1616

IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-102, No. 6, June 1983
DIGITAL SIMULATION OF DC LINKS AND AC MACHINES
D.A. Woodford, Member, IEEE Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg, Canada
A.M. Gole, Student Member, IEEE University of Mani-toba, Winnipeg, Canada

R.W. Menzies, Senior Member, IEEE, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Canada

ABSTRACT

MH EMTDC BASIC STRUCTURE

Valve Group Subnetworks

This paper discusses the digital simulation of and ac machines an HVDC transmission by electromagnetic transients computer program. Ease in interfacing user written control system models with the network solution is presented along with discussion of means to simplify dc valve group representA working digital simulator has ation in simulation. been developed enabling flexible in-house studies to be undertaken. Test results of its performance are presented.
INTRODUCTION
more transmission planning enginsmall, dedicated but powerful computers, electromagnetic transient simulation of power system networks by digital programs is becoming standard practice. Digital high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission simulation is one area slow in developing, but the time is now right for its more serious consideration. The Bonneville Power Administration's electromagnetic transients program (BPA's EMTP) is potenBecause tially a powerful tool for HVDC simulation. the present structure of this program intimidates the average user seeking the flexibility needed for advanced HVDC simulation, a smaller and more specialized Known as MH program was developed at Manitoba Hydro. EMTDC and based on the algorithms described by H. Dommel [1], it provides ease in interfacing user developed fortran models with an electromagnetic transients solution. MH EMTDC has the following features: 1 - The main program solves the electromagnetic transients for the network under study and calls two user written subroutines. The f irrst subroutine interfaces the network solution of voltages, currents and branch elements for the user to process and control voltage and current sources and switch branch elements. The second subroutine allows the user to access and process any variable, solved voltage, or current for output and plotting. 2 - Disconnected subnetworks described in reference [1] are used to miniimiLze matrix size,and maximize speed of the solution. 3 Valve group models, synchronous machines with exciters, stabilizers and governors and control circuits are available and can be assembled as subroutines by the user.

Since

more

and

eers have access to

Wherever possible, the user can take advantage of disconnected subnetworks to represent converter valve groups if the duration between time steps is small enough to assume that ac commutating bus voltages and dc current at the valve group are predictable and continuous. Then voltage sources for a valve group subnetwork are directly derived from the commutating bus ac voltages and a current source is derived from the current through the dc smoothing reactor. Solution of the valve group subnetwork produces currents for injection into the commutating busses of the ac system and a voltage source is defined on the valve side of the smoothing reactor for the dc transmission network. In Fig. 1, a simple diagram of the subnetworking process for valve groups is shown.

Fig. 1.

Disconnected subnetwork representation for valve groups

This method of disconnection and subnetworking

is useful for many dc link simulation situations but is not practical when considering ground faults within the valve group subnetwork due to its internal ground being a different reference with respect to

Under these conditions, the valve should be patched directly into the ac and dc systems.
group

system ground.

Valve Representation The HVDC valve is composed of one or more series Each thyristor is equipped strings of thyristors. with a resistor - capacitor damping or ''snubber" circuit. One or more di/dt limiting inductors are included in series with the thyristors and their snubber circuits. It is assumed that for most simulation purposes, one equivalent thyristor, snubber circuit and di/dt limiting inductor will suffice for a valve model. The di/dt limiting inductor can usually be neglected when attempting transient time domain simulation up to about 1.5 to 2.0 kHz frequency
response.

82 SM 480-2 A paper recommended and approved by the IEEE Transmission and Distribution Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at the IEEE PES 1982 Summer Meeting, San Francisco, California, July 18-23, 1982. Manuscript submitted February 2, 1982; made available for printing June 4, 1982.

0018-9510/83/0600-1616$01.00

1983 IEEE

1617
By- utilizing the feature representing network branches of inductors and capacitors as resistors with an associated equivalent current source [1], a valve in a converter bridge can be reduced as depicted in Fig. 2.

four node eqUivalenlt circuit shown in Fig . 3 Each valve with its snubber- circuit canl be modelled with its equLivalernt resistor- anid current source as diescr ibed above.

