2004 internattonal Conference on

-
Power System Technology POWERCON 2004
Singapore, 21-24 November 2004

Modeling of VSC-HVDC and

Its Active Power Control Scheme
Yin Ming, Li Gengyin, Member, ZEEE, Li Guangkai, Liang Haifeng, Zhou Ming, Student Member, IEEE

voltage regulator) mode [Z]to regulate the corresponding DC

Abslracl-Tbe paper presents an equivalent continuous-time
state-apace model in the synchronous dq reference frame €or
VSC-HVDC. Based on the model, a power controller is designed
to follow command signals. A Multi-Input Multi-Output -0)
control scheme is developed in the paper. The scheme features
feed forward compensation to eliminate the coupling between the
d- and q-aris of the Voltage Source Converter (VSC) model.
AIso, the response speed of the controller can be accelerated by
introducing a derivative to the active power loop. With the
simulation using PSCADIEMTDC, the validity of the mathematic
model and the feasibility of the power controller have been
proved.
Index Tenns - VSC-EVDC; VSC; SPWM; active power
control
I. INTRODUCTION
HE new HVDC system, known as VSC-HVDC or HVDC
T Light, has Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) and Pulse
Width Modulation IPWM) at its core, different from current
source cotlverters in traditional HVDC. The differences in
structure between the two types ofconverters contribute to the
differences in their performance. Generally, the new
transmission technology, namely VSC-HVDC, has the
following advantages compared with kaditional HVDC [I]:
a) Independent and flexible control of active and reactive
power;
b) Possible support of weak AC systems or even passive
systems;
c) Bi-directional power transmission without changing the
polarity of DC link.
According to these advantages, VSC-HVM: transmission
system is likely to play an important role in such areas as
distributed power generation, power market, feeding remote
isolated loads or city centers, etc.
When used €or connecting two or more active systems, a
VSC can be regarded as a double-input and double-output
nonlinear coupled identity. The two inputs to VSC are phase
angle and modulation index. The two outputs include one of
DC voltage or active power and one of AC voltage or reactive
power. In a VSC-HVDC system, one of the two converter
stations usually operates under DC voltage control @C
link voltage, whereas the other station operates under active
power control mode.
Some mathematic models and control structures for VSC-
HVDC have been proposed [3] [4]. In 131, the model is only
for steady state and the controller design is too complicated.In
[4], a nonlinear DC voltage controller is proposed, but the
power control is less specified. This paper presents an
equivalent continuous time state-space model of VSC-HVDC.
The model is derived in the so-called dq reference fiame, two
phase rotating reference frame through the Park’s transform.
Based on the model, an active power controlIer is designed on
one end of the DC link to track the set points (reference values)
and the power balance can be automatically realized between
the AC system with which the converter is connected and the
DC link.In the analysis of the control strategy, the reference
frame is so selected that the voltage of the AC source is on the
q-axis exactly. Therefore, the active power exchange between
the AC system and the DC link canbe controlled by the q-axis
current component, whereas the reactive power exchange can
be controlled by the d-axis current component. The two
current components, after passing PI controllers, are used to
produce the q- and d-axis components of the converter’s AC
voltage. Furthermore, in accordance with the inherent
relationship between the two resulting voltage components
and the DC voltage, commands of the two inputs of the
converter, namely modulation index and phase angle, can be
worked out.
11. FUNDAMENTALSOF vsc-HVDC
Fig. 1 illustrates the basic structure of VSC-HVDC. In the
figure, the interface reactors (usually transformers) are applied
to smooth current and secure the power exchange between AC
system and DC link. The reservoir DC capacitors are used for
voltage support and harmonic attenuation. The two converters
on the ends of DC link have the same structure. and both
connect active AC networks. For the simplicity of analysis
Without degrading its accuracy, the AC system is three-phase
symmetric.

This work was supported in part by The Research Fund for the Doctoral
Program of Higher Education, the State Education Minishy of China (No.
2OO10079OO t ).
Yin Ming, Li Gengyin, Li Gumgkai, Liaug Haifeng, and Zhou Ming are
with the School of Electrical Engineering, No& China Electric Power
University, Baodiug 071003, Hebei, P.R.China (e-mail: routoute@sina.com,
ligy@cepu.edu.cn, Igk@ucepu.du.cn, hniang@ncepu.edu.cn) Fig. 1. Principle diagram of VSC-HVDC

