946

IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 11, No. 2, April 1996

COMMUTATION FAILURES IN HVDC TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS

C.V.Thio, Senior Member J.B. Davies, Non-Member
Manitoba Hydro Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
ABSTRACT
This paper provides a formulation for the initiation or onset mechanism of commutation failures in line-commutated thyristor converters, assuming infinite (zero impedance) ac systems. A theoretical development and a parametric analysis is given. Theory validation by simulation and comparison to actual field experieiice data is also given.

K.L. Kent, Member

Keywords: HVDC transmission, commutation failures, simulation

INTRODUCTION

A paradox of life is effectively conveyed in a philosophers [l] saying, Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. A similar paradox seems to be associated with commutation failures in HVDC systems. Commutation failures are a very frequent dynamic event in HVdc systems. When they occur, the cause and system responses are usually explainable and understood. But prediction of their occurrence with any accuracy in terms of the level or magnitude of system disturbances which will, or will not, cause them in various schemes has not been found in publications. A phenomenon in thyristor valves is that the internal stored charges produced during a forward conduction interval must be removed before the valve can establish a forward voltage blocking capability. A dc inverter therefore requires a certain minimum negative voltage-time area, where time is the dominant factor, provided by a commutation margin angle. Most commutation failures are caused by voltage disturbances due to ac system faults and they can never be completely avoided. The incidence or onset of failures depends on the electrical proximity (distance away) of ac faults to the inverter, which in turn determines the magnitude of the sudden ac voltage depression and phase shift. But very little is presently documented on the ac undervoltage magnitudes which first cause the onset of failures and what system parameters most affect these onset levels. There are questions as to why some faults cause commutation failures and others do not. What ac voltage disturbance levels will not initiate failures? Is this random or are there some well defined sensitivities? What ac or dc system parameters affect these sensitivities? Are there

ways of decreasing the commutation failure frequency other than by simply increasing the commutation margin angle which has other negative side effects? What is the optimum angle increase? Can the ac and d$ system or control designs significantly affect the probability of commutation failures? Very little research has been reported on this subject. The emphasis has been to optimize dc controls to efficiently recover from commutation failures and minimize energy loss to systems. However, a better understanding of this phenomena is becoming increasingly important for accurately representing dc systems in various simulation programs, for solving operating problems, for system designs and specifications, and also for certain aspects of multi-terminal dc systems.
THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT

Symmetrical Three-phase Conditions This theoretical development relates to the voltage and phase effects at an ideal ac commutating voltage point referred to the dc side of converter transformers, and where any healthy phases remain stable or unchanged at fault incidence. For the present, infinite (zero impedance) ac systems are assumed. Fig. 1 shows the inverter commutation process and the effect of a sudden commutating voltage reduction. The initial theoretical development is based on symmetrical three-phase considerations. The volt-time area, A, required for the commutation process for the normal condition is given by:

where the symbols are defined in Fig. 1 and also, a+p=x-y

.*.

E (COSa+COSy). A =-

(1)

If the three-phase commutating voltages were to suddenly and symmetrically decrease, and assuming that the dc current and the firing angle temporarily remain constant (assume the controls do not move) in a theoretically ideal situation, then the requirement that the volt-time area for commutation must remain the same means that the end of commutation will extend into the time period of the normal commutation margin, say to a point where the margin remaining is y. Then, equating volt-time areas for the two conditions gives: 95 SM 377-2 PWRD A paper recommended and approved -(cosa+cosy) E = -(cosc~+cosy), E or E-COSa+cOSy . (2) by the IEEE Transmission and Distribution Committee E E E -cosa+cosy of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at the 1995 IEEE/PES Summer Meeting, July 23-27, This equation basically determines (by calculating y) the 1995: Portland, OR. Manuscript submitted December infringement on the commutation margin as a result of a 19, 1994; made available for printing April 27,1995. given, per unit, reduced commutating voltage (E/E). A further expression can be derived assuming that, besides the voltage reduction, a dc current increase also 0885-8977/96/$05 .OO 0 1995 IEEE

947

Now substituting this equation into (2) to eliminate cosy, results in the following:

________-e

-.

a) Three Phase Fault

Equation states that the per unit commutating LI _ _ _ _ _ _------. voltage, due toa symmetrical three-phase voltage reduction
(4)
, , \
b) Single Phase Fault
\

,
I I

- _ _ _ - - - - _ _ - - - -. -, -

:+p+y-b: .- _ _ -----___-----

E = line-to-line rms commutating voltage E = reduced line-to-line rms commutating voltage due to a fault J = firing angle of the valves .t = commutation overlap angle y = nominal commutation margin angle y = commutation margin angle following a voltage reduction yo = critical commutation margin angle corresponding to required turn-off time of the valves A = volt-time area required for the commutation process Q = zero-crossing phase shift angle due to possible unsymmetrical voltage reduction from, for example, a single-phase fault Inverter Commutation Process Showing the Effect of
Sudden Commutating Voltage Reductions

(balanced three-phase ground fault), required to extend the commutation time interval to the critical point beyond which commutation failure is defined, is proportional to the per unit dc current and the angle-function ratio (cosa+cosy)l (cosa+cosyo). In order to utilize (4) for practical cases, the normal inverter firing angle (or cosa) must be known or determined for specific given conditions. From (3): cosa = EIdxc - cosy . E The commutating reactance, Xc, is usually expressed in per unit on the converter transformer full load, or nominal, rating base:

occurs for or during the total commutation process, and again assuming that the firing angle (controls) remains constan t . From the basic dc current equation:
E [cosa-cos(a+p)], X, = commutating reactance, Id E [COS~+COS~] . and a+p = Z-Y. .*.I - (3)

Substituting into the above equation: E F L Id cosa = --xcpucosy. E I d F L Except perhaps for lower load levels, the ratio of commutating Voltages (EFL/E) will usually be very close to unity. Then: I cosa = xcpcosy. (5) Id, And (4) can then be rewritten as:

