Modelling and Controller Design For VSC-HVDC Attached To An Ac Network

MODELLING AND CONTROLLER DESIGN FOR VSC-HVDC
ATTACHED TO AN AC NETWORK
Martyn Durrant , Herbert Werner , Keith Abbott
Technical University Hamburg-Harburg

Institute of Control Engineering
Eissendorfer Str 40, 21073 Hamburg, Germany
Phone +49 40 428783407, Fax +49 40 42878 2112
m.durrant@tu-harburg.de
ALSTOM T&D Ltd.

Power Electronic Systems
Stafford
England
Key words: Power System Control, Modelling, Validation
and validated against the rigorous PSCAD model.
Abstract
Throughout the paper, 3 phase signals are transformed using

the Park Transformation into a two phase dq representation
in a rotating reference frame, and per unit notation is used
[5].
In this paper a model and a controller design method for controlling the power and line voltage of a voltage source converter
(VSC) in VSC HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current Transmission) attached to an AC system are introduced. The control structure proposed consists of a cascade from power and
AC voltage onto a VSC current controller. The controller for
the VSC current loop is designed using a standard low order
model and the power and voltage controllers are designed using a model extended to included power and AC voltage behaviour. A good validation of the extended model against a
rigorous PSCAD model is demonstrated for SCR=4.0 .
2 VSC HVDC Equivalent Circuit

An equivalent circuit for the power controlling terminal of
a VSC HVDC system is shown on Figure 1. The model
developed here, extended to include the behaviour of the DC
line as described in [14] and [10], may also be used for design
of the voltage controlling terminal of a VSC HVDC system.
Introduction
Voltage Source Converter based HVDC (VSC-HVDC) has

attracted significant interest since the development of high
speed, high voltage switches which enable the advantages of
VSC HVDC to be exploited commercially [12] [1] [4]. A
number of methods for designing controllers for converter
currents using analytical models have been described, the
most common being the use of decouplers with a linearising
control structure [8][14][6]. Nonlinear methods [15], LQR
and H methods have also been applied [7]. However, the
issues associated with controlling power flow and line voltage
for non-infinite AC systems have not been directly addressed.
The main contributions of this paper are the introduction of
a modelling approach and a controller design methodology
to deal with the non-linearities introduced by requirements to
control AC system power flow and line voltage.
The paper is organised as follows. The standard VSC model,
controller structure and VSC current controller design as
applied to HVDC are first summarised. The extension of
the standard model to include power and line voltage is then
described. Finally a power and voltage controller is designed
vcld,v clq
Lc
isd,i sq
vl
system
impedance
Rc
DC voltage
icd,icq
vcd, vcq
v DC
AC filter
vs
voltage source converter
AC system
Figure 1: VSC HVDC terminal
3 Linearisation of the Internal VSC Controls

The two internal controls of a VSC controlled by pulse width
modulation (PWM) are the phase angle of the VSC voltage
relative to the point of phase measurement, and the modulation
index m, i.e. the ratio between the AC voltage and DC voltage
magnitudes [2]. These control signals vary a PWM pattern to

provide an AC voltage waveform with magnitude m.vDC and
phase . Referring to Figure 1, the equations representing a
single VSC operation may be written as the following linear
system, with inputs vcld and vclq and outputs icd and icq :
d
icd
dt
d
icq
dt
=
=
Rc
icd + icq
Lc
Rc
icq icd
Lc
1
vcld
Lc
1
vclq ,
Lc
(1)
hence AC system strength and SCR [5]. It is therefore proposed to carry out the control design in two stages, leading to
a cascade structure for control of power and line voltage using VSC currents. In this structure the objectives of the slave
controller are to control converter currents to setpoint, attenuate harmonic disturbances from the VSC, and be robust to
unmodelled dynamics effects in the VSC. The objectives of the
master controller are to control power and voltage to setpoint,
and to be robust to changes in AC system characteristics.
6 Modelling and Control of AC Network

6.1
where
vcd = m vDC cos vl
vcq = m vDC sin
(2)
To linearise the VSC behaviour, the internal VSC controls

and m are set as non-linear functions of the required input voltages vcld , vclq and the measurements vl (the AC line voltage)
and vDC :
= arctan(
vcld + vl
)
vclq
m=
vclq
sin
vDC
(3)
Control design for the VSC
With the linearising inputs vcld , vclq it is possible to design a

current controller for the VSC using linear control techniques.
Two approaches to control design are detailed in [3] and summarised below.
In the decoupling design approach introduced in [11], the d
and q equations are decoupled, enabling two controllers to be
designed using SISO techniques.
LQR is an alternative to decoupled design that is applicable to
this system because of the availability of the system states icd
and icq ; it is an attractive approach because of its inherent robustness properties [13]. To provide integral action the system
is augmented by integrated states as shown in Figure 2, leading
to a 4 input, 2 output static feedback controller.
The validity of the linearised model when the VSC is attached
to an AC system with SCR> 4 is detailed in [3]. The simple
model and the LQR controller are thus considered to be an appropriate slave model for use in the design of power and line
voltage controllers, at least for SCR greater than 4.0.
Control Structure for Control of AC Power

