186

ENHANCED POWER TRANSFER BY SIMULTANEOUS

TRANSMISSION OF AC-DC: A NEW FACTS CONCEPT
Hafizur Rahman, B. H. Khan*

University Polytechnic, 'Electrical E n g g . Department

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Email: bpt03hr@amu.ac.in

Keywords: Power transmission capability, EHV ac-dc,

PSCAD simulation.
Abstract:
Due to restrictions imposed on new transmission lines
because of right-of-way cost, environmental and regulatory
To demonstrate the feasibility of simultaneous transmission
of ac-dc power through the same line, a simple case of a three
-phase source connected to a large power system through a
single circuit (S.C.) ac transmission line is considered. For the
purpose of modelling and analysis, the simulation has been
carried Out using 'Oftware

concerns. there is a need to enhance the Dower transfer package.

capability of the existing lines without major' changes. This
paper explores the feasibility of enhanced power transfer by
simultaneous ac-dc transmission through the same line. A 2 Simplified Analysis: 11-81
simple case of a three-phase source connected to a large
power system through a single circuit (S.C.) ac transmission 2.1 Equation for Steady State, AC:
line is considered. PSCADiEMTDC software based results
are included. The power transmitted for any size of conductor depends on
its current carrying capacity and can be calculated from
1 Introduction: the following formula:
The power handling capability of ac transmission lines is power in MW= J7 v I cos 4 (1)
limited by, thermal loading limit in case of short lines, voltage Where V= Rated Voltage of line in KV
drop limit in case of medium lines and stabilitv limit in case I= line current in kA ner conductor
of lbng lines. Due to stability constraints, EHV i c lines longer cos 4 = Load power Factor
than 450 km can transfer power less than its surge
Shown in Figure I is an ac line, modelled by an
impedance loading (SIL), while power transfer capability of it
based on thermal limit is more than SIL. With voltage equivalent II, c a w i n g a load s, which is assumed to he
magnitudes fixed at both ends of a line, the active power maximum allowable value under a given set of system
transfer between two active sources is controlled by parameter and performance criteria.
transmission angle (6) only. This practical operating
transmission angle (6) is usually limited to 30' [I-31. At these
conditions. the line conductors c a m current much less than z = Jm P P , 2, is characteristic
their safe current carrying capacity. For optimal use of lines, impedance.
a + j p Ja., .y
there is a need to load long EHV lines close to their thermal
limits. One possible way to achieve this is by using FACTS y = = is propagation constant.
components [1,7]. Another possibility to achieve the same a = attenuation constant.
goal is that the conductor is allowed to cany certain amount p = phase constant.
of dc current superimposed on ac current. This is a new
concept reported recently [4]. Z, ,Y, = series impedance, shunt admittance line constant
The paper explores the feasibility of power transfer by per phase per Km,
simultaneous ac-dc transmission through the same line to get E,, E, = sending and receiving end voltage (complex),
the advantages of parallel ac-de transmission and to load it
close to its thermal limit.
I , s ,I r= sending and receiving end currents (complex)
and
I =length of line.

0 2004 The Institution of Electrical Engineers.

Printed a n d published by t h e IEE, Michael F a r a d a y House, Six Hills Way, S t e v e n a g e , SGI 2AY
 187

The complex power drawn from the line at its receiving end is a,y = Firing and extinction angles of rectifier and invertei
respectively.
S,=P,+JQ, R , ,RCi= Commutating resistances of rectifier and inverter
= EJ,' (2) respectively.
Similarly, Inverter equation may be expressed
_ -coshfl
r. V, = V,: COSY - R,,I, (8)
fir
=[ Voltage drop due to over lap is given by
Zc sinh fl I'lE,l2
(3)
Vd"
At rated receiving end voltage (E, = 1) the surge impedance A 'd =- ~

(9)
loading (SIL) is reciprocal of the surge impedance (SI). SI is
2
Where, 6= a + p ,p ove!lap angle
equal to the characteristic impedance ( Z , ) for loss less line.
SI = Z~ = Juc ; Z , is purely resistive. y=n-a-p
1,
SIL =
Power factor cos 4?'= -
Vd,
~

SI
c 'do?
li"-cosfl
S, SI E
-[- , ' ,]'IEu12 (4)
SIL Z, sinhyl

Since the series resistance R of EHV transmission line is

DC power P,, = V,I,
much smaller than their inductive reactance X, the attenuation
constant (a) is very small and propagation constant (y) (12)
approaches the phase constant up).
Pdi= VdiId
Reactive powers required at stations are
Equation (4) reduces to
e, = Pd" tan4