= r = ,

-axc

For the condition without a dc current increase, but with a voltage reduction, (3) gives: Id

Expressing this equation in terms of the inverter sudden CommutatinP voltage reduction. AV. reauired to oroduce the theoretical onset of commutation failure:
AV=l--d I (ldhdFL)Xcpu I, (I~/I~L>XCPU + cosy, -cosy

=ac

[cosa+cosy]

For the condition with both a dc current increase and a voltage reduction, . and further assuming that the combination of these two parameter changes extends the end of commutation just to the critical point where commutation failure may occur, that is, at yo, ( 3 ) gives: Id = where I, is the new, larger dc current. It should be noted that the effective value of yo in thyristor valves may be dictated by forward recovery protection, with a setting selected as the safe value for the actual thyristors. The above two expressions lead to the equation: Id --- COSa+cOSyo . Id COSa+COSy Solving for cosy, I cosy (cosa+cosy,) - cosa.

mE y a + cosy()] ;

The usual condition of most interest, and the worst condition for commutation failures, excluding overloads, will be at full load where Id/IdFL=l.O.Equation ( 5 ) then reduces to: cosa = xcpucosy, (7) and (6) becomes: xcpu A V = l - - Id Id xcpu + cosyo-cosy . Equations (6) and (8) give the maximum inverter voltage reduction which will not, in theory, cause commutation failure or, as a corollary, it gives the minimum voltage reduction required to produce the onset of commutation
failures for a balanced three-phase ground fault in the ac

system, without consideration of any possible fundamental wave distortions or phase angle shifts.

=+

Unsymmetrical Three-phase Conditions

As depicted in Fig. la, the fundamental sine wave

948

crossings do not shift in time with symmetrical three-phase voltage reductions. But for a system single-phase line-toground fault, the voltage reduction in one phase at the inverter will cause a reduction in two line-to-line voltages and a resultant phase shift in the zero crossings of the commutating voltages. These phase shifts cause a decrease in the commutation margin for some of the valve commutations in the cycle, and cause an increase for others. Then, the onset or probability of commutation failures depends on both the voltage reduction magnitude and the zero-crossing phase shift. This phase shift, designated Cp, is depicted in Fig. lb. It infringes upon the allocated time or angle required for the critical commutation margin yo. If the onset of failure is then to be made exactly equivalent to the condition without the shift, then the critical margin must be effectively recaptured by adding the phase shift to the margin angle yo. The theoretical effect of this is therefore to alter ( 6 ) and (8) to the following:

power frequency distortions and assuming infinite ac systems. In (9), the AV refers to the phase voltage for single-phase faults, specifically on the faulted phase. For symmetrical three-phase reductions, the per unit AV is the same for phase and line quantities. As shown in Fig. 1, the phase shift Cp is a function of the AV and this relationship can be derived. The zero reference in Fig. 1 can be conveniently shifted 30" to correspond to the a-phase voltage zero. The three phase voltages are then given by:
E,= $5 sin(ot); Eb=-sin(ot+1200); $5

DE

DE

E,= DE. $5 sin(wt-120").

The normal crossover points between a-phase and bphase are then at 30" and 210". However, if the b-phase magnitude is reduced to some per unit value, which gives the AV value, then the crossover can be found from: sin at = (1- AV) sin(ot+12O0) = (1- AV){cosl20" sinwt + sinl20" cosot) 1 1 = (1- AV)(- Sinat COSOt)

+~n

(9)
In comparing symmetrical three-phase with single-phase faults, besides the effect of the phase shift, there is a subtle point to be made about the voltage reduction itself, not the phase shift caused by the voltage reduction. As shown in Fig. 1, a reduction in any phase voltage will extend the total time required for the commutation process. But the decrease in the line-to-line voltage is almost totally dominated by one phase voltage only. In Fig. 1, this is the bottom wave. This is because the other phase will always be near its zero-crossing throughout the commutation process in most dc schemes using normal parameters and significant per-unit loadings. Near its zero-crossing, this phase will not vary significantly for voltage reductions considered in this context. Therefore, because a sudden change in the line-to-line commutating voltage is mainly determined by the change in only one phase voltage, it is of little significance whether the voltage reduction takes place only in that one phase or in all three phases, as far as the first critical commutation process is concerned. Therefore, in terms of the voltage reduction itself affecting the commutation, in theory, it turns out that there is very little difference between a symmetrical three-phase reduction and a single-phase reduction. A rather extensive treatise, beyond the scope of this paper, was done, both mathematically and by simulations, to prove this particular concept and to determine the extent of the potential error involved. It turns out that the error is, at most, a few percentage points of AV, depending on the range of conditions; and that the probability of commutation failures is very slightly greater than that predicted by theory for single-phase faults. It was concluded that (9) can be considered as the generalized equation where the phase shift 4) would go to zero for the case of a symmetrical three-phase voltage reduction. Therefore, the Ifiain difference, in theory, in the commutation failure probability between three-phase and single-phase faults must be mainly attributed to the zerocrossing phase shifts for single-phase faults, ignoring nonThe line-to-line commutating voltage zero crossing phase shift is then given by:

Equations (9) and (10) contain the two dependent factors AV and Cp. Iterative solutions are the best solution technique. Equation (10) shows that the phase shift can vary between 0" (for AV=O) and 30" (for AV=l). Fig. 2 shows a plot of the phase shift for the AV range of interest in this study.