SNUBBER CIRCUIT
'k

/EQUIVALENT

VALVE

Rd-

km t)

Cd
m
Fig. 2

ik,m(t)
m
Fig. 3.
Six pulse valve group subnetwork equivalent c ircuit

Equivalencing and reduction of a converter valve

With the valve blocked (not conducting), the equivalent resistor Rv is just that derived from the snubber circuit. With the di/dt limiting. inductor ignored, then from reference 1l1 this becomes:

(1) At = time step duration Rd = Snubber resistance Cd = Snubber capacitance With the valve de-blocked and conducting in the forward direction, the equivalent resistor Rv is changed to a low value such as one ohm:
=

Rv

Rd

where

At/2Cd

The converter transformer is represented as a delta connection of commutating reactances with voltage sources derived from the ac system commutating bus voltages. The effect of non-linear magnetizing current can be included too. Consider just the one phase of the converter transformer represented in Fig. 3 as an inductance with its series voltage source. In Fig. 4, it is shown with two additional current sources which represent the effect of the non-linear magnetizing Just the phase between nodes 1 and 2 in current. Fig. 3 is depicted. The turns ratio n for the valve group converter transformer is;

rated secondary (valve side) line volts

rated primary (ac side) line volts The

Rv

= 1

(2)

(7)

The equivalent current source Ik' (t -t shown in Fig. 2 between nodes k and m is determined by first defining the ratio Y as:
I

el,2

time t is;

subnetwork connutating voltage source for a star-star converter transformer at

t/2Cd
+

Rd

At/2Cd

(3)
'where

el,2(t)

n.EA-B(t)

(8)

From equations lOa and lOb of reference [1];

ik,m(t)
then,

[ek(t)
Rd
+

em(t)]

Ik,m(t

At)

(4)

is the predicted lineto - line ac side commutating volts for t ime t between phases A and B

EA-B(t)

At/2Cd

For a star-delta converter transformer;

el,2(t)
-

/i. n . EA(t)

(9)

Ik,m(t
where,

At) =
-

Y[ik,m(t

At)

2Cd(ej(t
-

At)

em(t

At))MAt]

(5)

where EA(t) is the predicted positive sequence line to neutral ac side commutating volts for time t for phase A

ej(t

At)

ek(t

At) -

Rd1ik,m(t

At)

(6)

In general, valves can be reduced to an equivalent resistor and current source as desbribed above. An extension of this treatment can be used to imbed the di/dt limiting inductor into the equivalent resistor and current source if felt necessary.

The commutating inductor 11,2 referred to the secondary side of the converter transformer can be derived from the per unit commutating reactance, voltage and volt-amp rating of the transformer from the following expression:

21.2 = 3Xc

VS2
R

henr ies

(10)

21? F

Valve Group Representation

A valve group subnetwork can be reduced to the

1618 where R

Xc

= Transformer base MVA rating. = Per unit commutating reactance on the

= =

IA(t) = F. n. i21(t)

(12)

Vs
F

transtormier base. Rated line-to-line secondary volts in kV rms. Rated frequency i-n hertz.

Since IA(t) is positive sequence phase current injected each time step into phase A of the ac system commutating bus, the zero sequence component can be computed separately from the zero sequence commutating Phase voltage and added by superposition to IA(t). currents from all valve groups, synchronous machines
and static compensators at the one ac bus are summed to form one element of the columnar current matrix for the ac s ide system solution. Then for each subnetwork, node or bus voltages are computed by linear algebraic equations which describe the state of the system at time t as per equations 12 and 13 in

reference [1]. The interface between the dc system at the smoothing reactor and the valve group subnetwork is straight forward as shown in Fig. 1.
AC MACHINE MODEL

Fig. 4.

