The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012

Using Seven-Level Cascade H-Bridge Inverter with

HVDC System to Improve Power Quality
Rakan Khalil Antar
Technical College /Mosul
Foundation of Technical Education
Mosul, Iraq
rakanpe@yahoo.com
Basil Mohammed Saied
Electrical Engineering Dept.
Mosul University
Mosul, Iraq
basilms2005@yahoo.com
Rafid Ahmed Khalil
Mechatronics Engineering Dept.
Mosul University
Mosul, Iraq
rafidamori@yahoo.com


Abstract In order to improve the power quality of both AC
sides of the 6-pulse line commutated converter HVDC link, a
proposed technique is used to reduce the THD and improve the
effective input power factor. The technique is based on
implementing seven-level cascade H-bridge inverter at each side
of HVDC system. Each inverter is operating instantaneously as
STATCOM and active power filter. In order to drive this
inverter, a modified harmonic pulse width modulation method is
suggested in order to force the AC source current to be in-phase
with its AC voltage in addition to minimize the ac source
harmonics. The suggested method is applicable for transient and
steady state operating conditions. The obtained results show that
the power factor is almost unity and the value of THD is reduced
significantly, at AC sides, for different levels of DC link power
flow.
Keywords- 6-pulse LCC-HVDC, Power quality, Active power
filter, STATCOM, Multilevel inverter, MHPWM.

I. INTRODUCTION
High-voltage direct-current (HVDC) power transfer has
become the most feasible way to transmit a large amount of
power over long distances. The HVDC power transfer is
convenient for long distances, because the bulk of transmitted
power is almost unlimited for practical purposes. In addition, a
HVDC station is the best solution for linking two power
systems working at different frequencies or not synchronized.
Economic results of transmission system can be provided by
HVDC systems [2]. HVDC power transmission systems and
technologies associated with the power quality improvement
continue to advance as they make their way to commercial
applications. HVDC converters produce harmonics in the
power systems, which should be eliminated by power filters to
improve the quality of power systems. Shunt passive filters can
be used to reduce these harmonics. Active filters are better than
passive filters in filtering performance, size and application [9].
The active power filter (APF) needs a complex regulation and
control system, especially a large power harmonic-generating
source, which is inapplicable in current HVDC transmissions
AC system [5]. The most control algorithms used for operation
control of three-phase shunt active power filters are
Instantaneous PQ theory and the synchronous detection method
based on two, three and multilevel inverters but the circuit and
computation steps stay complex. In [3, 8], the Icos algorithm
is compared with other theories. In this algorithm, the
magnitude of the real component of fundamental load current
(I.cos) multiplied with a unity sinusoidal wave in phase with
the mains voltage to produce the desired mains current. This
technique is applicable for three-phase VSI's. In [4], the Icos
algorithm is used with a 7-level shunt active filter as a
controller based on Multicarrier Phase Disposition PWM
technique. In this paper, APF based on 7-level cascade H-
bridge PWM voltage source inverter, is adopted base on
modified harmonics PWM (MHPWM) algorithm with phase
shifted carrier PWM in order to improve the power quality of
overall HVDC system as illustrated in Fig. 1.

II. HVDC SYSTEM MODEL
A. 6-Pulse HVDC Converter
HVDC system contains two converter systems connected
by a DC line. During the operation of converters, whether as a
rectifier or an inverter, harmonic components will be generated
at the AC sides. This paper deals with 6-pulse line commutated
converter HVDC (6-pulse LCC-HVDC) link and suggests
using an APF for reducing the AC line current harmonics and
correct input power factor (PF) in order to improve the power
quality at both sending and receiving sides as shown in Fig. 1,
which is modeled by Matlab/Simulink power system blockset.
As a result, the shape of line current becomes nearly sinusoidal
which affects the performance of AC mains.

B. Control Systems
The rectifier control has a current controller calculating
firing angle
i
and the inverter control has a voltage and current
controllers, proportional-integral (PI) type, operating in parallel
and calculating firing angle
v
. In normal operation, the
rectifier controls the current at the I
d-ref
reference value whereas
the inverter controls the voltage at the V
d-ref
reference value [6].
The I
margin
and V
d-margin
parameters are 0.3 p.u. and 0.18 p.u.
respectively.
The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012

Fig 1. Typical 6-pulse LCC-HVDC link with MAPF.

