Converter Faults & Protection

CONVERTER
FAULTS &
PROTECTION
INTRODUCTION
Faults in DC
systems are In a
caused by converter
station
the malfunction of
the equipment and
controllers Valves are the
most critical
equipment
The failure of insulation needed to be
caused by external protected
sources such as
lightning ,pollution etc…
CONVERTER FAULTS
Arc backs
Faults due to
malfunctions of valves Arc through
and controllers
Misfire
Types of Converter
Faults Quenching or Current
Extinction
Commutation Failure
Short Circuits in
converter station
ARC BACKS
In this phenomena the
Hence conduction
valve losses its capability
takes place in reverse
to block in the reverse
direction also
direction
When this fault is detected

we need to block the This is non-self clearing
converter valves and open fault
the backup AC breaker
This can be eliminated by

The bypass valve has
using a bypass valve
higher current rating
placed across converter
than ordinary valves
bridge on the valve side
ARC THROUGH
It is the failure to block a valve during a scheduled non conduction period
A malfunction in the gate pulse generator can fire a valve which is actually not
supposed to conduct, but is forward biased
This malfunction is mainly because of failure of

a) Negative grid pulse b) early occurrence of positive grid pulse
This fault mainly takes place at inverter station

MISFIRE
This takes place

This can occur Effects are
when the
in both rectifier commutation
required gate
and inverter failure and arc
pulse is missing
stations, but through. This is
and the
effects are more a self clearing
incoming valve
in inverter fault
fails to ignite
CURRENT EXTINCTION
This takes place

This fault may
when the current
cause
through a valve
overvoltage's to
reaches a value
take place in the
less than the
valve
holding current
COMMUTATION FAILURE
 It is nothing but the failure of the completion of
commutation before the reversal of commutating voltage
takes place.
 The minimum value of extinction angle is defined by
Ƴ=180-α-µ
 The overlap angle is a function of the commutation voltage
and the DC current.
 The reduction in voltage or increase in current or both can
result in an increase in the overlap angle and reduction of
Ƴ below Ƴmin.
 This gives rise to commutation failure.
 Consider the circuit shown above.
 Assuming initially valves 1 and 2 are conducting.
 Now because of increased DC current or decreased AC

voltage or any case valve 1 fails to extinguish.
 Therefore valve1 carries full link current and the current in
valve 3 becomes zero.
 Hence valve 3 extinguishes and valve 1 continues its
conduction .
 Next when valve 4 fires the short circuit of the bridge takes
place as valves in the same arm conducts.
 This causes the voltage across valve 5 to be negative

hence it does not conducts.
 Valve 4 gets extinguished and valve 6 is fired next.
 Hence the normal operation is retained back.
 Therefore it can be said that single commutation failure is

self clearing.
 The effects of single commutation failure are,
 There is no AC current for the period in which the two valves in
an arm are left conducting.
 The bridge voltage remains zero for a period exceeding 1/3 of a
cycle, during which the DC current tends to increase.
 Double commutation failure can also takes place in a
converter station.
 A commutation failure in a bridge can cause several
sequence commutation failures in the series connected
bridges.
 Hence the initial rate of rise of current has to be sufficiently
limited by connecting the smoothing reactor in the circuit.
SHORT CIRCUIT IN A BRIDGE
 This fault has very low probability of occurrence.
 As the valves are kept in a valve hall with air conditioning.
 They may sometime occur because of flashover in

bushings.
 This fault mostly occurs in rectifiers.

It compares
the rectified
PROTECTION AGAINST OVER C current on
URRENTS
the valve
side of
It provides basic converter
protection transformer
against faults in a to DC
converter current on
line side
smoothing
This is used as reactor
backup. The level
of overcurrent
required to trip This is mainly
must be set used to detect
higher than VGP the ground
to avoid tripping faults, such as
neutral faults.
 The faults producing overcurrents are classified into
3 categories:
 The first one being line faults. They occur frequently and
can be controlled by controlling the current.
 The second being the internal faults. They cause high
overcurrents. These are infrequent.
 The third fault may be commutation failure at inverters.
They occur quite frequently.
PROTECTION AGAINST OVER VOLTAGES
 The sources of over voltages in converter station are:
 Switching operations
 Lightning strokes
 Sudden load rejection
 Resonance between filter and system when suppressing lower

order harmonics.
 Symmetrical faults in AC yard
 Errors in voltage control
 Converter faults
SWITCHING OPERATIONS
 These over voltages are of short duration.
 Switching surges are on account of circuit breaker

operation while switching inductive and capacitive loads.
 Protection schemes:
 Using surge absorbers with circuit breakers.
 Using SF6 breakers.

LIGHTNING STROKES
 The primary cause of this over voltage is lightning strikes.
 These occur for a very short duration but causes more

damage to the system.
 Using surge arresters and spark gaps.
 Using overhead ground wire.
 With the help of neutral grounding.

