective gate trigger pulses will
override the firing required for normal system operation.
The protection strategy study and its performance
verification are carried out on the base of simulation results
obtained by NETOMAC for different operation conditions.
The studied VSC-HVDC system model is a two-level VSC
based HVDC system utilizing PI controllers and space vector
PWM technique.
II. THE CONTROL STRATEGY OF V s c - m C SYSTEM
UNDER NORMAL OPERATION CONDITIONS
Under normal operation conditions, the steady-state
model of a two-terminal VSC-HVDC transmission system is
illustrated in Fig. 1. The dc system is connected to an active
ac system at each end. Both stations consist of a two-level
VSC. The capacitors in the dc side provide voltage support
to the VSCs and at the same time reduce the surge current
and harmonics during disturbances. Electric energy is
transferred via the reactor between the ac system and the dc
system. The ac filters are used to eliminate the harmonics
generated by the VSCs.
A. Steady-state Characteristics of VSC-HVDC system
For the VSC on the left (VSCl) side shown in Fig. 1,
assume that the fundamental phasor of the voltage on the ac
bus is U,,, the fundamental phasor of the voltage on the
converter side of the VSC is U,, . The phase angel between
U,, and U,, is 6 , . By ignoring the resistance RI of the
reactor, its reactance is x,= U & . The magnitude of the real
and reactive power flowing over the VSC are:
"1
From (l), the magnitude of real power flowing over the VSC
is determined primarily by 8,.The direction is determined
by the relative position between U,, and U,, .
49
 Fig. 1. Steady-statephysical model of a two-terminal VSC-HVDC system

When U,, lags behind U,, , the VSC functions as a rectifier
and absorbs real power from the left ac network. When U,,
takes leading position, the VSC works as an inverter and
dispatches real power to the left ac system. Thus, by
adjusting SI,control over the amount of real power via the
VSC can be achieved. Normally, the per unit value of the XI
is in the range from 0.1 p u to 0.3pu, and 6,is relatively
fundamental component of the VSC's output voltage and its
phase angle equal to the outputs of the two PI controllers.
The simulation results, which are shown in Fig.3, verify
the validity of the proposed Control Strategy of VSC-HVDC
system under normal operation conditions. The digital
simulation tool used is NETOMAC. The parameters of the
system are shown 'below: the rated voltages of the two ac
systems at both ends U,, = U s 2 = 1 0 k V , rated dc voltage is
U,, = 20kV, and the rated capacity of each VSC is SMVA .

-
small. Hence, from (2), it is desirable to control Q,, by
Ucl . In the same manner, 6, can be used to control P,, and IGBTs ring pulse

U,, can be used to control Q s l for the VSC on the right

side (VSC2).
B. Control Strategy for VSC-HVDC system
Since the coupling between P,, and Q,, , P,, and Qsz
are relatively weak, and self-commutation technique is
adopted for the VSC, so the real and reactive power can be
controlled independently and swiftly[3].
The voltage on the dc side is closely related to the real s p c h o m u s s i g ~ :U*,. U,, U,,

power transferred over the VSC-HVDC system. If the real Fig. 2. Controller of VSCl
power absorbed by one'end station from its connected ac
system is larger than the real power dispatched to the
opposite ac system on the other end, the voltage on the dc
side will rise, otherwise, it will fall down. So if the dc current
of the VSC-HVDC system remains constant, the increment
of its dc voltage is in proportion to the net increment of the
real power.
When constant dc voltage control is adopted for the left
VSC in Fig. 1 , P,, is then in proportion to the dc current Zd2
flowing into the right VSC. In order to control this real
power injected to the right ac system, a reference value of
the dc current ZdZr should be set forth. Namely, constant dc
current control should be adopted for the VSC on the right.
In summation, by adopting constant voltage control at one
end and constant current control at the other end, the control
of real power flow through the VSC-HVDC system can be
achieved. This control strategy does not require
communication between the two end stations. The reactive
power generated or absorbed by each VSC can be decided by
the practical need on its own side. The detailed controllers Fig. 3. Simulationresults under normal operation conditions
design are illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4. The primary U,, =U)kV,I,, =O.08k4,Qa =lMVAr,Q,, =-1MVAr
function of the space vector PWM block (SVPWM) in the
controller is to generate firing pulses to control the on and
off states of the components in the VSC, making the

50
 voltages and over-currents.