III. FILTERING PRINCIPLE BASED ON STATCOM-APF
A. System Configuration
Reactive power compensation is a powerful means of
optimizing power flow on transmission networks. There are
two methods to generate leading and lagging reactive power,
which are Static VAR Compensator (SVC) and Static
Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM). APF using the
cascaded multilevel inverter, which is suitable for high power
applications, consists of a three main parts: 1) a cascaded
multilevel inverter with DC capacitors; 2) the coupling
inductor L, which connect APF to the AC system; and 3) The
controller, which receives commands and measurements beside
feedback signals, executes control algorithms and generates
gate signals for the inverter IGBT switches [1]. Multilevel
inverters give lower output harmonics and commutation losses
with high power capacity. Multilevel inverters have become an
effective and practical solution for increasing power and
reducing harmonics of AC load [7]. Multilevel inverters can
extend power electronic systems to high power and high
voltages ratio by wiring the semiconductors in a series-type
connection. The drawback of multilevel inverters are requiring
isolated DC source for each cell, huge number of switching
devices and excessive complexity [7].
Basically, the APF acts as a controlled voltage source
which forces the system line currents to become sinusoidal. In
this paper a modified active power filter (MAPF) consists of a
three-phase 7-level cascade H-bridge PWM voltage-source
inverter, which is used to compensate harmonics and reactive
power at same time therefore it is considered as harmonics
injector and PF corrector (STATCOM-APF system), as shown
in Fig. 2. It is designed and implemented according to
MHPWM algorithm and connected to the power line through
coupling inductor. The AC inductor (L
ac
) that is installed at the
AC side of the controlled rectifier plays an important role in
operating the active filter stably and properly.

Fig 2. System Configuration of MAPF Based on 7-Level Cascaded H-
Bridge Inverter per phase.
B. MHPWM Algorithm
In the MHPWM algorithm, the desired AC current (i
Sa-ref
,
i
Sb-ref
, i
Sc-ref
) is the product of the real part component of
fundamental load currents (I
La1(real)
, I
Lb1(real)
, I
Lc1(real)
) and a
unity sinusoidal wave, which is in-phase with the mains
voltage. The reference compensation (i
a-comp
, i
b-comp,
i
c-comp
) for
the MAPF are thereafter computed as the difference between
the actual load currents (I
L
) and the desired mains currents for
the three phases.
i
a-comp
=I
La
i
Sa-ref
(1)
i
b-comp
=I
Lb
i
Sb-ref
(2)
i
c-comp
=I
Lc
i
Sc-ref
(3)
Where
i
Sa-ref
=I
La1(real))
*sin (wt) (4)
i
Sb-ref
= I
Lb1(real)
* sin (wt 120
0
) (5)
i
Sc-ref
= I
Lc1(real)
* sin (wt + 120
0
). (6)
That mean, the fundamental component of the active part of
the load current, i.e., (I
L1(real)
), is derived from the load current
in each phase. This gives the amplitude of the desired mains
current in each phase. The compensation current signals
compared with the MAPF current signals and the results,
The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012
harmonics error signal, used as a reference current signal of the
PWM generator model. Software based phase shifted multi-
carrier signal is used as a carrier signal of PWM control. This
type uses six carrier signals of the same amplitude and
frequency which are shifted by 60 degrees to one another to
generate the seven level inverter output voltages. The PWM
signals of the MAPF circuit are produced from the comparison
of the carrier signal with the reference signal. This is a
MHPWM algorithm that has been suggested to drive the
MAPF as shown in Fig. 3.

