IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 34, NO.

1, FEBRUARY 2019 119

Overview of DC–DC Converters

Dedicated to HVdc Grids
Juan David Páez , David Frey , Jose Maneiro , Member, IEEE, Seddik Bacha, Senior Member, IEEE,
and Piotr Dworakowski

Abstract—HVdc grids are a promising alternative for the expan- upgrade the congested AC grids [4], [5]. This is necessary for
sion of the existing ac grid. They are interesting for the integration the integration of remote large scale renewable sources into
of large-scale renewable energy sources, connecting high power the system [6]–[8], characterized by their location far from the
offshore windfarms, interconnecting new market areas, including
asynchronous ac grids and off-grid communities, and they can load centers and their generation variability. HVDC grids can
even provide ancillary services to the ac system. It is expected to also bring ancillary services to the grid, for example providing
create a more reliable and flexible transmission grid using HVdc frequency stability and inertia [9], critical points to solve as the
grids. However, their development will require, among other tech- penetration of power-electronics interfaced sources connected
nologies, dc–dc conversion systems. Although the dc–dc conversion to the electrical grid increases. Besides, these grids allow the
techniques are well understood in low and medium voltage, a spe-
cific review on the approaches for high voltage is needed. This interconnection of different market areas [3], [7], including off-
paper presents an overview of the dc–dc power converters dedi- grid communities [10].
cated to HVdc proposing a classification based on their structure. The development of HVDC grids presents several techni-
Two large families are established: those which provide galvanic cal challenges [3], [11], [12], among other reasons due to the
isolation, and those which do not. Several subfamilies are also pro- differences on each HVDC corridor to be interconnected. In
posed. An overview of the main HVdc applications that can be
targeted with each family is also presented, highlighting the main fact, despite the efforts being done to standardize HVDC grids
converter requirements for each application case. [13], the development of those grids is likely to include existing
‘non-standardized’ P2P links. So having corridors developed
Index Terms—DC-DC power converters, HVDC transmission,
Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC), power grids, wind energy
by different manufacturers, with different HVDC technology,
integration. grounding schemes, voltage levels and dynamic responses will
need interface elements: DC-DC power converters for utility
I. INTRODUCTION networks [14]–[16].
VDC technology has been recognized as a solution DC-DC power converters dedicated to HVDC grids can pro-
H for long-distance bulk-power transmission, asynchronous
AC system interconnections, interconnection of different re-
vide more functionalities than just voltage stepping [16], [17],
for example they can add power flow control, DC grid voltage
gions requiring submarine and underground cables, and trans- regulation, fault isolation, interface different DC transmission
mission of offshore wind power to shore [1], [2]. Since the schemes such as monopolar or bipolar systems and serve as an
number of HVDC point-to-point (P2P) links is increasing, interface between LCC and VSC systems.
the idea of creating grids by their interconnection becomes Although several methods to achieve DC-DC conversion in
possible [3]. low and medium voltage exist and are well known [18]–[20], the
Creating HVDC grids as an overlay onto the existing AC adaptation of these techniques to high voltage is not straightfor-
system is interesting because it adds flexibility and allows to ward. HVDC converters require the association of several low
voltage components, such as power semiconductor switches [21]
Manuscript received December 12, 2017; revised April 6, 2018; accepted and/or low-voltage converters [19], precluding the direct use of
May 18, 2018. Date of publication June 11, 2018; date of current version the classical conversion methods.
January 22, 2019. This work was supported by a grant overseen by the French
National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” Given the differences with the low and medium voltage envi-
Program ANE-ITE-002-01. Paper no. TPWRD-01502-2017. (Corresponding ronment, an overview of the techniques specifically dedicated to
author: Juan David Páez.) HVDC is needed. This allows to identify the trends, challenges
J. D. Páez, J. Maneiro, and P. Dworakowski are with the SuperGrid Insti-
tute, Villeurbanne F-69100 France (e-mail:,juan.paez@supergrid-institute.com; and opportunities in this area. Reviewing the literature there are
jose.maneiro@supergrid-institute.com; piotr.dworakowski@supergridinstitute. few publications summarizing the different proposals [22]–[24].
com). Nevertheless, their approach is oriented to specific circuits thus
D. Frey and S. Bacha are with the SuperGrid Institute, Villeurbanne
F-69100 France, and also with the Universite Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, making it difficult to identify a trend or the general methods to
Grenoble INP, G2Elab, F-38000 Grenoble, France (e-mail:, david.frey@ build HVDC DC-DC structures.
g2elab.grenoble-inp.fr; seddik.bacha@g2elab.grenoble-inp.fr). This paper gives an overview on this subject taking a different
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. methodology: it proposes a classification of the different circuits
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2018.2846408 grouping them by families according to their structure. This