Flow and AC Line Voltage
The independence from vl of control using vcld and vclq within

the standard VSC model leads to dynamic behaviour of the
VSC itself being independent of AC system impedance, and
Model of VSC Attached to a Non-Infinite AC System
When a VSC with linearising control structure as described

in section 3 is attached to a non-infinite AC system, the VSC
equations (1) still hold. The behaviour of the system between
the ideal AC source and the line voltage as shown on Figure 1
is described by the following equations:
d
isd
dt
d
isq
dt
=
=
Rs
isd + isq +
Ls
Rc
isq isd
Lc
1
(vs cos s VL ) (4)
Lc
1
(vs sin s )
Lc
As in Equation(1) , the reference phasor for dq transforms is

the line voltage. The AC source has a voltage magnitude Vs
and the angle s of this voltage relative to the line varies as the
current flow between the source and the converter changes.
The AC filters required for VSC HVDC are smaller than those
required for conventional HVDC and the filter currents are anticipated to be relatively small in the desired operational bandwidth of the VSC (up to 100 Hz). If the filter currents are not
considered, isd and isq are identical to icd and icq respectively
in equations 1 and 4, and the derivative terms may be eliminated from these two systems of equations. By elimination of
s the AC line voltage can then be expressed as a nonlinear
function of icd , icq , vcd , vcq , the outputs of the slave system,
and the system impedance (Ls and Rs ).
vl =
Ls vcld
icd Ls Rc
icd Rs +
Lc
Lc
s
(icq Ls Rc + icq Lc Rs Ls vclq )2
+ vs 1
L2c vs2
(5)
P =vl icd
The transfer function from ispd and ispq to P and vl can be

summarised as:
i md
LQR controller
gain matrix
(2*4)
v dd
i nd
setpoint pre-filters
i dsp
i qsp
1+T 1s
1+T 2s
1+T 1s
1+T 2s
vcld
1
s
v cldr
1
s
v clqr
i cd
linearised
plant
input
DYN
v clq
output
DYN
i cq
i nq
v dq
i mq
Figure 2: LQR Control structure for VSC
x = Ax + Bu
ylinear = Cx
(6)
The controller was designed for operating point 3 using the linear model. A pre-filter was included in the PID controller and
the controller designed using an IMC SISO procedure [9].
ynonlinear = h(ylinear , p)
where the inputs, linear outputs, nonlinear outputs and parameter vector are :
u = [ispd ispq ]T
icd icq T
x = [icd icq
]
s s
ylinear = [icd icq vcld vclq ]T
(7)
ynonlinear = [P vl ]T
p = [vs Rs Ls ]
i.e. it is a linear system (A, B and C are the conventional
state space matrices) with a static non-linearity appended to
its output, the non-linearity being a function of the parameter
vector p.
6.2
linear controller designed for operating point 3 on the linear

model is therefore anticipated to be stable for powers up to at
least 0.25 pu at an SCR of 1.0.
o.p.
SCR , power
o.p. 1
SCR=4.0,
power=0.25 pu
strong system,low power
o.p. 2
SCR=4.0,
power=1.0 pu
strong system,high power
o.p. 3
SCR=1.0,
power=0.25 pu
weak system,low power
o.p. 4
SCR=1.0,
power=0.4 pu
highest PSCAD power with

C.L stability at SCR=1.0
P > 0.1 pu
o.p. 5
SCR=1.0,
power=0.6 pu
highest PSCAD power with

C.L. stability at SCR=1.0
P < 0.1 pu
o.p. 6
SCR=1.0,
power=0.79pu
highest theoretical power

in steady state at SCR=1.0
Control Design for VSC Attached to a Weak AC System
Calculation of the jacobian of h at a particular operating point

allows small perturbations around the associated state x0 to be
analysed linearly. The resulting linearised model can then be
used for design of a master control system for power and line
voltage.
The controller structure studied is shown in Figure 3, and includes a ratio block for setting of ispd . The open loop response
from ispq to vl and P of the linearised model and an analytic
non-linear model are shown on Figures 4 and 5 for operating
points 1 to 3 (see Table 1 ) of the system considered; Table 1
also summarises model behaviours at other operating points.
The open loop gain increases as power flow increases and SCR
decreases, and at operating points 1-3 the linear model closely
replicates the non-linear model and the PSCAD model. A
description
Table 1: AC system operating points (o.p.). line voltage is 1.0

pu at all operating points
id
0.25
spi d
0.2
v cld
power
Current
controller
spi q
AC voltage
Vl
iq
non linear model
0.1
power change (pu)
v clq
linear model
0.15
VSC
2
0.05
0.05
PID controller
AC voltage
setpoint
0.1
0.15
spP
Vl
Power
setpoint
spP
0.2
Satisfactory responses to power demand changes are achieved