OTHER FAULTS
 Sudden load rejection,resonance,symmetrical faults in AC

yard and other causes temporary over voltages in the
system.
 This occurs at power frequency and lasts for a few

seconds.
 Using surge over voltage relays and circuit breakers.
 Using fast acting static VAR sources.
 Using On Load Tap Changers.

SURGE ARRESTERS
 It is a device connected between a conductor and ground,

to protect the equipments against high voltage surges.
 It is also known as lightning arrestors.
 It diverts the lightning or switching surges from the

equipment towards the ground.
 Under normal operating voltage, the impedance offered by

a surge arrester is very high.
 As the current always chooses the low resistance path

equipment can perform in normal operation.
SURGE ARRESTERS CONTD…
 When an over voltage occurs it causes the drop in the

impedance of surge arrester.
 Thus the flow now will be through the surge arrester rather
than the main path.
 Two types of arresters are there:

 Gapless arresters
 Zinc oxide arresters
 Zinc oxide arrester is widely used as they have high

energy absorbing capability.
SMOOTHING REACTORS
 It is a high inductance coil connected in series with the

converter to reduce the ripple current on the DC side of the
system.
 Basically the DC current from the rectifier has harmonic

components called ripple.
 As SR is in series with rectifier whole load current flows

through it.
 Then their magnitude is reduced and current becomes

smoother.
CORONA ON DC LINES
 The phenomena of hissing sound, violet glow

accompanied with the production of ozone gas due to
ionization of air surrounding the conductor, when voltage
gradient exceed a particular value is called corona.
 In DC transmission system, due to the discharge a current

pulse is generated resulting in increase in power loss.
 The effects of corona are:

 Radio Interference
 Audible Noise
 Space charge field
RADIO INTERFERENCE
 It is also known as radio influence.
 It occurs in the band region of 0.5 to 1.6Mhz.
 In HVDC lines, RI effect is more in positive conductor rather

than in negative conductor.
 It is expressed in millivolts per meter.
 Mathematically it is expressed as
RI=25+10logn+10logr+1.5(g-go)
 In negative conductors the value of radio interference is lower by

20dB.
AUDIBLE NOISE
 The corona discharges from the conductor produce
compressions and rarefactions that are propagated
through the medium as acoustical energy.
 The portion of the acoustical energy spectrum that lies

within the sonic range is perceived as audible noise.The
sound level is expressed in decibels'.
 It is defined as
dB=20log(P/Pr)
where P= measured sound pressure
Pr= reference pressure level
 The positive polarity conductor is the primary source of AN.

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CONVERTER

When this fault is detected

This can be eliminated by

This malfunction is mainly because of failure of

This fault mainly takes place at inverter station

This takes place

This takes place

 Now because of increased DC current or decreased AC

 This causes the voltage across valve 5 to be negative

 Valve 4 gets extinguished and valve 6 is fired next.

 Hence the normal operation is retained back.

 Therefore it can be said that single commutation failure is

 As the valves are kept in a valve hall with air conditioning.

 They may sometime occur because of flashover in

 This fault mostly occurs in rectifiers.

 Sudden load rejection

 Resonance between filter and system when suppressing lower

 Symmetrical faults in AC yard

 Errors in voltage control

 These over voltages are of short duration.

 Switching surges are on account of circuit breaker

 Using surge absorbers with circuit breakers.

 Using SF6 breakers.

 The primary cause of this over voltage is lightning strikes.

 These occur for a very short duration but causes more

 Using surge arresters and spark gaps.

 Using overhead ground wire.

 With the help of neutral grounding.

 Sudden load rejection,resonance,symmetrical faults in AC

 This occurs at power frequency and lasts for a few

 Using surge over voltage relays and circuit breakers.

 Using fast acting static VAR sources.

 Using On Load Tap Changers.

 It is a device connected between a conductor and ground,

 It is also known as lightning arrestors.

 It diverts the lightning or switching surges from the

 Under normal operating voltage, the impedance offered by

 As the current always chooses the low resistance path

 When an over voltage occurs it causes the drop in the

 Two types of arresters are there:

 Zinc oxide arrester is widely used as they have high

 It is a high inductance coil connected in series with the

 Basically the DC current from the rectifier has harmonic

 As SR is in series with rectifier whole load current flows

 Then their magnitude is reduced and current becomes

 The phenomena of hissing sound, violet glow

 In DC transmission system, due to the discharge a current

 The effects of corona are:

 It occurs in the band region of 0.5 to 1.6Mhz.

 In HVDC lines, RI effect is more in positive conductor rather

 It is expressed in millivolts per meter.

 In negative conductors the value of radio interference is lower by

 The portion of the acoustical energy spectrum that lies

 The positive polarity conductor is the primary source of AN.

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