0885-8977 © 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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120 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 34, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 1. Proposed classification for DC-DC converters dedicated to HVDC applications.

TABLE I
HVDC APPLICATIONS CHARACTERISTICS

Fig. 2. Two-Level High Voltage DAB.

The galvanic separation is done on the AC bus by magnetic

coupling using an AC transformer or coupled inductors.
Isolation may be needed mainly for safety and grounding
reasons. In the first case having isolation is useful to prevent
the apparition of high-voltage (HV) on low-voltage (LV) termi-
nals, a very important aspect to take into account, especially in
allows to omit the details of each converter and go directly for high transformation ratio applications. Concerning grounding,
the identification of the common advantages and disadvantages the isolated structures offer the possibility of having different
of the different conversion methods. grounding schemes on both DC grids to be interconnected.
In addition, the main HVDC applications for DC-DC con- Although those tasks can also be achieved by means other
verters are analyzed, identifying the requirements for each case. than galvanic isolation, using an isolated structure allows to
Then, the possible converter families that have the potential to simplify the design and the safety assessment. Other advantages
fit those requirement are established. of these topologies are the easy voltage adaptation using the AC
The proposed circuit classification is summarized in Fig. 1. transformer ratio and the inherent DC-fault blocking capability.
In the following sections each family is briefly described. As a In case of a DC-fault, blocking both AC-DC conversion stages
first classification criteria the galvanic isolation, i.e., the galvanic of the converter stops the fault current.
separation between DC input and output ports of the converter, The converters that use a transformer can be considered as
was taken. The isolated topologies are presented in Section II different versions of the Dual Active Bridge (DAB) [25]. The
and the non-isolated topologies in Section III. Section IV ana- proposed classification assumes that both DC-AC and AC-DC
lyzes the potential applications of each subfamily. stages are identical, but combinations of different bridge types
For explanation purposes, throughout the paper, voltage, are also possible [26]. The few circuits that do not fit into the
power and transformation ratio characteristics are first defined DAB category are based on the flyback/forward principles.
according to [17], as presented in Table I.
A. Two-Level High Voltage DAB
II. ISOLATED TOPOLOGIES
The Two-Level HV DAB topology consists of two two-level
The isolated circuits proposed in the literature rely on a DC- VSCs interconnected with a transformer (Fig. 2). The converter
AC-DC conversion chain with two AC-DC conversion stages. standard operation is based on phase shift modulation at a fixed

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PÁEZ et al.: OVERVIEW OF DC–DC CONVERTERS DEDICATED TO HVDC GRIDS 121

Fig. 3. Cascaded multi-converter DAB, with different possible configurations.

(a) Input-series output-series (ISOS). (b) Input-parallel output-series (IPOS).
(c) Input-series output-parallel (ISOP). (d) Input-parallel output-parallel (IPOP).

duty cycle. Modified modulation schemes can be used to im-

prove the harmonic behavior of the converter [22].
This converter presents several drawbacks for its utilization
in HVDC. The high dv/dt imposed on the transformer, given
the two-level operation, causes insulation and electromagnetic
interference (EMI) issues. Furthermore, snubber circuits and/or
active gate-driving are needed to avoid static and dynamic volt-
age sharing unbalances on the transistor valves [21], increasing
switching losses.