on the linearised model by setting of the IMC tuning parameter
to values less than 2.0, but a value of 15.0 is required to avoid
excessive oscillations with power step changes of greater than
0.1 pu on the PSCAD model.
The linear and PSCAD closed-loop power and voltage responses to power step changes at SCRs of 4.0 and 1.0 are
compared on Figures 6 and 7. The linearised model behaviour
closely matches that of the PSCAD model at SCR=4.0, but the
PSCAD model exhibits light damping at SCR=1.0 not anticipated by the linear model.
1
voltage (pu)
linear model
non linear model
0.06
0.08
0.1
time(s)
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
Figure 4:
Line voltage change responses to 0.5 pu Change in
ispq at 3 operating points, linear and nonlinear models
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
system proposed here are adequate for control system design

using linear methods for values of SCR greater than 4.0, but
the controllers designed for values of SCR significantly less
than 4.0 require detuning to avoid excessive oscillation. The
key elements not captured in the extended model which cause
the validation to deteriorate at low values of SCR are the AC
filter and the phase tracking phase locked loops, the behaviour
of which both become more significant at low values of SCR.
8 Acknowledgements
This work has been jointly funded by EPSRC and ALSTOM
T&D ltd.
[2] G. Asplund, K. Eriksson, and J. Svensson. HVDC LightDC transmission based on voltage sourced converters.
ABB Review, 1:49, 1998.
0.04
0.1
time(s)
[1] B. Anderson. Topologies for VSC Transmission. In Seventh International Conference on AC-DC Power Transmission (IEE Conf. Publ. No.485), pages 298304. IEE,
2001.
0.5
0.02
0.08
References
0.06
Power responses to 0.5 pu Change in ispq setpoint

at 3 operating points, linear and non-linear
models
Validation of the AC Circuit Model
0.5
0.04
Figure 5:
Figure 3: Power and Voltage Control
6.3
0.02
Conclusions
This paper demonstrates that the 2 state model of the VSC and
the simple linearised model of the VSC connected to an AC
[3] M. Durrant. A comparison of current controller designs

for VSC-HVDC. In EPE Conference September 2003,
Toulouse (Submitted), 2003.
[4] K. Eriksson. HVDC light and development of voltage
source converters. ABB review, 2002.
[5] P. Kundur. Power System Stability and Control. McGrawHill, 1994.
[6] P.W. Lehn and M.R. Iravani. Discrete time modelling and
control of the voltage source converter for improved dis-
1.2
1.2
PSCAD model
Linear model
0.8
0.8
power(pu)
power(pu)
PSCAD model
Linear model
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
time(s)
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
1.5
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
time(s)
0.5
0.6
1.4
1.3
1.3
1.2
1.2
voltage(pu)
voltage(pu)
0.8
PSCAD model
Linear model
PSCAD model
Linear model
1.4
1.1
1.1
0.9
0.9
0.8
0.8
0.7
0.7
0.6
0.7
1.5
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
time(s)
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
Figure 6:
Power and voltage responses to 1pu power setpoint
step with LQR,operating point 1
0.6
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
time(s)
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
Figure 7:
Power and voltage responses to 1pu power setpoint
step with LQR,operating point 3
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MODELLING AND CONTROLLER DESIGN FOR VSC-HVDC

Technical University Hamburg-Harburg

ALSTOM T&D Ltd.

and validated against the rigorous PSCAD model.

Throughout the paper, 3 phase signals are transformed using

2 VSC HVDC Equivalent Circuit

Voltage Source Converter based HVDC (VSC-HVDC) has

voltage source converter

Figure 1: VSC HVDC terminal

3 Linearisation of the Internal VSC Controls

magnitudes [2]. These control signals vary a PWM pattern to

6 Modelling and Control of AC Network

vcq = m vDC sin

To linearise the VSC behaviour, the internal VSC controls

Control design for the VSC

With the linearising inputs vcld , vclq it is possible to design a

Control Structure for Control of AC Power

The independence from vl of control using vcld and vclq within

Model of VSC Attached to a Non-Infinite AC System

When a VSC with linearising control structure as described

As in Equation(1) , the reference phasor for dq transforms is

The transfer function from ispd and ispq to P and vl can be

Figure 2: LQR Control structure for VSC

linear controller designed for operating point 3 on the linear

strong system,low power

strong system,high power

weak system,low power

highest PSCAD power with

highest PSCAD power with

highest theoretical power

Control Design for VSC Attached to a Weak AC System

Calculation of the jacobian of h at a particular operating point

Table 1: AC system operating points (o.p.). line voltage is 1.0

non linear model

Satisfactory responses to power demand changes are achieved

system proposed here are adequate for control system design

Power responses to 0.5 pu Change in ispq setpoint

Validation of the AC Circuit Model

Figure 3: Power and Voltage Control

[3] M. Durrant. A comparison of current controller designs

turbance rejection. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 14(6):10281036, november 1999.

Generation Transmission and Distribution, 140(4), July

[8] A. Lindberg and T. Larsson. PWM and control of a three

[14] J.L. Thomas, S.Poullain, and A. Benchaib. Analysis of

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