Phase representation of a converter trans former

The magnetizing current for the phase can be computed as a non-linear time varying function of voltage and added as a current source to the subnetwork. The magnetizing current injection can be located anywhere between the source side and the valve side of 1,2 by splitting the current source into two as shown in Fig. 4. Let X be the desired per unit location of the injection of the magnetizing current Im(t). With X=O, Im(t) is injected on the ac side of the commutating inductor. With X=1, Im(t) is injected on the valve side. For O<X<l, Im(t) is injected

A complete ac machine model was developed by the authors from the University of Manitoba for the MH EMTDC. The attractive features of this machine model are the following: 1 - It is fairly detailed, with a complete two axis (six coil) representation, with d axis saturatiOn included, and with additional modelling for accurate rotor side studies. 2 - The solution can use a different timestep and integration procedure from the MH EMTDC program. In this way, it differs from other programs [3], w~hich try to include the machine equations in a submatrix of the main system matrix. State Variables used for Optimal Solution

way

Accommodating the magnetizing component in this provides flexibility in modelling the converter tranisformer as effected by its winding construction. As discussed in reference [2], the magnetizing componto reflect the ent can then be located along winding wound closest to the transformer core. However, with a non-linear component in each of the three phases of the one valve group subnetwork, a satisfactory solution is still possible with normal valve group and converter transformer parameters and operation despite the violation of the 'one non-linear component' disconnection rule in BPA's EMTP [1]. The secondary winding phase current i2,1(t) shown in Fig. 4 is transferred to the primary side of the converter transformer by the following expressions:

proportionately in between.

The equations are modelled in state variable form, with the machine d and q axis currents as the state variables. Referring to the d and q equivalent circuits of Fig. 5 [4], the following equations for the currents result: Ud
q

rald

1212

Uf - rf.if

jrkd, ikd

Lmd
=

+ La

Lmd
+

Lmd
+

d]

-Lmd
md
'd]
i

Lf

Lkf

I-md +Lk f
d

dt if Lmd + Lkf LdtI ILmd +Lkf +LkdLkdj

For a star-star trans former;

IA(t)

I nl'2,1(t)

1-

1,3(t))

(11)

ddt

(13)

where IA(t) =

Positive sequence current injected into the commutating bus, phase A, from the valve group sub network.
=

Lkdi
and
[q
+

i2,1(t)

Secondary winding current flowing into equivalent voltage source

ej,2(t).

Td
ikq

ra iq

Lmq
j5mq
Lm

+ La

Lq

i1,3(t)

Secondary winding current flowing into equivalent voltage source t e3 ,f 1 (taa

-rkq- lkk

+ L2qjLmq Lkq jdt ikq

Similarly, for

star-delta transformer;

=Zq

d dt

iq ikq L

(14)

1619
The physical meaning of parasitic capacileakage resistance may then be applied to these newly introduced elements. Fig. 6 also shows that merely multiplying the phase currents by an integer N simulates, from the system point of view, N identical machines operating coherently into the ac system.

circuited.

tance or

L<,
d

Lkf
Mgt Lm

Uf
LKd

0d.lhP)

L-f
r

d-axSs

a) d- axis
Fig. 5.

b) q-axis

AC Machine equivalent circuits [41

Equations 13 and 14 show three coils on the d-axis and two on the q-axis, though more coils can The additional easily be incorporated if desired. inductance Lkf accounts for the mutual flux which links only the amortisseur and field windings, and not Inclusion of such flux [4, 5] the stator windings. accurate an for necessary shown has been representation of transient currents in the rotor Saturation is included by making the circuits. appropriate inductances (i.e. Lmd and Lf) functions of the magnetizing current. The program determines these from the open circuit terminal characteristics of the machine.
Inverting equations 13 and 14 gives:
,

F . 6. Fig

Modelling scheme for the ac machine.