B. Cascaded Multi-Converter DAB Fig. 4. Modular multilevel DABs (F2F-MMCs). (a) Classical F2F-MMC [32].
(b) Some hybrid F2F-MMCs: the AAC [38] and the TAMC [37].
In the Cascaded Multi-Converter DAB circuits, the HV struc-
ture is built using low-power, low-voltage DAB converters as
elementary cells [27], avoiding the need for series connected
transistors because each cell only blocks a portion of the total C. Modular Multilevel DAB
DC voltage. In addition, since each cell only handles a fraction The Modular Multilevel DAB converters are built connect-
of the total power, the current rating of the semiconductors can ing two Modular Multilevel Converters (MMC) through an AC
be reduced. transformer in a front-to-front (F2F) structure [Fig. 4(a)] [32].
The converter cells can be associated in different manners Both MMCs are controlled to generate two phase-shifted AC
(Fig. 3) [28], [29]. If the cell terminals are connected in parallel, waveforms at the transformer terminals to control the power
the DC line current is distributed among all the cells whereas transfer.
the DC line voltage is shared when using a series connection. The generation of the AC voltages is done by the bypass
The former configuration is advantageous when high DC cur- or insertion of MMC submodule (MMC-SM) capacitors in each
rents are required and the latter for high voltages. Both schemes converter arm. The SMs can be implemented with various bridge
can be combined to meet the requirements of different HVDC types giving different functionalities [33]. The most common
applications [30], [31]. types are: half bridge (HB) SMs and full bridge (FB) SMs. The
For the converter operation, each cell is controlled as a stan- stacks made of HBs generate unipolar voltages while those made
dard DAB, with the additional constraint of a balanced distri- of FBs can generate positive and negative voltages. The second
bution of cell voltages and currents [28], [29], [31]. Medium option can be useful to improve the DC-fault management.
frequency (MF) operation is possible in order to reduce the Since the SMs switch under hard-switching conditions at low
size and weight of the passive components and the transformer. frequency then the main source of losses in MMC-SMs based
Additionally, if properly sized, the circuit can operate under converters is from semiconductor conduction.
soft-switching conditions reducing losses. Diverse modulation schemes can be used to optimize the op-
The main advantages of this converter family are the mod- eration or the size of the converter. For example the use of a
ularity and scalability: the converter can be scaled in power trapezoidal modulation or MF operation have been proposed to
and voltage using the same elementary cells. The different as- reduce the size of the transformer, passive elements and SM
sociation variants allow to obtain high transformation ratios at capacitors [34], [35]. Nevertheless, the design of a high-voltage
high power (IPOS scheme). However the main issue of these high-power AC transformer working with non-sinusoidal wave-
structures is the high insulation requirement of the transformer, forms at MF is challenging. Additionally, a tradeoff between size
limiting their use to the medium voltage range. reduction and increase of switching losses has to be made [35].

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122 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 34, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 6. DC-autotransformer [41], [44].

Fig. 5. (a) Modular flyback/forward based converter [42]. (b) Centralized Fig. 7. One single-stage resonant converter. LCL converter proposed in [46].
coupled inductor Flyback/Forward based converter [43].

