A comparative study of a 6-Pulse converter and a 12-Pulse

converter for HVDC station.

Abstract:
Adopting HVDC transmission systems for power transfer over long distances is a better option
than HVAC transmission systems. This is because the copper losses in the HVDC transmission
system is lesser and it also doesn’t need reactive power compensation unlike HVAC systems.
Another advantage from the various advantages is that it can be used to transfer power across
countries whose grid systems are being operated at different frequencies. Since the power
generation is in AC, it has to be converted to DC before it can be transferred through
transmission lines. This is achieved by using Pulse converters. Pulse converters are basically
three-phase, full-wave, fully-controlled rectifiers. Pulse in pulse converters refers to the number
of pulses present in a complete cycle of the unfiltered output. The more the number of pulses,
easier it is to filter them out and reach pure DC from pulsating DC.

Keywords: Pulse-number, HVDC, converter, Harmonics, corona losses.

Introduction:
The complete electrical system can be broadly classified into power generation, power
transmission and power distribution. The distribution end is the end where power is consumed.
Power is usually generated to meet the demands from the load side. The transmission lines link
the generating unit to the consuming unit.
In AC systems, the voltage and current is varying sinusoidally. For AC systems power is a
product of voltage, current and power factor. In AC systems, depending on the load, the power
factor is either less than or equal to one. But for DC systems, power is independent of power
factor and it is the product of voltage and current alone. This in fact eliminates various reasons
of losses in DC power transfer. As the power is independent of power factor, it basically means
that there is no phase shift between current and voltage in the system. DC systems do not
change with respect to time, ideally their frequency is zero. This eliminates reactive power
losses and compensation, whereas AC transmission would fail is there isn’t any reactive power
in the system.
AC power generated has a frequency of 50Hz or 60Hz. When you pass AC in a conductor
(imagine a rod), then due to its alternating nature and with the conductor inductance, it finds
some opposition for the flow of current in the regions closer to the center of the conductor.
Since this inductive reactance is stronger at the center, the current tends to avoid that area and
prefers flowing on the periphery or the skin of the conductor. This is known as skin effect.
Now in case of DC, there is no change in frequency and hence the inductive reactance is zero!
So the current doesn’t find any opposition other than the resistance and it flows completely in
the conductor. Hence more current can flow for the same thickness of the conductor in DC than
in AC. This reduces the weight of the copper and also reduces the copper losses. Also, the
corona losses are lesser in DC transmission lines.
The cost for AC transmission lines is lesser if the distance across which power is to be
transferred is lesser than 600-800 kilometers. Since the power generation and consumption is
in AC the cost to convert to DC and back to AC is higher when the power is to transferred within
600-800 kilometers. This is called critical distance. Power transfer in AC beyond this distance is
more expensive since the equipment for reactive power compensation, towers and lines
becomes larger for AC than DC.
As mentioned earlier, the generation and transmission is in AC, to transfer power in DC, it must
be converted to DC using pulse converters. This involves the usage of power semiconductor
devices which are operated as switches to achieve power conversion. The major disadvantage
is that there is a limit to the voltage rating to which these devices can be designed.
The easiest way to achieve conversion from AC to DC is by using a diode in series. But this will
work only in one cycle and is very inefficient. To overcome this inefficiency, two diodes can be
used, one to operate in each cycle, but this will require higher PIV rating for each diode. Hence,
for a single phase system, a diode bridge consisting of 4 diodes is used. As the power
generation is of three phase, a system with 6 thyristors is used. This type of circuit is called a
Graetz circuit. Thyristors are used to enable angle control of the waveform. By changing the
firing angle of the thyristors, the output can be controlled easily. The commutation of the
thyristors is natural as the input voltage is alternating and after positive cycle there is a negative
cycle which reverse biases the thyristors commutating the thyristors naturally.

System overview:
Converters are configurations which convert AC to DC. They consist of semiconductor devices
which are connected in a particular fashion in order to achieve the desirable. As the generation
is in 3 phase, three phase rectifier circuits are used. Diodes are replaced with thyristors. This
enables us to control the output of the rectifier as we can control the firing angle of the
thyristors. The parameters desired from a converter are as follows:
1. High Pulse number (p).
2. The ratio of Peak inverse voltage(PIV) to Vdo should low.
3. The ratio of Vdo to E must be high.
4. The transformation utilization factor of the circuit should be 1.
 Abiding the above parameters, a 6-pulse and a 12-pulse converter is analyzed using the
Simulink software. Following are the schematic diagram for the 6 pulse and 12 pulse converter

The converters in Simulink are as follows –

The graphs of each of the converters is as follows –
i. 6 Pulse converter graphs
a. Voltage graphs

b. Current graphs
 ii. 12 Pulse converter graphs
a. Voltage graph

b. Current Graph

Harmonic analysis –
I. 6 Pulse converter –
a. Load voltage
 b. Load current

II. 12 Pulse converter

a. Load Voltage –

b. Load current –