0 00

Voltage Reduction @erunit) - AV (phase-to-ground)

0 10

0 20

0 30

0 40

Theoretical Commutating Voltage Zero-Crossing Phase Shift Versus Phase Voltage Reduction for System Single-phase to Ground Faults

PARAMETRIC BEHAVIOR OF COMMUTATION FAILURES

Considering Sytnmetrical Three-phase Conditions A practical example will demonstrate the use of the equations. For the Nelson River HVdc scheme, which is a large, bulk power, long overhead line system, Xqu=20%, y=18", az138.7" (from (7)). Considering a constant dc current and an impractical limit-case of yO=O"(perfect ideal valves): AV = 1 - O.U(O.2 + 1 - ~ 0 ~ 1E820%. ~) That is, a voltage reduction of 20% would be required to

949

produce a commutation failure. If a more realistic valve turn-off of 'y0=8' is assumed, the voltage reduction would have to be: AV = 1 - 0.2/(0.2 + cos8O - cosl8") z 16.4%. If a dc current increase of 5% occurred due to the reduced ac voltage, then the voltage reduction required to produce commutation failure would only have to be: AV = 1 - 1.05 x 0.240.2 + cos8' - cosl8") E 12.2%. The corresponding AV for a 10% current increase would be about 8%. The above demonstrates that any dc current increase, dynamically created, is critical for commutation failures, even for relatively minor disturbances due to very remote ac system faults, if the control system (firing angle a)does not move (a condition of (8)). In a real system, at least for the first few commutations immediately following the fault initiation and corresponding voltage reduction, and assuming that no commutation failure has occurred, the dc current may not have time to rise significantly. This is a function of the time constant of the main dc circuit which often contains significant reactance (smoothing reactor, commutating reactance, and line reactance). This means that the I'& term in (6) and (8) may often tend to unity, or be quite small, for the time frame of interest in this treatise. After the first few commutations following the fault, if commutation failures have still not occurred, fast dc controls then have some time to react to a rising dc current and somewhat counteract this effect on subsequent commutations. However, as soon as the first commutation failure occurs, the driving voltage is greatly increased because the inverter back voltage collapses. At this point, the current rise can be dramatic. In (6), (8), or (9), the power frequency is indirectly reflected in the critical commutation margin angle y 'o corresponding to the required turn-off time of the valves. Other than this small indirect effect of frequency, the basic equations are frequency invariant. This means that, if the per unit parameters and the angles, including yoyo, are selected the same, then the performance is theoretically identical for 60 Hz and 50 Hz systems. Therefore, a 50 Hz system trying to employ a 15' margin may experience unsatisfactory performance compared to 60 Hz systems using 18'. Fig. 3 shows some plots of (6) for various parameter changes. A significant improvement due to utilization of a lower commutating reactance can be seen in Fig. 3. In fact, it is one of the most dominant parameters affecting onset. Therefore, systems with lower commutating reactances may show a significantly lower incidence of commutation failures due to remote ac system faults. In dc schemes, there is an increasing use of a temporary resetting of the commutation margin angle for conditions or switchings which are known to frequently cause commutation failures. The most common resetting value is about a 10' increase above the normal y, or about 28' [21. However, this aspect of dc operation does not appear to be well researched and resetting values seem to be mainly from trial-and-error experience. Fig. 3 shows that the improvement in failure onset is approximately linear with increasing gamma. For lower

UT

14

16

Commutation Margin Angle - y (degrees)

18

20

22

24

26

28

Curves of Sudden Ac Voltage Reduction Required to Produce Onset of Commutation Failures for a Balanced Three-phase Ground Fault

commutating reactances, the improvement is somewhat greater - note the higher slope on the corresponding lines. For a system design, in comparing the relative merits of reducing commutation failure risk via increased margin angle setting versus decreased commutating reactance, it is important to note that increased margin increases the valve voltage stresses and also the reactive power consumption, whereas lower commutating reactance decreases both of these.

Considering Unsymmetrical Three-phase Conditions

Ac networks, where phase voltages during faults depend on the fault location and system grounding, can be mathematically solved by using symmetrical components. This analysis cannot be used to determine any exact quantities on the valve side of converter transformers because it does not consider the existence and effects of the valves, the commutation process and the dc current. Notwithstanding this fact, it can be used to visualize a few conceptual issues within this context [31. For a single-phase fault, it can be shown that two line-toline voltages experience significant voltage magnitude reductions on the wye transformer and one of these voltages also has associated with It an unfavorable phase shift for commutation because its zero crossing advances. In contrast, only one line-to-line voltage on the delta transformer experiences a significant voltage reduction and also its phase shift will be near zero. The phase shifts in the wye are also larger than in the delta. Fig. 4 shows the above effects for a remote single-phase fault causing a phase voltage reduction to 0.8 per unit at the ac bus, and with the valve groups blocked and open circuited. At the critical point where commutation failures first start occurring in an inverter, the combination of voltage magnitude and phase shift is such that the wye group has less area in which to commutate as compared to the delta group. Because of these effects, it could be expected that the wye group may be more prone to commutation failures. In a real system, this is unlikely to be very apparent. It may show up in a statistical analysis of many fault cases where the valves in a wye group are the first to fail commutation more often than the delta group valves in a 12-pulse pair. An important side benefit of this for checking the theory is that the

950
Reduction of Inverter Bus Phase A to 0.8 p.u. (Remote S-L-G fault) at 0.01 sec.

to produce onset would be 16.4%. Therefore, the equivalent effect of the phase shift in this case is to reduce the onset AV from 16.4% to about 14% (from Fig. 5 ) . It follows that the voltage reduction itself, not the corresponding phase shift, remains the most dominant factor determining onset. The basic reason for this is that the critical onset occurs under conditions corresponding to faults significantly isolated from the inverter bus, resulting in the phase shifts being quite small as shown in Fig. 2. The importance of the AV fundamentally relates back to the fact that the most dominant factor is the commutation area requirement identified by the overlap angle p. That is why a reduction of the commutating reactance or the load current has such a significant effect on commutation failures. Fig. 6 contains a family of curves showing the parametric sensitivities of the generalized commutation failure theory and equations.
4 0 h

'