III. NON-ISOLATED TOPOLOGIES

Since the Classical F2F-MMC requires two fully rated
The range of non-isolated topologies is larger than in the
MMCs, its size and cost are considerable. The Hybrid versions
isolated case. A first classification is made based on the presence
[36] represent an alternative to improve these issues.
of a transformer in the circuit resulting in two families: DC
In these circuits [37]–[39] some SMs are replaced by transis-
Autotransformer converters and transformerless converters.
tor valves [Fig. 4(b)], combining the advantages of the MMC
and the two-level VSCs [40]. The SMs act as wave-shapers
A. DC Autotransformer
providing soft switching conditions to the valves, and serve
to control the dv/dt on the transformer. The transistor valves The HVDC Autotransformer type converters (Fig. 6) [41],
control the current paths and can prevent the simultaneous con- [44] use two HV DC-AC and AC-DC structures connected in
duction of two same-leg converter arms, decreasing conduction series on the DC ports and interconnected through an AC trans-
losses. Because this operation is different to the classical MMC, former on the AC side. This implementation is feasible with the
each hybrid topology implements its own control and balancing existing HVDC converter technology: VSCs (two-level, three-
methods. level or MMC), VSC-LCC or VSC-diode rectifier [44].
Since all the Modular Multilevel DAB topologies present the This solution differs from those of the DAB family in that only
advantages of the MMC such as high modularity, reliability and a fraction of the power flows through the AC link. This feature
availability, these structures are suitable for high voltage and contributes to decrease the power losses and the transformer
high power applications at low voltage transformation ratios. rating [41]. The voltage rating of each individual converter is
Another advantage is the high level of technological maturity also decreased thanks to their series connection. Nevertheless,
of the SMs and semiconductor valves. However, since two fully these benefits are gradually lost as the voltage transformation
rated MMCs are needed, even in the hybrid versions, this could ratio increases [41], therefore this structure is more appropriate
be a non-optimal solution [41]. for low and medium transformation ratios.

D. Flyback/Forward Based B. Resonant Topologies

Only a few publications propose isolated converters different These converters are based on resonant LC tanks. The prin-
to the DAB solutions (Fig. 5) [42], [43]. They are based on the ciple is to use the resonance as a step-up mechanism while
principles of flyback and forward converters. In some circuits the achieving the soft switching of the semiconductors at the same
adaption to high-voltage of the classical structures is achieved time. According to the number of resonant tanks, this family can
using one central coupled inductor and MMC-SMs to emulate be subdivided into single-stage, if only one is used, or multiple
high-voltage switches [43]. In other cases, modular isolated stage, if several low power tanks are sequentially activated.
structures based on the arrangement of several coupled inductors 1) Resonant Single-Stage: In these converters (Fig. 7) [45]–
are proposed [42]. [47] the DC-DC conversion is done using a DC-AC-DC scheme
Those structures have been proposed for high step-up voltage without isolation. Semiconductor bridges, implemented with
ratios. However, the high insulation requirements of the coupled series connected devices, are interconnected on their AC side
inductors in the modular approaches, and the high current re- through a main resonant tank. The topology in [46] features an
quirements in the centralized inductor circuits are challenging, LCL T network as the resonant element, whereas the converter
potentially limiting these topologies to low power applications. in [45] uses an LC parallel tank followed by a voltage doubler.

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PÁEZ et al.: OVERVIEW OF DC–DC CONVERTERS DEDICATED TO HVDC GRIDS 123

Fig. 8. One multiple-stage resonant converter. Converter proposed in [23]. Fig. 9. Some DC-MMCs. (a) AC current blocking with filters [52]. (b) AC
current blocking with control [53].