0-7803-8610-8104/$20.00 0 2004 lEEE 1351

 Usually, the VSC have four operation modes: where v,d;’and i$ are the d- and q-axis components of the
a) Constant DC voltage control;
b) Constant active power control; AC source voltage and current respectively. The power
c) Constant DC current control; balance between the AC source and the DC link is formed as
d) Constant AC voltage control. P = idClVdCl (8)
In the study, the converter on the left end operates in mode
b, and the other converter in mode a. where is the DC current to be filtered by the DC capacitor.
The turn-on and turn-offcommands of the static switches On the DC side of the converter, the current balance
of the converters are generated by Sinusoidal Pulse Width relationship is
Modulation (SPWM). The modulating signal is a sinusoidal
one and the carrier signal is a triangular one. The ratio (9)
between the peak values of the two is defined as the
modulation index M. The relationship between the where imis the current on the DC transmissionlines.
fuadamental components of the converter AC voltage and the Substituting (6) and (8) into (9) yields
DC link voltage can be expressed as
--
’
3vX +-+L
3vX (10)
v,(t)
1
= --V,Msin(ot + 6) (1) dr 2c1v,, 2C1V&] c,
2
So, (2) and (3) and (10) constitute the mathematical model
where 6 is the shift angle between the fundamental voltage ofrectifier in the dq synchronous frame.
component of the AC bus and that of the bridge AC voltage of Similarly, we can have the mathematic model of inverter as
the converter. following
Under n o m 1 conditions, the SPWM-VSC can be treated d d
as a linear amplifier. dig = --R2
- d
i,, + ui72+ vm1 -v*2
dt L, =2

m.MATHEhfATIC MODELOF V s c - m C
For the rectifier, there exist the following voltage equations
in the form of dq synchronous M e .

the equivalent resistance and inductance, respectively, and w w.CONTROL STRATEGY

is the source angular fkequency. Note subscript “1” refers to
the case of VSCI , and “2” to the case of VSC2.
For the convenience of the analysis, we have the following
assumption: (1) VSC1, the power dispatcher in Fig.1 controls
For the VSC, the following relationships exist [5]
both the active and reactive power exchanges between the AC
system and DC link. Tfie relevant control strategy will take up
vtm, = l2;pV,, -v&
= MI COS(S,) (4)
major part of this section. (2) VSC2, the DC voltage regulator
2
bas the DC voltage and the transformer’s AC output voltage as
Vbi = h;vdc,= --V&
MI sin(&,) (5) its control goals. The voltage control scheme is illustrated in
2 Fig.2. The voltage control process can be summarized as
following.
where ~2~
represents the d- and q-axis components of the
converter’s AC voltage, Vdl is the DC voitage.
Neglecting the losses of the converter and the transformer,
power exchanges k m the AC source to the DC link are vd-f
expressed as
3
p = -(l&;+:V Z I i A )
2

Pig. 2. Voltage control principle diagram

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 At h t , V& the voltage across the DC terminals of VSC2 is of the AC current, relatively. OL is the reactance of the
measured and compared with Yd~rrf.the reference value to transformer.
produce an error. Then, the error, after passing an integrator In the predetermined synchronous reference h e , (2) and
paralleled with a first order block, is used to generate the (3) can be written as
phase shift signal for the PWM actuator. Ai the same
time, V, the AC voltage is also controlled through a PI
controller to produce the modulation index Mi.
The paper is to give a more detailed explanation of the
power control strategy in the following sections.
A. Cumen#References
In the following analysis, we align the dq-axis in such In order to decouple the d- and q-axis, we use feed forward
direction that the g-axisis in phase with the AC source voltage, technique to compensate the cross-coupling terms cui;: and
i.e. v,4 = vSl = 0 . So, (6) and (7) can be written as Wi;: iu (17) and (18). The d- and q-axis components of the
AC source voltage ( V," , :
V ) are regarded as two constant
perturbations and should be compensated by the integral part
of the PI controller. Here, defme two new inputs vd and vpas
vd = -vk, 119)
where ii, i: are active current component and reactive vq = -OIL, ii + vJ1- v k l (20)
current component,respectively.
Therefore, two independent Wt-order models in the d- and
In the proposed active power controller, the actual active
q-axis directions are obtained 161, as shown in (21) and (22)
power from the AC system to the DC link is calculated out by
the current and voltage of the AC source,as shown in (16) RI)$
vd = (SL, i- (21)

