Bahir Dar University

Bahir Dar Institute of Technology (BiT)

Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Course Code: EEng 6032

Course Title: High Voltage Engineering

Assignment

Abera Alemayehu
ID No.: BDU1101108

Assignment Submitted to Dr. Tasew T. (Phd)

23 July 2020
Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................4
Types of an HVDC System........................................................................................................................4
Two Terminal HVDC System....................................................................................................................4
Multi-terminal DC (MTDC) System..........................................................................................................4
Back-to-Back HVDC Station......................................................................................................................5
Schematic Representation of Back-to-Back HVDC System........................................................................5
Advantage of HVDC Back to Back System..................................................................................................6
Analysis of optimal place and capacity of the B2B HVDC system in Electrical Power System...........6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................................9

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Abstract
As we know that High voltage AC is used to transmit the electrical power for reducing the power
transmission losses and because of the flexibility of AC System. In a transmission system
different Grids are interconnected but some time it may happen that one or more Grid or Power
System may not be in synchronization with other grid or Systems. To overcome these things a
high voltage direct current (HVDC) Back To Back System (B2B) is used.

A high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called

a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current for the bulk
transmission of electrical power, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC)
systems. The transmission of large power blocks over long distances should be utilized by the
HVDC transmissions directly to the locations of power demand. The fundamental process that
occurs in an HVDC system is the conversion of electrical current from AC to DC (rectifier) at
the transmitting end, and from DC to AC (inverter) at the receiving end. There are three types of
HVDC transmissions, namely back-to-back installation, HVDC long distance transmission and
integration of HVDC into the AC system-hybrid solution. HVDC can be implemented as direct
coupler – the “Back-to-Back” installation (B2B) or as point-to-point long distance transmission
via DC line. In this document, however, a back-to-back installation is presented.

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Introduction

HVDC provides an attractive technical and economic solution for interconnecting asynchronous
ac systems and for bulk power transfer requiring long cables for back-to-back installations. A
back-to-back station (or B2B for short) is a plant in which both converters are in the same area, usually
in the same building. The length of the direct current line is kept as short as possible.

In power transmission, a back-to-back connection for electric power transmission is a high-

voltage direct-current (HVDC) system with both ends in the same switchyard. This is used to
couple asynchronously operated power grids or for connecting power grids of
different frequencies where no DC transmission line is necessary.

A back-to-back HVDC arrangement is used when two asynchronous AC systems need to be

interconnected for bulk power transmission or for AC system stabilization reasons. In an HVDC
back-to-back station there are no overhead lines or cables separating the rectifier and the
inverter, hence the transmission losses on the DC side can be neglected. In a back-to-back
HVDC, the DC current can be kept high and the DC voltage low. The low DC voltage means
that the air clearance requirement is low, which is in favor of a compact design of the valve
housings. This enabled the modular back-to-back HVDC concept to be developed. The modular
back-to-back converter station can be made very compact, thus requiring a minimum of open
space. It can even be designed to fit into an existing right-of-way.

Types of an HVDC System

The different types of an HVDC system are two terminal HVDC System, multi-terminal DC
(MTDC) system and back-to-back HVDC system.

Two Terminal HVDC System

The terminal with two terminals (converter station) and one HVDC transmission line is called
two terminal DC system point-to-point system. This system does not have any parallel HVDC
line and no intermediate tappings. The HVDC circuit breaker is also not required for two-
terminal HVDC system. The normal and abnormal current is controlled effective converter
controller.

Multi-terminal DC (MTDC) System

This system has more than two converter station and DC terminal lines. Some of the converter
stations operate as rectifier while others operate as an inverter. The total power taken from the
rectifier station is equal to the power supplied by the inverter station. There are two type of
MTDC Systems

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 Series MTDC System
 Parallel MTDC System

In series MTDC system the converters are connected in series while in parallel MTDC system,
the converters are connected in parallel. The parallel MTDC system may be operated without the
use of an HVDC circuit breaker.

Back-to-Back HVDC Station

The HVDC system which transfers energy between the AC buses at the same location is called
back-to-back system or an HVDC coupling system. In back-to-back HVDC stations, the
converters and rectifiers are installed in the same stations. It has no DC transmission line.

The back-to-back system provides an asynchronous interconnection between the two adjacent
independently controlled AC networks without transferring frequency disturbances. The back-to-
back DC link reduces the overall conversion cost, improve the reliability of the DC system. Such
type of system is designed for bipolar operation.

Why it is called Back to back System?

