ELEC0445-1 : High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) grids

Study Programmes 2015-2016

ELEC0445-1

High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) grids

Duration :

16h Th, 12h Pr

Number of credits :

Master in electrical engineering (120 ECTS)		3
Master in electrical engineering (120 ECTS)		3
Master in electro-mechanical engineering (120 ECTS)		3
Master in electro-mechanical engineering (120 ECTS)		3

Lecturer :

Patricia Rousseaux

Language(s) of instruction :

English language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Course contents :

High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology offers higher flexibility for electric power transmission. It is an active and fast growing research area and more and more HVDC applications are deployed worldwide. This course covers the fundamentals of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) systems, used for power transmission in electric energy grids. It is made up of two main parts.
1. Description of the main components of HVDC systems and their control :

Recalls : principle of power AC/DC and DC/AC power conversion
HVDC power converters : Line-Current-Commuted (LCC) converters and Voltage-Sourced (VSC) converters
Main components of HVDC systems : transformers, smoothing reactors, active filters, lines and cables
Control of HVDC converters and systems
Basic HVDC configurations : monopole, bipolar, back-to-back, multiterminal systems

2. Use of HVDC systems for electric power transmission

Interaction between AC and DC systems
Overview of present and future applications
Fault behavior and protection of HVDC systems
HVDC modelling and simulation

Learning outcomes of the course :

At the end of the course, the student will be able to :

demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the various types of HVDC technologies;
justify the higher flexibility offered by the interconnection of DC and AC system for electric power transmission;
demonstrate its ability to use a power system simulation tool and to provide a relevant analysis of the simulation results.

The case studies presented and the personal homework will also give him/her the opportunity to study a large-scale nonlinear system, to improve its understading of such systems and to train his/her presentation skills.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

Basic knowledge in power system components and analysis.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

The course is made of theoretical presentations and practical sessions dedicated to the analysis of relevant case studies. The students are guided in the use of a power system simulation software. MATLAB can be also used for some analyses. The students are asked to answer questions under the supervision of the instructor.
A personal homework dealing with a small case study analysis, similar to those performed during the class is asked at the end of the course. The power system simulation software will be made available to the students.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

face-to-face