A Method to Calculate Short-Circuit Faults in High-Voltage DC Grids

Accurate fault calculation is vital for the parameter design and protection research of high-voltage DC (HVDC) grids. This paper proposes a general method to calculate short-circuit faults in HVDC grids, and the method is based on the premise that the modular multilevel converter (MMC) blocking and the current interruption have not occurred. The MMC is based on the average value model, and the MMC current source can reflect the impacts of the AC system and MMC control mode. The fault calculations based on variable and constant MMC current sources are presented. The numerical inversion of the Laplace transform is used to obtain the voltages and currents in the time domain. The proposed method has the following merits: 1) it can accurately calculate voltages and currents while considering the fault-generated traveling wave effect and impacts of the AC system and MMC control mode; 2) it is more time efficient than the electromagnetic transient simulation; and 3) it is applicable to HVDC grids with different configurations, such as symmetrical bipolar and asymmetrical monopolar. The proposed method is validated by comparisons with previous calculation methods and PSCAD/EMTDC simulation.