It is called back to back system because in electronics and power electronics if two bipolar
components are connected in series with opposite polarity then this pair is known as back to back
system. Here also rectifier and inverter are identical and connected in series operating on High
Voltage DC so that it is known as HVDC back to back System.

Schematic Representation of Back-to-Back HVDC System

A scheme diagram for the use of HVDC Back-to-Back System or HVDC Link is shown in figure
3 below.

Fig. 3

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In an HVDC Back to Back / HVDC Link configuration two independent neighboring systems
with different and incompatible electrical parameters like Frequency / Voltage / Short-Circuit
Power Level etc. are connected via a DC link. The basic principle of operation of an HVDC
linking system is based on the conversion of AC to DC and vice-versa by means of Rectifier and
Inverter as shown in figure below.

Fig

Process involved in this System is simple theoretically. But in practice it is very much complex
as it involves high voltages power semiconductor devices. Power from two or more neighboring
system is first converted in DC with the help of power rectifier system and summed up. After
summing, the resulted power is again converted in AC with the help of power inverter and
supplied to different Grids. Thus a HVDC interconnection phase is involved in linking of
different power systems to obtain a stable power system with uniform parameters.
HVDC link is much more beneficent than the frequency converter as frequency matching of two
or more asynchronous systems is very much difficult than conversion and inversion ,this
situation can be better understood by knowing that allowable variation in frequency in power
system is +/- 1 HZ otherwise it may result in system collapse.

Advantage of HVDC Back to Back System

The advantage of using back-to-back HVDC system is that:

 Power can be upgraded to desired frequency.

 Two asynchronous systems can be joined successfully without loss of stability.
 Stability of the system is increased as well as power flow can be maintained within the
optimal limits.
 More active power can be added where the AC system already is at the limit of its short-
circuit capability

Analysis of optimal place and capacity of the B2B HVDC system in

Electrical Power System
The following requirements shall be taken into account for determining the minimum bandwidth
capacity of the B2B HVDC system:

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(1) The value of the maximum possible emergency unbalance of active power arising from a
disconnection of generator unit or a surge of active power resulting of switching-off of largest
consumer. Thermal power plants can regulate power flow through the B2B HVDC system in
normal and abnormal electrical power system modes. In this regard, the possibility to reserve the
generation units of these stations should be considered in case of their emergency and planned
outages.
(2) The value of the maximum permissible active power flow in the controlled HV transit.
To obtain the largest transit power flow through the B2B HVDC system, a minimum
consumption mode of the electrical power system is considered.

The bridge converter circuit in fig below contains delta and Wye type transformer. The
transformer windings filter out system harmonics that occur by using the 6-pulse bridge
converter. Passive filters involved components like reactors, capacitors and resistors are the ones
that remove the harmonics. For instance harmonics filtration Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
(IGBT) or gate-turn-off thyristors (GTO) are the passive filters used for HVDC connection

Fig.3 Schematic diagram of HVDC back-to-back converter station

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Conclusion

To interconnect systems operating at different frequencies, Back-to-Back (B2B) schemes were

applied. B2B converters can also be connected to long AC lines. A back-to-back connection is a
direct connection of the output of one device to the input of similar or related device. It
eliminates the effects of the transmission channel or medium. HVDC back-to-back stations are
used for

 coupling of electricity grids of different frequencies

 coupling two networks of the same nominal frequency but no fixed phase relationship
 different frequency and phase number

It is known, that B2B HVDC system provides the asynchronous interconnection at any value of
angle between the voltages, angular frequencies and magnitude of the voltages.

The DC voltage in the intermediate circuit can be selected freely at HVDC back-to-back stations
because of the short conductor length. The DC voltage is usually selected to be as low as
possible, in order to build a small valve hall and to reduce the number of thyristors connected in
series in each valve. For this reason, at HVDC back-to-back stations, valves with the highest
available current rating are used.

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References
[1]. Don Menzies, Hans Eriksson, Fabiano Uchoas Ribeiro, Commissioning the Garabi I Back-
to-Back Converter Station, Erlac 2001
[2] B. A. Rowe, N M Kirby, H K Yu, “Control System Design at Chandrapur Back-to-Back
HVDC Station”, CIGRÉ Colloquim on HVDC and FACTS, Montreal September 1995
[3] L. L. Grigsby, Power System Stability and Control, CRC Press, 2007, p. 9-4.
[4] R N Nayak, D Kumar, B N Kayibabu, R Gulati, M H Baker, “System Benefits from the 500
MW Back-to-Back HVDC scheme at Sasaram,