Line-to-Line Voltages on the Inverter AC Bus and on the DC Side of the Converter Transformers with the Valve Groups Blocked, for 3. Single-phase Fault at a Remote Location from the Inverter

inverter ac bus provides the normal and convenient measuring point for the phase voltages and corresponding AV magnitudes which are then retained across the wye-wye transformer to the valve side. From the solution of (9) and (lo), Fig. 5 shows the ac voltage reductions required to produce onset of commutation failures for single-phase to ground faults. For comparison of the three-phase and single-phase faults, two curves from Fig. 3 (for the cases of 'yo=8" plus Xc .=0.2 pu and 0.1 pu, respectively) are repeated in Fig. 5. T h s shows that single-phase faults are somewhat more onerous for the onset or probability of commutation failures than threephase faults. The difference is due to the phase shift, most critical in the wye connected group, for single-phase faults.
-0

H 8 40
e
.fi

50

5 30 4 20
nominal values: y=18", y,=Xo, I,=l Opu, X,F,=O 2pu, @=OO Family of Curves Showing the Parametric Sensitivity of thi Generalized Commutation Failure Theory and Equations
%ommutation Margin Angle - y (degrees)

!z $10
r=:

'

18

20

22

24

26

28
SIMULATION AND THEORY VALIDATION

Comparative Curves of Sudden AC Voltage Reducuon Required to Produce Onset of Commutation Failures for Single Phaseto-Ground and Balanced Three-phase Ground Faults.

Simulation
The CIGRE dc Benchmark Model has been described in various references [4][5] and was modeled in the EMTDC (Electromagnetic Transients DC) program. The Benchmark model is a 50 Hz, monopolar cable system rated at 1000 MW and 500 kV. It has a commutating reactance of 0.18 pu on transformer rating base. It has a low reactance in the dc

To understand the relative importance of the voltage reduction versus the phase shift, it is possible to compare the results in Fig. 5 to equivalent and hypothetical singlephase faults that do not cause any phase shift. To do this, it is only necessary to solve (9) with +O". For the case of p18", y,,=8", and XWu=0.2pu, the phase voltage reduction

95 1

circuit (no defined smoothing reactor) and a large dc cable capacitance. For this study, an arbitrarily large smoothing reactor was placed at the inverter to mitigate for the otherwise large dc current rise that this Benchmark circuit would produce. The inverter compensation is made up of shunt capacitors and ac filters, including a low order damped filter. The ac systems were made infinite for these simulations (no regulation or distortion). The simulation results are obtained by reductions of phase voltages at the inverter commutating bus. To accurately study commutation failures with simulation, special techniques were devised to determine the fault AV, to establish the cause of the inception or start of commutation failures as being attributable to the AV or phase shift, and to be able to discriminate from, or identify those, commutation failures which could be influenced by dc current rise, control movement or other effects. Once the AV for a particular fault was established, the same fault was then applied 100 times with an equal 0.2 millisecond time-on-wave distribution over one cycle (20 ms at 50Hz), to obtain a curve of the probability of commutation failure versus the AV for each circuit condition considered.

are plotted on Fig. 7 to demonstrate the very close agreement between the system simulations and the theoretical equation curves.

Validation of Unsymmetrical Three-Phnse Theory

Fig. 9, similar to Fig. 5, shows curves for single-phase faults on the Benchmark circuit. The theoretical curves are obtained from the solutions of (9) and (10). Note that the system simulations plotted on Fig. 9 give a slightly higher probability of commutation failure (lower onset AV) than the equation curves. This is consistent with, and due to, the small error that was previously explained in conjunction with (9). Note also that the error is smaller for the more practical cases with y0=8" and also for high y values. This is as predicted by the theory.
40

30

20

y / !
1 ;
i
..............

'

........... .............. ..........................

i ...........................

; .

:. : ........
i

/
. ' ...............
/ I

y(j=OO

A*,--!

............ ...............

...........

,......

o
14

X, ,=O. 1 Spu, I,=l .Opu (from theory) x and. inicate resaectwe simulahon results
18 20
22 24 26

Validation of Symmetrical Three-phase Theory

Fig. 7, similar to Fig. 3, shows curves for three-phase faults on the Benchmark circuit. The theoretical curves are obtained from (8).
n

13
28

16

Commutation Margin Angle - y (degrees) Curves of Sudden AC Voltage Reduction Required to Produce Onset of Commutation Failures for Single-phase to Ground Faults on the CIGRE DC Benchmark Model

$40

2i 30
8 '5
.g
t

20

310 *
1 4 %

-X,
16
18

.=O.l8pu, Id=l.Opu (from theory)

I
20
22 24

Commutation Margin Angle - y (degrees) Curves of Sudden AC Voltage Reduction Required to Produce Onset of Commutation Failures for Balanced Three-phase to Ground Faults on the CIGRE DC Benchmark Model

26

28

Fig. 10 shows a typical probability curve for singlephase voltage reductions which show a significant slope decrease above about 80% probability. This effect is due to faults applied during or after a successful commutation but before the zero crossing. For these events, the gamma measurement detects a change early enough for the controls to have time to react before the next critical commutation, which turns out to be the third one later (the first one to have an unfavorable phase shift). To make these particular fault events fail commutation, a higher AV (as much as 35%) was required, hence the slope reduction on the probability curves.
Single Phase Reduction (y=lSO,yo=Oo)

Fig. 8, representing 400 separate fault applications, shows a typical curve of the commutation failure probability versus three-phase voltage reduction AV. Each curve like this was used to obtain one point on the corresponding Fig. 7 curve. Since the probability curves rise so sharply, the onset of commutation failure can fairly accurately be taken as the AV at the lower knee-point of the curve. In Fig. 8, this would be at AV=33%.
Three Phase Reduction (y;24", yo=Oo)

Fig. 10: Typical Curve of Commutation Failure Probabilit Due to Time on-Wave of Fault Inception Versus Voltage Reduction A+ for a Single Phase Fault on the Benchmark Model