- I

WI

I 1

synchronouss1goal : U,, U*, U,

Fig. 4. Controller of VSC2

6- so yl w m 60

m.THE PROTECTION STRATEGY OF V s c - m C SYSTEM (a) Single phase to ground short circuit fault (Fl)
UNDER FAULTED CONDITIONS
Similar to any other equipment in power systems,
components of a VSC-HVDC system might be exposed to I " . y
transient voltage and current stresses as a result of several
fault cases, thus some protection measures must be taken to
prevent them from damage.
A. Operation Performance of VSC-HVDCsystem Under
Faulted Condition without Protection Measures
Considering the locations that faults could happen, some
characteristic fault cases are shown in Fig. 5 , which can be
divided into three kinds in respect to the protection system
6 E ,U tm m m . Wssc
design:
(b)Three phase to ground short circuit fault (F2)
(1) AC system faults including AC single phase to ground
(Fl) and three phase to ground (F2) short circuits at the __ ~
v
A A A
-
Ud 1
rectifier AC side or at the inverter AC side. IkV
(2) Converter faults such as DC capacitor over-voltage
faults caused by unbalanced operation, faults due to short - -m
circuit of anode and cathode of IGBT (F3) and IGBTs
damage (F4). Id2r
\-k.... .. ._ _.

'kfl
(3) DC transmission line to ground Short circuit faults -
.
*.z
D.6!

d m tm IPI m raw
(c) Faults due to short circuit of anode and cathode of IGBT(F3)

f
Fig. 5. Characteristic fault cases for study

11-a --
/kR A
The operation performance of the VSC-HVDC system Y- * vw
with the above stated control strategy has been studied at the dS
4 I tm ,s3 rm lS9 "YI
fault conditions. Fig. 6 (a) to (e) show the simulation results
(d) Faults due to IGBTsdamage (F4)
correspond to the above fault cases.
It is observed from Fig.6 that the VSC-HVDC system
without any protection measures can't keep continuous
operation in the case of faults because of converter over-

51
-In
Eiq. ( 5 ) shows that the direction of the active and reactive
Udl
I kV
power has to be considered to get proper control of the
magnitude of the ac current. For instance, with 0, = O , a
decrease of the current magnitude is obtained with A6, < 0
and AU,, c 0 for P,, > 0 and Q,, > 0 whereas A6, > 0 and
AU,, > 0 are required for P,, < 0 and Q,, < 0 . A controller
fulfilling this requirement is shown in Fig.7; in which the
current limiting function is realized by two PI-regulators and
two output low pass filters. The control error I,, +,I , where
I,, is the permitted limit of the ac current of the VSCl and
4 m m w BD tu) w

(e) DC transmission line to ground Short circuit faults (F5) Ii,I is its actual magnitude value, drives one PI regulator,

Fig. 6. Operation performance of VSC-HVDC system under faulted condition

without protection measures
B. Protection Strategy for VSC-HVDC system
For limited change of voltage and current in the converter,
the network seen from the VSCl can be represented by a
Thevenin equivalent with constant internal voltage and
which provides the control signal A&,, to the controller of
the phase angle of the ac voltage. And the other PI regulator
provides the control signal Au,,,, to the controller of the
magnitude of the ac voltage as shown in Fig. 2. The regulator
is active for [I,[> I,, only.
PI Low Past Wlcr

impedance. The ac voltage and current of the VSCl are

denoted by U,,L6, and I,L61, , respectively. U,,LO is the
internal voltage of the Thevenin equivalent and is used as a PI Low Pass Fllvl
reference. Then the current can be written as Fig. 7. Controller for limitation of over-current of VSCl

I,L6,, = U,,L6, - U , , L O -
- U,,L6, - U,, The same over-current protection strategy can be used to
(3)
R,+ joL, K VSC2. The relationship between the current change AI2 , the
Z,L(T - 8, 1
phase angle change A6, and the magnitude change of the ac
where 0, =arctan(&) , Z, -=
/, , R, and voltage AUc2 can be described as :
6
%
oL,being the resistance and reactance of the VSCl reactor.
By differentiation and some manipulations, we can get the
following expressions for the change of the magnitude of the
current. The curient change AI, is expressed as a function of
the change of the phase angle A6,and the change of the
magnitude of the ac voltage AU,, of the VSC1: The controller for limitation of over-current of VSC2 is
U,, cos(6, -ai, +e,) A6, + U,, sin@, - 6, + 0,) AUCI shown in Fig. 8. Its output signals are used as the supplement
~

AI, = input signal of VSC2 controller shown in Fig. 4.

Z, Z,
= ~ [ c o s ( 8 -61,)cos8,
, -sin(6, -6,,)sin8,]A6, (4)
Z,
+-[sin(6,
us, - 6,,)cos 8, +cos(6, -all)sin e,]AU,,
Zl
PI Low Fna7 Wtcr

Fig. 8 Controller for limitation of over-current of VSC2

To overcome the over-voltage problem, a voltage chopper

(5)
Where p,, ,Qcl and S,, are the active, reactive and apparent
power, respectively, with positive P,, ,Qcl out of the VSCl .
with a fast switch IGBT and a resistor in series, can be
provided in parallel to the DC capacitor bank. The chopper
can be used to discharge the capacitor bank in a
manner and to reduce the DC voltage to a suitable value. For