[d] d
-

q a- id

Ud

Other control blocks to simulate excitation and governor systems are likewise modelled, and can be selected by the main program as subroutines; the outputs of which furnish values of field voltage and mechanical torque to be used in-the machine model.

if
ikd

dt

-/d1

-rfk.if
-rkd. kd
-

+dd

Uf

Capabilities of the Model

This machine model has been found to work very satisfactorily in a number of different simulations, and can do everything that can be done on sophisticated analog simulators [6]. The model has been extensively tested for comparison with laboratory experiments on machines of small ratings, and though comparison with larger machines has not been carried
out to any extent, good results are still expected to The model may successfully be used in the apply.

kq]

'kqj

ra.iq] ( 'l 1 Uq _ ZrI kq L L0 rJILk

d
L

which

are

in the standard state variable form

X

AX

BU

(17)

with state vector X consisting of the currents, the input vector U of applied voltages and matrices A and B.
are directly calculated by forElements Additional mula and not by inversion of matrix id. equations for the rotor dynamics also exist, but they are in diagonal form, and are not discussed here. In the above form, the equations are particularly A block diagram of the overall easy to integrate. scheme is shown in Fig. 6. The figure shows that the machine model makes use of phase voltages calculated by MH EMTDC to update the injected currents into MH EMTDC. Thus, computationally, it behaves like a current source. Thus, the algorithm sometimes requires a smaller time step when the machine is near open circuit conditions as the computation is liable to become unstable. Alternatively, a small capacitance or large resistance may be placed from the machine terminals to ground to prevent the machine from being totally open

ofzdd-l

1 ac side behaviour of machines including harmonic response and dynamic effects on dc links. 2 - Studies of the field circuit, in order to determine exciter stresses, self excitation, etc. 3 - Interaction between machine electrical and such as subsynchronous quantities mechanical oscillations and shaft torque impact studies. The structure of the program, as it operates fairly independently of MH EMTDC (in terms of time step and integration procedure), allows the user to go right into the machine model and make his own changes. As an example demonstrating terminal voltage and current, and field current responses to a disturbance, consider in Fig. 7 a dc rectifier load rejection of 190 MW on 3, 100 MW synchronous water wheel generators similar to a situation which might exist on the Manitoba Hydro system. Note the presence of harmonics in the plotted quantities which could not be detected in a phasor model often-used in this type of study to

following situations:

excitation.

observe

load

rejection

overvoltages

and

self

1620

DC 190 MW

GENERATORS

5th,7th, IIth & 13th .(100 MVAR)

MRCHINE TERMINRL VOLTAGE

MRCHINE CURRENT

FIELD CURRENT

en)
-j

SiDla~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*. _. I .1___1A
____

i~~~~~~~
ItL
x CL

o~~~b~jV
nn Vu n
n _D

E_ i_ ,__ I_ I;!_
0.1t
0.20
0.21
0 28

n an

n_no

no

nw

-.ao0

0.4

0.a8

a. 12

a. lb

0.2EC SEC

'0.00

O.0S

0.08

0.12

0.32

0.36

0.'.4

SEC

Fig. 7.

dc load rejection; its effect on synchronous machines. of controls.

TESTING
A good test for any dc simulator is to observe its performance in steady state and its recovery from

DC CONTROLLERS

Whether the user patches valve groups in as subnetworks or as part of a large ac and dc system network, valve firing can be accomplished by a user accessible subroutine. Although the user is free to write his own firing method, one scheme with equidistance firing is achieved by phase locking timing Respective pulses to the commutating bus voltages. valves are turned on when a timing counter exceeds a level defined by the desired ignition angle (alpha) The alpha order is derived from user ordered. developed dc controls assembled in subroutines. Fortran functions of analog building blocks are available to help the user develop a controller. As an example, the block diagram for a basic valve group controller is shown in Fig. 8. A simple integral plus proportional pole controller is shown in Fig. 9. Note the non-linear relationship of the alpha order output as a function of current input is "linearised" by the integral in the forward loop. Constants G and T are selected by the user for a stable response of the dc link being

a commutation failure caused by an ac invert er.

fault at the

If necessary, the current order input to the pole controller of Fig. 9 can be derived by dividing the power order by the measured dc volts. Voltage dependant current limits can easily be added. The modelling flexibility for controls with MH EMTDC can be used to examine for example, the co-ordinated control of real and reactive power, controls for multiterminal applications and subsynchronous dc control. It also provides a means to verify linearized design

studied.

blocked and bypassed. 2 Await volts on synchronous condensor to build up, then synchronize to the system. 3 - Deblock inverter first as a rectifier, then with dc current flowing, deblock the rectifier under constant current control. 4 When steady state is reached, the synchronous condensor rotor is freed, and if desired, dc All state variables, controls can be brought on. constants and any necessary data are stored in a file for easy restart.