Typical Curve of Commutation Failure Probability Due to Time-on-Wave of Fault Inception Versus Voltage Reduction AV for a Three-phase Fault on the Benchmark Model

The points from a few of the simulations that were run

This slope effect is real and it will exist in most systems with modern controls. What this means is that, occasionally, a single-phase system fault may occur which results in quite a large phase voltage reduction at the inverter bus but without causing commutation failures. It could therefore be quite misleading to jump to general conclusions about system faults on the basis of such an event. Other than this particular low probability event, the time-on-wave of the fault occurrence is generally not very

952

influential to the onset or probability of commutation failures. It was also observed in the simulations that, around the onset AV, the wye group would fail commutation first, virtually 100% of the time, just as the theory predicts. It was not until the AV was increased beyond onset that the delta group would begin to fail first. Once the AV is made large enough to ensure failure in either group, regardless of other conditions, the division of probability between groups eventually settles out to be about 50150. This is logical because at this point the first group to fail commutation would be dictated by the first commutation to be encountered in either group following the fault time-onwave. Double line-to-ground faults were also studied and simulated. These faults are of less interest because they are rare and they will not be reported on here. Suffice it to say that the associated fault transfonnation from the ac to dc side is such that the delta group dominates in failures and the fault becomes worse than either three-phase or singlephase faults for equivalent phase voltage reductions on the ac side. For example, for a particular single-phase case which has a AV onset of 14%,a double line-to-ground fault has a AV onset of 11%, with all other circuit conditions the same.

Fig. 11;Curves of Sudden AC Voltage Reduction for Onset o f Commutation Failures for Single-phase and Three-phase Faults on New Zealand Expansion and Nelson River-I1 Systems Showing Effects of,dc Current Rise

Effects of DG Current Rise

In Fig. 6, it is shown that, along with %he commutating reactance, if a significant dc current rise occurs in a particular dc scheme, then it is one of the most important par meters. For the short duration from fault initiation to the time of first commutation failure, the dc current rise is very nearly linear. This has been confirmed by simulation runs with different conditions. Therefore, adhering to the basis of the theory derivation, the current rise term in (9) should be taken as the average of the total dc current, including any rise, at the start of the critical commutation and the total dc current at the end of that commutation when the first failure actually occurs. This average value represents the equivalent current that must be commutated during that critical process which dictates whether a commutation failure will occur in accordance with the theory. The dc current rise can be obtained from the dc current traces for a fault event which gives a AV near or at the onset level. Two dc systems are interesting in this context because they have very different parameters. The New Zealand Expansion scheme [2] experiences large dc current rise because it has a low commutation reactance (11.8%), a small smoothing reactor (160 mH) and a large capacitance associated with the underwater cable. On the other hand, Nelson River Bipole-I1 [2] has a large commutating reactance ( 2 0 % ) , a large smoothing reactor (750 mH) and a large inductance associated with the long dc line. Fig. 11 shows theoretical and simulation results for commutation failure onset for the above schemes. It is seen that current rise effects tend to decrease the difference in the onset AV between single-phase and threephase faults. Compared to three-phase faults, single-phase faults produce the disadvantage of a phase shift but they produce the advantage of a lesser dc current rise. The latter results because the inverter dc back voltage is a function of

the three-phase ac voltages and is therefore more impacted by a three-phase reduction. Fig. 11 also shows that, considering all parameters discussed so far, two very different systems end up with commutation failure onset voltages quite close to each other for both single-phase and three-phase faults. At the normal operating point of p18", the onset AV's all fall within a range of about 10% to 14%.Increasing gamma to only 24" provides a significant advantage by increasing the AV onset by at least 10% in all cases. As a test case to show the value of a low commutating reactance and large smoothing reactor, a Nelson River Bipole-I1 simulation was run with a modified design. The commutating reactance was decreased from 20% to 11.8% and the smoothing reactor inductance was doubled, as if a spare smoothing reactor was placed in line. For this system, the onset A V was increased to about 20% (shown in Fig. 11 as "N.R. modified" point), giving a performance improvement approximately equivalent to operating at ~ 2 4 in " the present system. To put this improvement in perspective, it was estimated that of the 128 actual system faults and disturbances that caused commutation failures, as reported in the next section, 85, or about 67%, of these would probably not have caused any failures with the modified system because the voltage reductions would not have been large enough. The dc system would have been effectively "blind folded" to many of the more remote faults occurring out in the ac system. Commutation Failure Experience On an Actual System Commutation failures at the inverter of the Nelson River system over a recent span of six years have been analyzed [ 6 ] [ 7 ] .The result is shown in Fig. 12 for Bipole-11. The onset AV is about 10% and this point is placed in Fig. 11 for comparison to the theory and simulation results. Although this field result is quite close to the other results, this is not a completely appropriate comparison.

953

50

4. For many dc systems, the onset of failures should occur for inverter ac bus phase voltage depressions (AVs) of about 10% to 14% for both single-phase and three-phase ac system faults, for a normal commutation margin angle setting of 18.
FUTURE WORK
7
9
1 1

O5

13

15

17

19

2 1

23

25

Dorsey Inverter AC Phase Voltage Reduction - AV (%) Nelson River Bipole-I1 Commutation Failure Probability Versus Inverter AC Bus Voltage Reduction from Field Results of AC System Faults

With the field results, not all the system disturbances occurred at or near full dc loading. This is one reason why the field result curve does not have as sharp a rise as the simulation curves. This should also make the field results optimistic (higher AV onset) compared to theory and simulation, which were determined at full load for Fig. 11. On the other hand, the field results include possible effects from any distortions on the ac bus voltage waveforms. This could make the field results pessimistic (lower AV onset) compared to theory and simulation. The extent to which these opposite effects might trade each other off has not yet been determined.
CONCLUSIONS