52
example, as soon as the voltage Udl exceeds its upper limit
value, the switch Tcl will be triggered on, then the capacitor /kV 1
Cl will be discharged through resister Rcl and Tcl, thus
Udl decreases. On the time of Udl decreases to its lower
- 'I
-1D
0.8,

limit value, Tcl will be triggered off. Therefore, Udl can

never exceed its permitted upper limit value.
AC line breakers (brl, br2) are used to disconnect the
-
11-a
D.5

I LR
fault line. When the magnitude of ac side voltage drops
below a very low limit, the VSC is blocked by the breaker in 4.s
m rrr
such a way that the converter operates open-circuited i.e. the P Ed tm ,SI KO

(b) Three phase to ground short circuit fault (F2)

currents are zero. During the blocked state, the phase angle
relative to the reference from the phase angle controller
should be set to zero to avoid a power impulse, which may
create excessive over-voltages when normal conditions are
restored. After the fault clearing normal control is resumed
when the magnitude of the ac voltage has increased above
the limit.
DC line switches (swl, sw2) are equipped for fast
isolation of the VSC at serious DC line to ground faults.
C. Operation p e l f o m n c e of VSC-HVDCsystem with 4.51

proposed protection strategy Under Faulted condition 0 m ISI s

a 50 "52

(c) Faults due to short circuit of anode and cathode of IGBT (n)
In order to verify the effect of the proposed protection
strategy, the characteristic fault cases shown in Fig. 5 are
also studied for the VSC-HVDC system with the proposed
over-current limitation controller and the DC voltage
choppers. The simulation results corresponding to the
characteristic fault cases are shown in Fig. 9, from which we
can conclude that the magnitude of the ac current and DC
voltage during fault conditions are greatly decreased, - Ob, I

compared to the results in the same fault condition shown in

Fig. 6. With the proposed protection strategy, the VSC-
HVDC system will not suffer from over-voltage or over- 6 I m ID * m w

current damage in most fault conditions. (d) Faults due to IGBTs damage (F4)

- w
Ud I
/ kV
~~~~

-
Id1
0.t
- 0.2
Id1
-20 I
1161 / kfl
Idlr
V
ld2r
/ kR
- a.?.
0.6,

0.61
6 . . ID tm tp1. . 103 LIP - d d o l s c 4 a m p1 Im so IOD-

(a) Single phase to ground short circuit fault (Fl) (e) DC transmissionline to ground short circuit faults (F.5)

Fig. 9. Operation performce of VSC-HVDC system with proposed protection

strategy under faulted conditions

IV. CONCLUSION
This paper proposes a protection scheme to enhance the
continuous operation performance of the VSC-HVDC
system during faults. The results of the paper are
summarized as follows:

53
 (1) The VSC-HVDC system without any protection
measures may have severe over-voltage and over-current in
faults conditions.
(2) The proposed protection strategy is composed of over-
current limitation controllers to suppress the VSC over-
currents and DC voltage choppers to suppress over-voltages
on the DC side of the VSC.
(3) The VSC-HVDC system with the above-mentioned
new protection strategy can operate continuously in various
fault conditions. Especially, it can continue supplying power
as much as possible at the period of phase failure.

V. REFERENCES

U. Axelsson, A. Holm C. Liljegren, K. Eriksson, L. Weimers, Gotland

HVDC Light Transmission-Worlds First Commercial Small Scale DC
Transmission, CIRED Conference, Nice, France, May 1999.
N. Horle, K. Eriksson, A. Maeland, T. Nestli, Electrical Supply for
Offshore Installations Made Possible by Use of VSC Technology, Cigri
2002 Conference, Paris, France, Aug 2002.
Hongtao Liu, Zheng Xu, Zhi Gao. A Control Strategy for Three-level
VSC-HVDC system System Proceedings of IEEE PES Summer Meeting
2002. Chicago, USA, July.21-25,2002.

VI. BIOGRAPHIES
Hongtao Liu was bom in Shandong, China, in April 1974.
He is now a Ph. D. Candidate in the Electrical Engineering
Department of Zhejiang University, China.,Hismain field of
interest includes HVDC and FACTS.

Zheng Xu was bom in Zhejiang, China, in September 1962.

He received the BS, MS and PhD. degrees from Zhejiang
University, Chinain 1983,1986 and 1993 respectively, all
in Electrical Engineering. He has been with the Electrical
Engineering Department of Zhejiang University since 1986.
Since 1998 he is a professor of Zhejiang University. His
research area includes HVDC, FACTS, power harmonics
and power quality.

Ying Huang was bom in Shandong, China, in October

1977. She received the BS, MS degrees from Shandong
University, China in 1999 and 2002 respectively, all in
Electrical Engineering. She is now a Ph.D. student in E. E.
Department of Zhejiang University. Her main field of
interests includes power system stability and control of

54