A single pole model in twelve pulse operation One was set up on MH EMTDC as shown in Fig. 10. phase only of the ac systems is shown although all three phases were modelled. The steady state voltage magnitude of the ac system source voltages and the initial relative phase angle of the synchronous condensor rotor were determined by separate ac and dc load-flow calculations. The system is started up in a sequence written by the user. For example: 1 Energize ac system source voltages with synchronous condensor disconnected but with rotor dc valve groups spinning and locked in phase.

1621

Xmeasured

dmeasured (IN PER UNIT)

9 min =

minimum desired extinction

angle

V measured = measured extinction angle

min = minimum ignition angle limit max = maximum ignition angle limit
9

min I

oc

oc 0

order (TO FIRING CONTROL)

(FROM POLE CONTROLLER)

Fig. 8. Basic valve group controller for rectifiers and inverters.

desired

Providing controls have been previously optimized, and the short circuit ratios are not too low for stable operation, steady state can usually be reached in two seconds of system time.
Test Cases

im (PER UNIT MARGIN)

r- max

oc

Examples to illustrate the performance of the MH EMTDC are presented. Because of interest in operation at low short circuit ratios, a value of 2.4 based on the synchronous condensor subtransient reactance X"d For the purpose of was selected for the inverter. this paper, short circuit ratio (SCR) is defined as;
SCR =
V2

(18)

Pd Z
where V

Pd
z

= ac line rms commutating bus volts in kV = dc power at the- converter in MW = ac system short circuit impedance at

the commutating bus

Fig. 9.

Basic Pole Controll-er.

RECEIVING END
.55H

.55H

TRANSMISSION LINE

SENDING END .55H .55H

IX

C1L = O.497H R = 3.5Q1 C/2= 1.O16uF SE FILTERS

.,

rms L-LX

138 kV

r-.AC
rms L-L
I_=

;-

rSc1
r-4

Ol -e d:w _i * CZ O q Q .
10 a) C) C ifl,-4't

cn d

In C\l

c1r CY' Iw

CY' C)Y'

AC SOURCE

Lu

:z Iq

C\*
Fig.
10.

rC\J r- LIn

Ln

CM

Test dc link model.

1622
In the first test case, a four cycle ac singleline-to-ground fault was applied at the inverter of the system shown in Fig. 10 with dc link operation in constant current control. Fig. 11 shows the dc current and voltage at the inverter along with the ac phase voltages at the inverter. The impact of the synchronous condensor can be observed in the modulation of the ac volts (and thus the dc volts) as a consequence of rotor swings. The peaking of volts at the inverter around the time of 0.6 seconds cause current control to transiently change from the rectifier to the inverter and back again. Also observed is the attempted commutation during the four cycles of ac fault. At least two commutation failures are evidenced by the repeated surges in dc current during the ac fault period. A second test to demonstrate the use of EMTDC is to examine the question of whether X"d or transient reactance X'd is the most significant parameter to base the calculation of short circuit ratio as it effects inverter performance through and after an ac fault. The synchronous condensor shown in Fig. 10 is replaced by simple positive sequence reactances to a With this reactance based fixed source voltage. firstly on X"d, and secondly on X'd, the four cycle fault above was repeated for each case and the performance of the dc link through and after the fault was observed. The dc link current at the inverter for these two cases and for the case where the synchronous condensor is modelled as in Fig. 10, are assembled together in Fig. 12. From Fig. 12, it can be seen that with X"d represented in the system replacing the syn-

chronous condensor, the dc link performance through and immediately after the fault is closer to the case with synchronous condensor fully modelled- than is where X'd is represented. (Allowance must be made for the effect of rotor swings and exciter when the synchronous condensor is modelled). This simple study using MH EMTDC indicates that X"d rather than X'd is the better representation for use in ac system short circuit ratio calculations so far as inverter performance through ac faults is concerned.