As a forward to future work, some preliminary investigation has been done on the effects that a noninfinite ac system could have on the theory and results. In this case, the phase voltage zero-crossings could theoretically shift, that is, a shift in the ac bus voltage angle. This must be reconciled through consideration of the dynamics in the real and complex power flows and balance immediately following the fault application. This may result in unfavorable voltage phase angle shifts with respect to commutation. But any angle change should be very small because the voltage change, and corresponding power change, required to produce onset of commutation failures is small.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Dr. M.M. Rashwan for providing Nelson River Bipole-I1 commutation failure data, and Mr. P. Kuffel for producing the Nelson River EMTDC Results.
REFERENCES
Saying attributed to Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. [2] Survey of Controls and Control Performance in HVdc Schemes, CIGRE Publication, 1994, CIGRE WG 14-02 Report. [3] C.V. Thio, L.E. Midford, Commutation Failures as a Function of Various Control and Valve Parameters, Report Presented to CIGRE WG 14-02, August, 1992. [4] M. Szechtman, T. Wess, C.V. Thio, First Benchmark Model for HVDC Control Studies, Electra, No. 135, April 1991. 151 T. Wess, H. Ring, FGH Controls for the HVdc Benchmark Model Study, Report Presented to CIGRE WG 14-02, October, 1988. [6] C.V. Thio, L.E. Midford, Commutation Failures on the Nelson River HVdc System, Report Presented to CIGRE WG 14-02 & 1405, August, 1992 and February, 1994. [7] L.E. Midford, HVdc Commutation Failures, Thesis submitted to Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Manitoba, August, 1991. [8] C.V. Thio, Recovery from Commutation Failures, Report presented to CIGRE WG 14-05 for inclusion in CIGRE paper on Commutation Failures, February, 1994.
[ 11

1. A theoretical formulation, including a parametric analysis, has been developed for the initiation or onset of commutation failures in HVdc systems, assuming infinite (zero impedance) ac systems. The theory has been validated by simulation and compared to some actual field experience data. 2. The theory shows that ac system single-phase faults electrically remote from the inverter cause the onset of commutation failures by a combination of the ac voltage reduction magnitude and a phase angle shift. However, the voltage reduction, not the phase shift, is significantly the most dominant factor. 3. The parametric sensitivity analysis shows that the most important equipment parameter affecting the commutation failure onset voltage level is the commutating reactance. Low commutating reactances can produce a significant advantage. A transient dc current rise during ac system faults is a systemic response having significant influence. A large smoothing reactor can thus act as a catalyst for a low commutating reactance to produce its fundamentally large performance advantage. Possible variations in valve designs and valve turn-off times (critical commutation margin angle) are not likely to have a large effect. The studies done to date generally indicate that, other than the y setting, any other dc control parameters or strategies, including predictive-type controls, will not significantly affect the onset of initial commutation failures. The role of dc controls is therefore seen as an optimization to prevent subsequent failures and to efficiently recover the system after faults.

BIOGRAPHIES
C.V. Thio obtained B.Sc. (EE) and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Manitoba in 1961 and 1964 respectively. Since 1964 he has been with Manitoba Hydro and is presently Manager of Major Transmission Planning. obtained B.Sc. (EE) and M. Eng. degrees from the University of Manitoba in 1973 and 1977 respectively. Since 1975 he has been with Manitoba Hydro where he works on control problems related to ac and dc transmission. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Manitoba. K.L. Kent obtained B.Sc. (EE) and M. Eng. degrees from the University of Manitoba in 1986 and 1994 respectively. Since 1986 he has been working a t . Manitoba Hydro and is presently an HVDC Planning Engineer in System Planning. His interests include power system simulation and harmonic analysis.

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Discussion
Goran Andersson (ABB Power Systems AB, Box 703, S-771 80 Ludvika, Sweden.) : The authors are to be congratulatedfor an interestingpaper which provides some very illustrative results. The analytical approach combined with siimulations results is very powerful in gaining insight into the problem dealt with. The discusser want to make some comments and would appreciate the response from the authors. 1. An efficient way to get an estimate of the relative importance of various parameters is to calculate the sensitivity of the quantity under study with irespect to small variations of these parameters. This is easily done for AV in eqs. (8) and (9) of the paper by differentiation with respect to Zd, X,,, yo and y, respectively. By doing this, the findings of the importanceof these parameters stated in the paper are easily verified. Particularly, it can be seen that for the parameter values used in the paper, an increase of y with one degree is roughly twice as efficient as a decrease of yo with one degree. 2. An change of Xcpu has two effects: An increase of Xcpu will increase the risk of commutation failures as directly seen from eq. (9). On the other hand, an increase of X,, will most probably reduce the increasie of the direct current, resulting in a lower value of I, as comparcd with a smaller value of X,,, resulting in a lower risk for a commutation failure. Which of these two effects that will be largest one depends on the specific system, and it is hard to draw any general conclusions. 3. The required turn-off time of an thyristor is 400 - 500 p, which corresponds to a yo of typically 8 for a 50 Hz system and a yo of 10for a 60 Hz system. From the equations in the paper it is then easily seen thiat y = 17 in a 50 Hz systems and y = 18 in a 60 Hz system should give similar performance with regard to commutation failures. 4. As mentioned in the paper the analysis conceming a singleline-to-ground fault, (SLGF), is much more complicated than the symmetrical fault case. The discusser is somewhat confused about the derivation of equations (9) and (10). In (9), AV is the reduction of the commutating voltage on the valve side of the convertor transformer, whereas A V in eq. (10) is the reduction in the phase voltage of the faulty ]phase. It is straightforwardto show that a phase voltage reduction (of AV (P.u.) results in a commutatingvoltage of P
I