The power transmitted for any size of conductor depends on 2.3 Equations for Steady State Simultaneous
its current carrying capacity. The receiving end current is; AC-DC: ~~

p, -JQ,
I, = * (6) Let I , being therms ac current per conductor
E,
I , =total dc current injected
2.2 Converters - Steady state equations:
I,,,, =-,I, dc current injected per conductor
3
- from rectifier to the inverter is
The direct current flowing Then, the total nns current per conductor becomes
VdD,cos a - VdOic o s y unsymmetrical as
I, = (7)
4,+ R, - R,i (15)
, The rectifier equation may be expressed as
IfI,h =conductor current carrying capacity at designed
operating temperature,
V, = V,", COS a - A Vd I
x = where, x is less than unity
Where,
E _ = RMS line-to-line
- voltage of converter transformer
primary voltage.
T = Transformer hun ratio
B = Number of bridges in series
 188

generate 5Ih and 7Ih as the most significant lower order

hut,& < f i ,to have two natural zero crossing in each harmonics and inject them at respective ac buses. The heavily
1, . . damped (low Q-factor) ac filters at each end on ac sides of
cycle of conductor current. converter transformers are connected to filter out these
The instantaneous conductor voltage with respect to ground harmonics.
becomes with superimpose DC voltageVd on ac voltage, the
At sending end, a fraction of ac power is converted to dc
peak value, power from existing ac system by rectifier and injected into
E,,,= V, + fi E,, (17) neutral terminal of ST tr@@rmer secondary through
smoothing reactor. At far end RT transformer, dcLcurrent
The instantaneous electric field polarity changes twice in each
available out of neutral point is inverted to ac and fed to
cycle if
infinite bus. Ground is used as a return path for dc current.