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS
The HVDC system is a monopole 6-pulse converter rated
1000 MW (2 kA, 500 kV) at the transmission line. DC
interconnection is used to transmit power from a 500kV, 50Hz
network to 345kV, 50Hz network. The converters are
interconnected through a 300km transmission line and 0.5H
smoothing reactor. The MAPF is connected to AC system
through coupling reactor (Lcoupling=12mH). A DC capacitor
is connected at the DC side to store energy at the DC bus
(C
dc
=200f per cell).
The designed MAPF is simulated to demonstrate its steady
state and dynamic capabilities for the 6-pulse HVDC system.
Fig. 4 shows the steady state nature behavior of the 6-pulse
converter system of the supply phase voltage (Vsa) and current
(Isa) at the AC side of the converter at sending and received
sides with sampled DC power equal to 0.9pu (900MW) without
filter and with the MAPF respectively. The phase voltage and
current of the 6-pulse LCC-HVDC link are in-phase with each
other and this is due to the nature of the MAPF. These figures
show that the MAPF results in PF as near as possible to unity
and THD in the ac supply current well below the IEEE
standard 519. This makes the supply voltage and current almost
free from harmonics. Fig. 5, Fig. 6, and Fig. 7 shows the
response of the DC current, voltage at transmission line side
and firing angle without filter and with MAPF. Fig. 8 and
Table 1 illustrate the waveform of PF, THD, and Utilization
Factor (U.F) without and with the MAPF at different power
flow (P
dc
) at sending and receiving sides respectively. These
results confirm that PF stay at unity and THD improved at both
sending (SN) and receiving (RV) sides for different values of
P
dc
, but this affect on the utilization factor of the system. The
MAPF draws a small amount of the real power depending on
the phase angle between the ac voltage and the MAPF voltage.
This makes the UF to reduce with the power flow changing.
Fig. 9 explain the apparent power (AP), real power (RP),
reactive power (QP), and distortion power (DP) before and
after connecting the MAPF. These results illustrate that QP and
DP are almost disappear after connecting the MAPF.


Fig 3. Control circuit of the MAPF.
TABLE I. PF, THD AND U.F VERSUS DC POWER TRANSMITTED WITHOUT
AND WITH THE MAPF AT SENDING AND RECEIVING SIDES
Filter
Pdc
(pu)
PF THD%
U.F
% SN(Lag) RV(Lead) SN RV
without
Filter

0.7
0.8
0.9
0.8869
0.8879
0.8895
0.8632
0.8632
0.8635
30.3027
30.1646
30.0682
30.8259
30.6126
30.4262
85.617
85.658
85.792
MAPF
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.000
1.000
1.000
0.9999
1.0000
0.9999
1.0161
1.088
0.93169
1.4094
0.83977
1.1688
84.1
85.622
86.67

At constant AP (766MVA) supplied by the AC mains of the
sending side without and with the MAPF, RP increased by
12.7%, QP decreased by 99.6%, and distortion power DP
decreased about 96%, in the rectifier side. In the inverter side
RP increased by 2%, QP decreased by 98.7%, and DP
decreases by 97%. Also the value of PF is increased about
12.67% (0.9999Lagging) and 16% (0.9999 Leading) in the
rectifier and inverter sides. While THD decreased by 95.74%
and 96% in the rectifier and inverter sides respectively. The DC
power flow at transmission line is increased by 5.5%. This
explains that the suggested MAPF is effective in improving
power quality for different value of the transmitted DC power
at transmission line.


V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper the 6-pulse LCC-HVDC link model with two 7-
level cascade H-bridge inverters at both sending and receiving
sides has been implemented, analyzed and simulated. The
advanced PWM technique has been suggested to drive the
MAPF, which is designed and implemented according to
MHPWM algorithm. This technique is trying to maintain both
the power factor and THD as best as possible for different
values of DC power flow, so it is worked as STATCOM-APF
system. The MHPWM algorithm is applicable for transient and
steady state conditions of the 6-pulse LCC-HVDC link. The
results presented here prove the effectiveness of the algorithm
for different values of P
dc
flow through transmission line.

The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012
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Fig 4. Simulation results of phase voltage and current of 6-pulse converter HVDC without and with APF at DC transmitted power 0.9pu at
(a) sending side (b) receiving side.
(a)
(b)
The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012

(a) (b)
Fig 5. DC current response of 6-pulse converter HVDC in the transmission line without and with APF at different DC transmitted power at (a) sending side
(b) receiving side.


(a) (b)
Fig 6. DC voltage response of 6-pulse converter HVDC in the transmission line without and with APF at different DC transmitted power at (a) sending and (b)
receiving sides.
The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012

(a) (b)
Fig 7. Firing Angle response of 6-pulse converter HVDC without and with APF at different DC transmitted power at (a) sending side (b) receiving side.

Fig 8. Simulation results of PF, THD, and efficiency with DC power flow at sending and receiving sides of the HVDC system without and with APF.

The First National Conference for Engineering Sciences FNCES'12 / November 7-8, 2012




Fig 9. Apparent, Real, Reactive, and Distortion Power at sending and receiving sides of HVDC system.
Pdc=0.7pu
Pdc=0.8pu Pdc=0.9pu