quantities as (9), but a little more complicated. It should be noted that the numerical difference between the expression suggested here and the one given in the paper is rather small for typical data. 5. In the paper SLGFs are simulated by a reduction in the magnitude of the phase-to-ground voltage in one phase (no phase shifts on the a.c. side of the convertor transformers). The good agreement between the simulations and the analytical results indicates that the approach taken is reasonable. However, it would be interesting to see an analysis where actual SLGFs were introduced in the system, as close-by high impedance faults or as remote faults. Such faults would then also introduce phase shifts in a.c. voltages at the convertor bus. Such an analysis must be performed before it could be concluded in general that reductions in voltage magnitude are dominating over voltage phase shifts as cause for onsets of commutation failures. Thus the work proposed under FUTURE WORK in the paper is strongly encouraged. 6. It should be remembered that the analysis presented does not take distortions on the voltage wave form into account. Such distortions could be as important for the onset of commutation failures, but this aspect is much more complicated to analyse. The authors have shown that it is possible to successfully analyse commutation failures with quite simple models. Their analysis has increased the understanding of the phenomena and I believe that many more conclusions can be drawn from analyses of this kind. Once more, the authors are congratulatedfor a very fine paper. Manuscript received August 25, 1995.

C.V. Thio, J.B. Davies, K.L. Kent: The authors thank Mr. Andersson for his very appropriate observations and comments. O u r response to his points are as follows: 1. We agree with this comment. The relative efficiency of a change in y compared to yo can also be shown by simple value substitution in equations (9) and (lo), and this is effectively shown in Figure 6. An increase of one degree of y is at least twice as efficient as a one degree decrease of yi Here, twice as efficient means that the increase in the AV required to produce commutation failure onset for a one degree increase in y (about 2% AV increase) is twice as much as the corresponding AV increase required for a one degree decrease in yo(about 1%AV increase). Furthermore, it should be noted that the turn-off time of most modern E , = 4 1 - AVp + AVp/3 (P.u.) valves is not likely to vary over a si,gnificant range, accordingly indicating that the valve design affecting yois for two of the commutating voltages of a Y-Y connected transformer. (One commutating voltage is unaffected by this distur- not likely to be a significant variable in comparing the relative performance of different dc schemes. bance. Similar expressions could be derived for the Y-A 2. We concur that a change of , , X (commutating transformer.) This is illustrated by Figure 4 of the paper, where a reactance) has the two effects stated by Mr. Andersson. phase voltage red1,iction of 0.2 gives rise to voltage reductions on However, we would have said that an increase of X , will the valve side of 0.10 (Y-Y transformer) and 0.13 (Y-A transmost certainly (not most probably) reduce the increase of former). the direct current (Id term), assuming all other parameters Furthermore, the inclusion of the phase shift, 0, in (9) is not obvious. Assuming that the control system orders firing of the valve at the same. We believe that at least some general conclusions the time instant corresponding to the angle a of the undisturbed can be drawn about the relative importance of Id and X in different systems. This relates back to why commutating volt,ige, this would mean that the phase angle of the smoothing reactance can be so important, as noted in the disturbed commutating voltage would be a + I$, but the critical commutation margin, yo, would be the same. Thus equation (4) paper. A large dc smoothing reactor will tend to dictate the should be time constant of the dc circuit, hence the dc current increase, and will significantly diminish the proportional A? C O S a + COSY .- Id -. effect of any commutating reactance variations on this E I d cos ( a + 0) + cosyo current increase. Any effective blocking of the dc current The angle a c m now be eliminated from this equation in the increase by the smoothing reactor allows a small same way as done in the paper resulting in a equation with the same commutating reactance to produce its fundamentally large

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-----0 Simulation

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15 14 3 13 12 11 lo 2 9

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( 1) 341Faults, I'@d = 1.0, yo=Oo.infinite ac systems

Nz)or 7.5" (CEPEL), infinite ac systems (2) 3$ Faults, r d d = 1.0, yo=8" (NR, (3) 39 Faults, I'd/& = 1.05 (NR) or 1.24 (NZ) or 1.15 (CEPEL). ~ 0 = 8 "(NR) or 0" (NZ) or 7.5" (CEPEL), infinite ac systems (4) 19 Faults, Pd/ld = 1.03 (NR) or 1.24 (NZ) or 1.13 (CEPEL). 'yo=8" (NR) or 0" (NZ) or 7.5" (CEPEL), infinite ac systems (5) 3+ Faults, ~ 0 = 8 "(NR) or 7.5" (CEPEL), simulatednon-infinite ac systems (6) 1$ Faults, ~ 0 = 8 "(NR) or 0" (NZ), simulated non-infinite ac systems (NR. Nz)and real system (NR)
Graph Showing Range and Trend of Sudden AC-Fault Voltage Reductions Required to Produce Onset of Commutation Failures for Various Conditions on the Nelson River, New Zealand Expansion, and CEPEL Simulator Model (Approximate Itaipu) Systems

commutation performance advantage in accordance with the basic equations with an I'& term tending toward unity. On the other hand, it has been found from calculations and simulations of different systems that where both a small smoothing reactor and a small commutating reactance is used, and especially for systems with underwater cables, then the dc current increase, not the, , X tends to dominate the commutation performance. In other words, the advantage of the low commutating reactance in this context is lost due to the counter effect of the large dc current

increase. Figure A shows the results of more recent calculations and simulations on three different systems [a]. The relative variation and importance of different parameters on these systems is illustrated. The largest variation in the AV onset levels occurs over the first three points which correspond to variations of the basic parameters contained in the theoretical equations. The first point gives the maximum theoretical condition with a symmetrical three-phase reduction, no dc current rise and with an ideal valve. The fourth point gives the theoretical