4 Simulation and Results:

Each insulator string has to he insulated forE,,, . It is The proposed scheme has been simulated in steady state
suggested that I-String insulators may he modified to V-string mode. It can he observed from the Figure 3 that after dc
insulators with few additional units of discs in each string [SI. current injection into the conductor, the superimposed ac-dc
V-strings, having less swing and with the addition of a few conductor current become unsymmetrical hut still has two
more insulator discs, may provide insulation for higher values
of E,,, for the same cross-arm length. No structural
natural zero-crossings in each cycle for(1, /31,,<) <a.
Figure 4(a) and 4(h) show voltages between conductor to
modification of the tower is necessary. ground and conductor to conductor respectively. Curve 4(a)
shows instantaneous value of conductor to line voltage having
Since line-to-line voltage has no dc component, therefore, the dc voltage component superimposed on ac voltage, which
conductor separation distance is decided only by rated ac also has two natural zero crossing in each cycle
voltage of line.
V. for(V,/E,,,)<a. Injection of dc at neutral point offsets
Assuming e= k voltage at all the phases from ground by same amount.
EPh Therefore, phase to ground voltage is enhanced. However, the
line-to-line voltage is not affected by dc injection. This fact is
elaborated in Figure 4(h).
Figure 5 shows the waveforms of currents and fluxes of
sending end transformer. In this transformer, the dc current
( I , ) is injected at the secondary winding neutral point, where
L ' J it splits equally among three phases. Through each phase the
injected dc current ( I , 13 ) superimposed on ac enters into
3 Description of the System Studied: line conductors (Figure 5b). Figure 5(c) indicates the
magnetizing current waveform of each phase. It has been
Figure 2 depicts the network under study in which an active observed that the ,waveforms of the magnetizing currents
source is connected to infinite bus via a single circuit, three- remain the same with and without dc current injection. The
phase, 220 KV, 50Hz. 500Km, ac transmission line. The transformer flux waveforms shown in Figure 5(d) indicate
scheme has been modelled in three- phase system using that the transformer core does not saturate due to injection of
component modules from the PSCAD software main library. dc current into transformer secondary.
Transformers at sending (ST) and receiving ends (RT) are In Figure 2 two externally controlled three-phase ac sources
assembled from three single phase, three windings, general (source-l and source-2) are edited as:
transformer model, with their primary and secondary Source -2 to act as an infinite bus maintaining its voltage
windings connected in delta and zig-zag fashion respectively. magnitude 220 kV and phase angle as zero while source-I
The three phase transmission line is a Bergeron model with its
phase angle ( 6 )is kept at 30'. The simulation results show
parameters edited to suit 220 KV, S.C., 500 Km. The DC
System consists of a monopole converter-inverter modelled as that:
(a) Source-I feeds real power of 119.803 MW to an
a single six- pulse bridge. The controls used in DC system are
infinite bus with 3c transmission only,
those of CIGRE Benchmark [9], modified to suit a six-pulse
(h) With injection of dc current into conductor along
bridge at reduced dc voltage. The rectifier is provided with a
with ac, transmission line transfers a total of 202.466
constant current (CC) controller using Proportional Integral
MW real power instead of 119.803 MW as indicated
(PI) controller to generate firing angle a and an a - limit
in Figure 6 . Figure I shows magnitude of the dc
control. The inverter is provided with a constant extinction
angle (CEA) control. Six pulse bridges at each end of the line
 189
voltage and current injected into ac transmission for
this power transfer.
The effective conductor current ( I =)-/I
should not exceed the current carrying capacity of the
conductor.
5 Conclusions:
It has been concluded from simulation results that:
(i) the transformers do not saturate due to superimposed dc
component on ac because of zig- zag connection on the
secondary side.
(ii) the addition of dc does not adversely interfere with
normal functioning of ac system; rather it improves over
all performance. The ac power transfer and load angle
( 6) remains the same while total power transfer is
enhanced.
(iii) as the conductor currents have two natural zero
crossings, no special dc Circuit Breaker is required.
(iv) the higher creepage distance requirement for insulator
discs as required in case of HVDC lines are not required
in this case because electric field produced by conductor
to ground voltage reverses its polarity twice in a cycle.
(v) long EHV transmission lines can be loaded close to its
thermal limits keeping sufficient margin against transient
instability by simultaneous ac-dc transmission.
Acknowledgements:
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial assistance
received from All India Council of Technical Education
(AICTE), New Delhi, India for this work.
Figure 1
References:
I . Kundur P., “Power System Stability and Control”,
McGraw Hill, New York; 1994.
2. Hadi Saadat, “Power System Analysis”, Mc Graw Hill,
1999.
3. Dunlop R D, Gutman R. and Marchenco R.P. ”Analytical
Development of Loadahility Characteristics for EHV
and UHV Transmission Lines”, IEEE Transaction on PAS,
vol.PAS-98.N0.2, 1979, pp: 606-617.
4. Basu KP, and Khan BH, “Simultaneous ac-dc Power
Transmission”, IE (India) Joumal- EL, Vo1.82, lune
2001.p~:32-35
5. Dennis Woodford, “HVDC Transmission”, Manitoba
HVDC Research Centre Inc. Manitoba, Canada, 1998.
6. Padiyar K.R., “HVDC Power Transmission System”,
Wiley Eastern, New Delhi, 1993.
7. Arrillaga I. and Watson N.R. ‘Computer Modelling of
Electrical Power Systems”, John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.
England 2003.
8.Clerici A., Paris L. and Danfors P. “HVDC conversion of
HVAC Line to Provide Substantial Power Upgrading”,
IEEE transactions on Power Delivery, vo1.1,1991 pp:324-
333.
9. Szechtman M., Wees T. and Thio C.V. “First Benchmark
Model for HVDC Control Studies”, Electra.No. 135, April
1991.
IO. To K.W.V and David A.K. “Multivariable adaptive
control of AC-DC systems”, IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm.
Distrih. Vo1.141,No.6, November 1994.
 I Single 6 Pulse Monopole ~

Figure 2.Scheme under study

Hybrid AGDC Current

Cond Current(kA)

to.€
~ to.2
1
-0.2
-0.6t I
I
4 5 4.6 4,J 4.8 4.9 5
Time (sec)

Figure 3. Simultaneous ac- dc conductor current

Conductor Voltages(KV)
(a) Conductor Line to Ground voltaee

210 0 +311627/
1

46 47 48 49
(b) cond Line to Line voltaee

Figure 4. Conductor voltages

 191

S End Transformer quantities

(a) Primary Windg(kA)

5
I
(b) Secondary Windg (kA)

5
(c) Magnetising Current(kA)

Time (sec) I
Figure 5 . Transformer currents and flux waveforms

3 : +146.975

I
'8'5 114 213 312 411 5
Time (sec)
Figure 6.Power transfer

Figure 7. dc voltage and current

.,.,
. . . ,
..& ,.