All these converters were proposed for high transformation

ratios. However, since only a central resonant tank is used and these loops as proposed in [52]. The AC component is used
because of the operation of the converter, the passive compo- for equilibrating the energy stored in the SMs, and the DC
nents are exposed to very high electrical stresses. Since all the component is used for power transfer between the DC ports.
power passes through few resonant elements, their current and To prevent the AC component from entering the DC buses two
voltage ratings could be very high. These issues can potentially techniques can be used: the use of passive filters [52], [54], [55]
limit the operation to the medium power range at medium step or by control actions [51], [53], [56].
transformation ratios. Concerning losses, these converters operate in hard-switching
2) Resonant Multiple-Stage: In this subfamily (Fig. 8) [23], but like the MMC at low switching frequency, so the main source
[48]–[50], the full rated central resonant tank is replaced by of losses is from semiconductor conduction. The increase of
several low power resonant circuits, reducing significantly the frequency for the AC current component can decrease the size
complexity of the design and getting closer to a modular struc- of passives but at cost of increasing switching losses.
ture. In a sequential process each tank is activated and the power The DC-MMC structures have the advantages of modularity,
is consecutively transferred from one tank to the next one, until high reliability and scalability. They could be a solution for high
it is delivered to the HV converter terminal. The inverse process power and high voltage applications. Their main drawbacks
is used for step-down operation. are the rating of the filters, when they are required, and the
In some topologies [48], [50], the capacitors are charged con- potentially high AC circulating currents needed for the converter
necting them in parallel across the low voltage DC bus and the operation that could limit the use to low or medium range of
power is released to the HV bus connecting them in series. Some transformation ratios.
other circuits create a low AC voltage on the LV DC terminals 2) DC Modular Based on Choppers: Modular topologies
and the voltage is stepped up charging several capacitors [23]. based on the classical choppers have been proposed for HVDC
Alternative versions have been proposed in [49] using different [57]–[60]. The principle is to replace some of the switches on the
resonant cells. original converters by MMC-SMs. This replacement provides
All multiple-stage resonant converters are proposed for high extended control features. An additional subdivision is proposed
transformation ratios without having strong electrical stress on based on the employed energy storage mechanism:
the resonant elements, as it is the case of the single-stage circuits. a) Capacitive Accumulation Choppers: In these convert-
The main issue of these topologies is the uneven distribution ers [Fig. 10(a)] the MMC-SMs are used as a variable capacitor
of currents or voltages in the semiconductor devices, making for storing the energy. The principle is to charge and discharge
difficult to obtain a modular solution. the capacitors switching the SM stacks connection between the
input and output DC terminals. The topologies in [58] use series
connected switching devices for this purpose. A dead time is
C. DC Modular Topologies
required to accommodate the number of inserted SMs accord-
The circuits grouped in this sub-family adopt the fully modu- ing to the voltage level of the DC terminal to be connected. The
lar approach of the MMC to the DC-DC conversion. Two trends main converter valves are soft-switched whereas the SMs are
are identified in literature: circuits which operation is similar hard-switched.
to the MMC and those which operation principle is based on b) Inductive Accumulation Choppers: In these circuits
classical choppers. [Fig. 10(b)] the SMs control the charge and discharge of a central
1) DC Modular Multilevel (DC-MMC): The so called DC- inductor, used as storage element like in a classical chopper. The
MMC converters (Fig. 9) [51]–[56] use chains of MMC-SMs converter operation can be done creating a stair-case transition
to generate currents and voltages at different frequencies. Two between the two states of the converter (inductor charging or dis-
superposed current loops are created, one AC and one DC, charging) [59], using interleaved insertion of SMs to operate at
and the operation principle is to transfer the power between resonance [60], or at resonant discontinuous-conduction mode

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124 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 34, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2019

Fig. 11. HVDC Tapping. (a) Series TAP. (b) Parallel TAP.

TABLE II
Fig. 10. Some DC-modular converters based on choppers. (a) Capacitive DC-DC CONVERTER REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH HVDC APPLICATION
accumulation [58]. (b) Inductive accumulation [57], [60].

[57]. Soft-switching of the SMs can be achieved, but this causes

AC circulating currents increasing conduction losses [60]. A
compromise should be made to obtain an optimal operation
point.
These converters present modularity and are characterized by
a high voltage transformation ratio at low power. Their main
drawback is the large energy rating of the central inductor.