v4 +
= (sL, R,)ii (22)
For symmetric three-phase system, the result of (14) where s is the Laplace operator.
equals to what derived ftom (15). Assume pmf is the active Based on the models, two separate current loops are
power reference. The error of active power (prpf-pl) is passed obtained which have two similar PI controllers designated PI2
through the PI controller to generate the signal value of q-axis
and PI3. So, we can see that each loop comprises one branch
current component iArzr.The d-axis current refaence is given of the corresponding current component with a feedback
by reactive power reference qM control of the AC current controI, one branch with a feed
forward compensation for the crossing-term in the voltage
B. Conwol Shucfure balance equations. The PI controllers are not output limited
The active power control block diagram is illustrated in and generate control signals 4 and VP. The summation blocks
Fig.3. The reactive power is also controlled with a simple use the control signals and (19) and (20) to compute vLnl
open loop by adjusting the reactive current in the d-axis. The
AC currents and voltages bave been transformed fiom the and vLl, According to (4) and (5), M, and 6,can be worked
three-phase obc system into the two-phase synchronous dq out for the modulating signal.
reference plane through the Park's transform.
C. Phare Locked Loop (PLL)
The phase locked loop, in dependence on the sensed value
of the angular frequency w of the AC source and of the phase
position of the AC system voltage, generates a synchronizing
signa1 6. The synchronizing signal has the importance in
synchronizing the 4 reference plane with the AC source
voltage ubc system. Thus, when 5 is in synchronism with the
phase of the source voltage, the rotating dq reference plane is
locked and maintained in synchronism with the three-phase
nbc system. Under this condition, the d-component of the AC
system voltage becomes zero.
Fig. 3. Power control principle diagram
v. SIMULATION STUDK
According to (15), Kq-2/(3Y,,). The active power P is To validate the established continuous time space-state
determined by (1 6). id and P are the d- and q-axis components model and the control skategy, simulation has been performed

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with the PSCADRMTDC electromagnetic transient PREC QREC

E2
0
simulation software. The parameters of the simulation system
are as follows: J=SOHz, Y,l(peak value)=11.26kV, Y&eak 6o
value)=93,90kV, RI==0.15fl, R2=8.451CT, oL1=0.53R, w&= 30
31.36i-2, C1=C2=450@,&=5.36R. The rated capacities and a 0
voltage ratios of the transformers connected with VSCl and -30
VSC2 are lOOMVA, lOOMVA, 13.8/62,5kV, 62.5/115kV, V

relatively. The transmission distance is 100km; the rated DC I i

voltage is 70kV. The Ikquency of the modulation signal is 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00
2250Hz. Time (s)
Four cases of simulation are performed to validate the Fig. 6. AC power at Case 3
control strategy. The simulation includes active power step
changes from 50 to 70Mw (Case l), from 70 to 50MW (Case
2), power reversion from 50 to -3OMW (Case 3, with the
constant reactive power of OMVar) and reactive power step
change from 0 to -2OMvar (Case 4, With the constant active
power of 70MW). The simulation results me given in the
following figures. Fig.4 and Fig.5 *lay the AC power
changes corresponding to Case 1 and Case 2, respectively.
Fig.6 and Fig.7 present the AC power and the DC power
changes, respectively, at Case 3. Fig.8 shows the power
changes at Case 4. All the command signals are actuated at the 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00
instant of 0.72s. The parameters of the PI controllers of VSCl Time (6)
are: for PII, k1=l.8, T~O.019;for PI2 and PI3, k2=k3=0.55,
Fig. 7. DC power at Case 3
T,=T,=19. The parameters of voltage regulator are k,=7,
T,-0.02; kdc=3, G41.6, TA4.018;T e 3 0 . 0 PRW: 0 QREC
Such simulation indexes as the rise time tl*,(second), peak
time b,,&econd), settling time &&econd), overshoot CT and
steady state error A (absolute value) for the four cases are
listed in Table I.

e
0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00
Time (s)

Fig. 8. AC powcr at Case 4

TABLE I
MAIN INDEXFS OP SIMULATION

0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00 Items Case1 Case2 Case3 Case4
Time (s) tm&) 0.01s 0.015 0.016 0.017

Fig. 4. AC power at Case 1 tds) 0.022 0.024 0.024 0.024

Id&l) 0.102 0.146 0.256 0.163
c+) 8.17 7.58 46.31 46.50
4%) 0.26 0.42 0.67 0.65

From the simulation results, following conclusions can be

drawn: a) control of VSC-HVDC requires no communication
channels between the stations; b) the proposed power
controller can provide desirable stability and high response
speed, even for large step changes, which can be completed
I l within 5 to 8 cycles; c) at different operating points the
a 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00 controlled variables can reach very high precision; d) with the
Time (s) proposed power conwoller DC power can be reversed rapidly
Fig. S. AC power at Case 2 and steadily, highlighting no occurrence of the change in the
power transmission direction for the second time.