LU

C)

Co
0

0.00
Fig. 12.

0.05

0. 10

0.15

0.20

SECONDS

0.25

-Zo

Simulated Recovery of dc current after ac inverter fault for alternative representations of X"d & Xd' and full machine model.
an

C,-

Comparison with an Actual dc Link

A fault similar to one fault recorded for Bipole 2 of the Nelson River DC Transmission [7] was run for comparison with this model on MH EMTDC. The actual and simulated cases are shown on similar scale in Fig. 13. It will be observed that there is more harmonic content in the simulated case compared with the Since no attempt was made to provide any actual. significant harmonic damping in the model, this case demonstrates the need for its consideration in digital simulation studies. Taking the harmonic problem into account, it can be seen that the simulated model performance is reasonable and comparable when referenced to the performance of an actual dc link.

lh
Z iLLJ
uJ

W. HHHOW W

I'1 t111

II ifli

MOWHOOV

Pt I
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60 0.80

Computer Running Times

C,)

RSECONDS
1.C

step takes about twenty minutes of C.P.U. time on a PRIME 750 computer. CONCLUSIONS

With the system modelled in Fig. 10 with synchronous condensor, represented fully, a one second simulation time with a twenty microsecond time

Fig. 11.

4 Cycle single-line-ground fault.

30 The digital dc simulator with ac machine modelling capability described here is a working computer program being used in system studies. Experience has

1623

| +POLE \VOLTS ONLY

rv
[1]
H.W.

REFERENCE S

,POLE

TIME CURR. ONLY

[2]

TIME
[3]

e-

J
TIME

[41

[51

(a) Simulated

[6]

+POLE VOLTS
TIME
[7]

-POLE VOLTS
+ POLE

CURR.

_.....
TIME

"Digital Computer Solut ion of Transients in Single - and Multitiphase Networks," IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, vol PAS-88, No. 4, pp 388-399, April 1969. H.W. Dommel, "Transformer Models itn the Simulation of Electromagnetic Transients", Proc. 5th Power Systems Computing Conference, Cambridge (England), September 1-5, 1975, Paper 3.1/4. V. Brandwajn, H.W. Dommel, "A New Method for Interfacing Generator Models with an Electro1977 Power Transients magnetic Program", Conference Applications Computer Industry Proceedings, pp 260-265. B. Adkins and R.G. Harley, General Theory of AC Machines. Chapman and Hall, London 1975. I.M. Canay, "Causes of Discrepencies on Calculation of Rotor Quantities and Exact Equivalant Diagrams of the Synchronous Machine", IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS-88, No. 7, pp 1114-1120, July 1969. G. Jasmin, J.P. Bowles, A. Leroux, D. Mukhedkar, "Electronic Simulation of a Hydro-Generator with Static Excitation", IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus :and Systems, vol. PAS-100, No. 9, pp 4207-4215, September 1981. C.V. Thio, "AC-DC integration Aspects and Operational Behaviour of the Nelson River HVDC Study to CIGRE Paper presented System", Committee 14 (HVDC Links), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, August 25 and 26, 1981.

Electromagnietic

Dommel,

-POLE CURR.
J

v
kd

.o

%/

-z
Fig. 13.

... \J.\j

Comparison of Simulator Performance with a real system for an ac fault at the inverter.

(b) Real system

TIME

4low

shown that a good appreciation of HVDC transmission, machines and electromagnetic transients pheno-mena is Until needed to utilize the simulator effectively. this appreciation is gained, the program is an effective educational tool in modern power system transient operation and analysis.

With increased use of HVDC transmission in power systems, tools such as this will enable the planner to evaluate his options in HVDC in-house without being fully dependent on equipment suppliers or at the expense of rented hardwired simuulators.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S
was developed with the resources of Manitoba Hydro.

This digital HVDC power system simulator program A grant from the Manitoba Hydro Research Committee funded contributions by the University of Manitoba for program development.