IV. POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS

A. HVDC Tapping
The possibility of tapping from HVDC lines is interesting
to interconnect small off-grid communities [10], [17], [48]. A
small amount of power is extracted from a HVDC line, with-
out perturbing the system, to provide electricity to load centers
placed close to the line. The power needs vary from some hun-
dreds of kWs up to some tens of MWs and typically less than
10% of the HVDC system rated power [10].
There are two connection schemes for this application that
can be implemented with DC-DC converters, series and parallel
B. Offshore Windfarm to HVDC
(shunt) as presented in Fig. 11. In the first case the converter is
rated for the full HVDC current and acts as a variable voltage In recent years the power rating and distance to shore of
source connected in series into the HVDC line. In the second offshore wind farms has steadily grown [61]. Since above certain
configuration the converter is rated for full HVDC voltage acting limits HVDC transmission is a more economical alternative for
as a variable current source. Each configuration has its own those projects [2], this technology will be predominant in the
advantages and drawbacks [10]. The studied DC-DC converters coming years for this application.
are more suitable for parallel tapping. Concerning the offshore collection grid, two schemes are
This application is characterized by a high transformation possible: AC or DC (Fig. 12). In the first option a medium
ratio, therefore isolation is needed in order to protect the MV voltage AC grid is used to interconnect the wind turbines to the
AC grid. However, the required DC-DC converter can be non- offshore AC-DC converter that interconnects the HVDC link.
isolated if the voltage stepping is done inside the converter In the case of a DC collector, a medium voltage DC grid is
and an external transformer is added after the inverter stage to used and a DC-DC converter steps-up the voltage to the HVDC
provide the isolation. level. This option could reduce the capital cost and increase the
The main requirements for a HVDC TAP DC-DC converter efficiency of the farm [62].
are presented in Table II, highlighting the cost as the most critical The development of a suitable DC-DC converter is essential
one, due to the low return of investment of tapping low powers for the implementation of such a scheme. The power require-
from an HV line. ments vary according to the size of the farm, from hundreds of

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PÁEZ et al.: OVERVIEW OF DC–DC CONVERTERS DEDICATED TO HVDC GRIDS 125

Fig. 12. Offshore windfarm simplified collection schemes, (a) AC collector.

(b) DC collector.

Fig. 14. Potential converters for HVDC applications.

TABLE III
CHARACTERISTICS OF POTENTIAL DC-DC CONVERTERS FOR HVDC TAPPING

Fig. 13. HVDC grid interconnection.

MWs up to some GWs [61]. A medium to high transformation

ratio is needed to step-up the MVDC level at the collection grid
to the HVDC level at the export line. Then, for safety reasons,
isolation will be required to protect the MV collection grid.
Since the converter is placed on an offshore platform, size be-
comes the key design parameter to be optimized. Other impor-
tant parameters are the efficiency to minimize the transmission
losses and the reliability due to the high cost of repair opera- Fault blocking capability is required in order to facilitate the
tions offshore and the associated transmission downtime. These protection of the grid, preventing the propagation of faults. In
requirements are summarized in Table II. fact DC-DC converters can act as a firewall splitting a grid in
different protection zones [64], avoiding the loss of the whole
C. HVDC Grid Interconnection grid when a fault appears.
In case of a DC fault, the behavior of a fault blocking converter
HVDC VSC technology is considered as more suitable for
can be of two types. It can enter in blocked state until the fault is
the development of meshed HVDC grids, however the type of
cleared, or it can contribute to control the fault current. In both
scheme has not been determined yet and several options exist:
cases the inductors present in the converter limit the fault current
bipole, symmetrical monopole and asymmetrical monopole can
rise until controller acts, blocking the converter or controlling
be used, with different kinds of grounding [63].
the current.
The construction of these grids is likely to be done in several
Because the shutdown of an HVDC transmission system will
steps, starting with local small multi-terminal grids which might
generate an important impact on the electrical grid, reliability
later evolve into larger regional grids [3]. The lack of an HVDC
and fault blocking capability the converter are critical. These
standardization and the time horizon of each project, makes that
requirements are highlighted in Table II.
the different HVDC grids have different characteristics and then
DC-DC converters would be necessary for their interconnection
V. POTENTIAL CONVERTERS FOR EACH APPLICATION
(Fig. 13).
This application exhibits low transformation ratio require- The choice of a suitable topology for each application should
ments. Therefore isolation is not required for safety, if the suit- consider several aspects, such as power and voltage ratings, volt-
able converters have fault blocking capability. Concerning the age transformation ratio, losses, capital cost, size and weight,
differences of the HVDC grid technologies, isolated structures isolation between DC ports, DC fault blocking capability, re-
can simplify the interconnection compared to the non-isolated liability and redundancy, among others. Then, a detailed study
converters. However non-isolated circuits can be used if they made case by case and focusing in detail on each converter is
guarantee the interconnection during nominal and fault states. required. The proposed approach in this paper, on the contrary,

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126 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 34, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2019