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 VI. MODIFICATION OF POWER CONTROLLER
In order to shorten the response time of the controller, a
derivative term D(s) (See (23)) is combined to PI1 of the
active power loop in Fig.3.
sT
D(s) = G-
l+sT
The derivative term considers how fast the error signal is
changing at an instant in time. The derivative yields a rate of
change or slope of the error m e . Therefore, it can introduce
an early correctional signal to the system and accelerate action
speed of the controller and shorten the adjusting time. During
the simulation, we have G 0 . 8 5 , T=O.Ol,with no change to
the reactive power loop and other parameters. The main
VDI. REFERENCES
Li Gengyin, Lv Pengfei, Li Guangltai, and Zhou Mug, "The new
development and review for HVM: light," Automation of EZechic
Power Sysfem, vol. 27, no. 4. pp. 77-81, Feb. 2003.
Boon Teck Ooi and Xiao Wang,"Voltage angle lock loop control of the
boost type PWM converter for HVDC application," IEEE Zkmucfium
on Power Electronics, vol. 5 , no. 2, pp.229-235, April, 1990.
Zhang Guibin and Xu Zheng, "Steady-state model for VSC based
-- - -
HVDC a d its controller desim" proceedinns ofthe CSEE. vol. 22. m.
I, pp. 17-22, Jan. 2002,
I. L. Thomas, S. Poulain and A. Benchaib, "Analysis of a robust dc-bus
voltage conlml system for a VSC bxnsmission scheme," AC-DCPower
Trummisrian, IEE ConferencePublication N0.485,pp.28-23, November
2001.
V. R. Dinavahi, M. Reze Irvan, and R Bonert, "Real-time digital
simulation of power electronic apparatus interfaced with digital
controllers," IEEE Trawaciions on Power Delivety, vol. 16, no. 4,
pp.775-78 I, October 2001 ~

indexes of the simulation are listed in Table II. C. K. Sao, P.W. Lebn, M. R. Iravaai, and J. A. Martinez,"A benchmark
system for digital timedomain simulation of a pulse-width-modulated
TABLE lI D-STATCOM,"IEEE Pansixtiom on Power Deli-, vol. 17,no. 4,
MAtN lNDEXES AFITR MODlRCATlON pp.1113-1120,0ctober2002.

Items Case1 Case2 Case3 Case4 UI. BIOGRAPHIES

0.01s 0.017 0.017 Y h Ming was bom in Hebei Province, china.He received the B.S.degrees in
t,Xs) 0.016
power system and its automtiou h m North China Electric Power University
rds) 0.022 0.022 0.021 0.024 in 1996. His fields of interest include HVDC and flexible AC transmission
0.206 0.116 system (FACTS).
t,*,,&) 0.076 0.106
4%) 11.79 15.78 42.65 42.20 Li Geogyin was born in Hebei Province, C h i . He received the B.S., M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees, all in Electrical Engineering,from North China Electric
A(%) 0.13 0.23 0.33 0.52
Power University ~ C E P I J ' )in 1984,1987 d 1996, respectively. Since 1987,
h.Li has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at NCEPU,
Compared to the original controller, the settling time for where he i s currently a professor and deputy head of the Department.Hk
research interests include electricity markets, power quality, analysis and
the four cases of simulation has been shorten by 25.49%, control of power systems, and new tranSmission and distribution technologies.
27.40%, 19.53%, 28.83%, respectively. Meanwhile, the
magnitudes of steady-state error are lowered by 50%, 45.23%, Li Guangkai was born in Shandmg Province, China. He received the B.S.
SO%, 20%, respectively. So, the introduction of the derivative and M.S.degrees in power system and its automation h m North China
E l d c Power University in 1997 and 2000 respectively. His fields of interest
improves the control quality of the controller. include HVDC. power system, power electronics and flexible AC
"ission system (FACTS).
w. CONCLUSIONS Limg Eaifeng was bom in Hebei Province, China, on May 20, 1976. He
In the synchronous dq reference, the continuous-time received the B.S. degree in pow^ system and its automation from North
Electric POWK University (NCEPU) in 1998 and received the M.S.
state-space model of VSC-HVDC has been developed in the Chinadegree in power system and its automation from Huzzhong University of
paper. Based on the model, a MIMO-typed active power Science & Techology in 2001. Since 2001, Mr.Liang has been with the
controller has been proposed. In the control process, the Depwtment of Electrical Engineering at NCEPU. Now, he is a lecturer. His
coupling between the d- and q-axis of the model has been areas of interest include AI application to power system, uew transmissionand
distributiontechnologies, and short-term load forecast.
eliminated through feed forward compensation technique. At
the same time, the response speed of the controller has been Zhou Ming received the B.S. and M.S.degrees in Elect~icalEngineering
accelerated by introducing a derivative to the active power &om Noah Chine Electric Power University (NCEPU)in 1989 and 1992,
respectively. Now she is pursuing Ph. D.degree at NCXPU. Since 1992, Ms.
loop. With the simulation using PSCADEMTDC, the validity Zhou has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at NCEPU,
of the mathematic model and the feasibility of the active where she is currently an asstlciate professor.Her areas of interest include AI
power controller have been proved. applications to power systems, electricity markets, and powm system
operation and management.

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