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and simulation equivalents close to the more realistic real system condition of a single-phase fault, the appropriate dc current rise and with the valve critical turn-off time represented. For the Nelson River system, this last point gives a result very close to what is known to occur in the real system, in spite of the fact that infinite ac systems are still assumed at this point. 3. The observation given is correct. By substituting the yo for each system in equation (9) and setting the AV onset values equal in both systems, the margin angle in the 50 Hz system more accurately comes to 17.2 for the same theoretical commutation performance as 18 in the 60 Hz system, with all other parameters the same on a per unit basis. An important note that follows from this is that the CIGRE dc Benchmark Model, referenced in the paper and used for many different studies nowadays, was originally designed as a 50 Hz system with a nominal commutation , margin angle of 1 5 O . Operating it this way, or with any y will not affect its validity with respect to the commutation failure theory. The theory is generally valid for any circuit and for any operating angle setting on that circuit. However, sometimes the Benchmark is converted to an equivalent 60 Mz system and then operated with ~ 1 8 . If this is done, it is important to realize that this system will then not be equivalent in performance to its 50 Hz counterpart. 4. The comments here raise two seemingly confusing points about the derivation of equations (9) and (10). This is very interesting because these are some of the subtle points that we also wrestled with for considerable time in developing the basic theory for single-phase faults. The first point relates to the treatment of AV in equations (9) and (10) and the reconciliation of phase and line-to-line quantities on the ac and dc sides of the converter transformer. It is true that AV in equation (9) is derived out of consideration of the commutating voltage on the valve side of the converter transformer. However, for the generalized application of this equation, that is, for application to both three-phase and single-phase faults, the AV in the equation was effectively converted so that it refers to the voltage reduction of the phase voltage on the faulted phase. For small AV values, there is an approximate difference of a factor of two between the phase and line-toline quantities for a wye-wye transformer (the most critical for commutation failures, as explained in the paper), as illustrated by h 4 r . Anderssons equation, his wye-wye transformer values, and also by Figure 4 in the paper. But these quantities relate only to the steady-state vector magnitudes of the sinusoidal voltages; they do not explain the instantaneous voltages that are actually existing during
the critical commutation process. During this process, the

instantaneous commutating voltage is dominated by one phase voltage only, because the other phase will be near its zero-crossing under normal circumstances and parameters. This concept of instantaneous voltages allows the effective conversion, as stated above, of AV in equation (9) from a line quantity to a phase quantity with only small error as explained in the paper text just below equation (9). As a phase voltage, the AV in equation (9) can then be equated to the AV in equation (10). The second point relates to the inclusion of the phase shift 4 in equation (9). As indicated in equation (9), a change in 4 produces the same result as an equivalent

change in yo, if everything else remains the same. This would be intuitively expected because both parameters simply subtract from the time available between the upcoming and critical commutation completion and the zero-crossing. Equation (4) cannot, strictly speaking, contain a phase shift 4 as suggested because this part of the theory is based on symmetrical three-phase conditions. However, if it is meant to derive all the equations from the start based on single-phase only, instead of the treatment in the paper, then this might be a different matter. In this case, the use of a cos(a + 4) term presents some conceptual difficulties because it implies a shift in the firing angle relative to a fixed reference point in time. Such a fixed reference point is implicit in the theory and equation (9) development. During the initial and very short transient time that includes the sudden voltage reduction and the immediately following critical commutation (the only time that the equation applies), the firing angle (or control) does not move because it is assumed that there is insufficient time. In the longer term steady-state following this initial transient, still with the voltage reduction and assuming no commutation failure, a cos(a + 4) term could be realizable but this is not within the assumed time frame of application. It can be said, therefore, that the theory as developed for single-phase faults is a rather odd and unique combination of both steady-state and transient considerations and quantities - but it works quite effectively as shown by simulations. 5. As indicated in Figure A by the horizontal axis points 5 and 6, further simulations have been conducted on different systems to determine the effects that varying ac systems (as opposed to infinite) may have on the onset of commutation failures. For these tests, ac system faults were simulated on remote ac system busses. In these systems, for the time frame immediately following fault application, a small shift in the ac bus voltage angle could be detected which was attributable to the dynamics and balance of the real and complex power flows. However, in conducting these tests, in contrast to determining angle shifts, there ultimately appeared to be more questions and doubt about how to accurately model systems and apply single-phase remote faults to reflect the real system conditions. The simulation results on the axis points 5 and 6 seem to be lower than generally experienced on real systems. Only some of this difference was explainable from model tests. Meanwhile, the real systems seem to conform more to the theory result with infinite ac systems. It is suspected that there are some small secondary effects coming into play which are trading each other off in the non-infinite real systems. It is recognized that it may be useful to test other configurations and varying ac/dc systems. 6. There seems to be a long standing perception by many that harmonic distortions in general are perhaps the most dominant factor causing the onset or start of commutation failures. They are certainly the domin factor for failures due to some major switching actions at the inverter bus, such as energizing a l&ge transformer. However, after all the theoretical development, simulations and study of real system events, the authors now believe that the actual effects of distortions may have been significantly exaggerated for the case of remote ac system faults. The perception was that distortions would always cause or at

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least make worse, the number of commutation failures but, in fact, based only on their possible effect of shifting the zero-crossing, there appears to be at least as much potential for distortions to improve the probability of failures as there is to make it worse. If a particular system at an inverter is highly distortable due to a low order harmonic resonance, then that system will probably have to be corrected for other reasons. Furthermore, if distortions were a significant causal factor, it would be expected to see more commutation failures on actual systems for ac system faults producing only small voltage reductions, that is, for faults even more remote from the inverter. But this does not seem to be the case in real systems. The theory, with

sudden voltage reductions on otherwise perfectly sinusoidal waveforms, already predicts the onset of failures for voltage reductions as low as 10% to 14% on many systems. If distortions were significantly lowering this value, the commutation performance of many existing dc systems would probably make their operation unacceptable.
REFERENCE
[a] C.V. Thio, M. Szechtman. R. de Silva, "Simulation Tests On Commutation Failure Theory In HVDC Systems". paper presented at CIGRE SC14 Colloquium, Sept., 1995. Montreal, Canada.

Manuscript received October 9, 1995.