TABLE IV
CHARACTERISTICS OF POTENTIAL DC-DC CONVERTERS FOR OFFSHORE DC WINDFARM TO HVDC, AND HVDC GRID INTERCONNECTION

goes for a systemic point of view. This allows to identify the Concerning fault blocking capability and step-up operation,
potential converters for each application, giving a starting point the Cascaded DAB has these characteristics inherently, the Res-
for a subsequent detailed study oriented to each specific case. onant Single-Stage solutions need a proper resonant tank de-
For this identification, it is proposed to take into account sign, while the DC-MMCs, DC-Autotransformer, and Modular
the voltage and power ratings plus the transformation ratio of Capacitive Accumulation Choppers need FB SMs.
each converter family as starting point, then a brief comparison The high transformation ratio and high power requirements
of the different potential solutions is presented. The results of of this application represent a particular challenge for the design
this identification process are presented in Fig. 14, highlighting of a suitable converter due to the high currents on the LV side.
the modular structures and those that need series connection of The Cascaded DABs will need an IPOS configuration to share
semiconductors. Then the main characteristics for each family the current, then important insulation requirements are expected
are summarized in Tables III and IV. for the AC transformers of the structure. This makes a medium
frequency design challenging, key for the required size reduction
A. HVDC Tapping of offshore applications.
The DC-MMCs operating at high ratios require considerable
Two converter families have been identified for HVDC tap- high AC circulating currents to balance the internal energy of the
ping, none of them provide galvanic isolation. Concerning bi- converter, causing high conduction losses. In the same way, the
directionality, although both can work in step-down operation, DC-Autotransformer loses its advantages at high ratios because
for the Resonant Multi-Stage type circuits the recent research more power will transit on the AC side increasing the power
has been oriented to step-up applications. rating and the size of the AC transformer.
Regarding fault blocking capability, there is a lack of capabil-
ity to block faults when they appear on the HV terminals. The
Resonant Multi-Stage circuits do not have this feature while the C. HVDC Grid Interconnection
Modular Inductive Choppers will need FB submodules, increas-
ing cost. Nevertheless, in HVDC Tapping it is more important to The suitable isolated DC-DC converters for the interconnec-
stop faults when they appear on the LV side in order to prevent tion of two HVDC grids are different versions of the Modular
the loss of the main HV line. If HV-side faults occur, AC circuit Multilevel DAB. The advantage of these circuits, given the isola-
breakers can be used on the LV AC grid. tion, is that both AC-DC stages are independent. Then, each side
The non-modularity of the Resonant Multi-Stage circuits can be designed individually, for example taking a FB-MMC and
makes difficult a practical implementation. On the contrary, In- a HB-MMC on each side can be used to interconnect one LCC
ductive Choppers, based on MMC SMs have a higher degree of and one VSC line [65]. In the same manner the interconnection
industrial maturity. Nevertheless, the design of the required in- of bipole and monopole systems is simplified [66].
ductor and the potential cost of the converter are a limiting factor. Their fault blocking capability is inherent. If both AC-DC
stages are blocked when a fault is detected the fault is stopped.
The presence of galvanic isolation can even facilitate the control
B. Offshore Windfarm to HVDC
of the fault current, in that case only the AC-DC stage on the
From the potential converter families for this application faulty side is blocked and the healthy side can still control the
only the Cascaded DAB can provide galvanic isolation. If non- current fixing the AC voltage on the transformer.
isolated circuits are used, a careful study must be done in order to All these advantages come at the cost of two full rated AC-DC
guarantee the safety of the collection grid against the apparition stages and the need of a bulky, high-power high-voltage trans-
of HV in case of a fault. former. In order to reduce its size and decrease the SM capacitor

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PÁEZ et al.: OVERVIEW OF DC–DC CONVERTERS DEDICATED TO HVDC GRIDS 127

ratings MF operation could be necessary, adding complexity to it forms a preliminary step towards the design of new DC-DC
the design of such a transformer. converter topologies suitable for HVDC.
As alternatives the non-isolated converters with fault block-
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