Research on Losses and Heat Dissipation of Saturable Reactor Used in Converter Valve

Based on the analysis of the principle and structure of a saturable reactor used in a converter valve of HVDC transmission, this paper analyzes its power loss composition and summarizes and derives the power loss equations. According to finite element analysis, the saturable reactor is modeled, its transient electromagnetic characteristics are simulated, and the core loss density distribution is studied. The influence of the cooling circuit and air on the heat dissipation of the saturable reactor is studied. The power loss density obtained by the electromagnetic field finite element analysis is mapped as the heat source to the finite fluid element for thermal simulation in order to obtain the spatial temperature distribution of the saturable reactor. The maximum temperature of the case is about 68.5°C, while the maximum temperature of the iron core is about 87.9°C. The converter valve operation test validates the accuracy of the heat dissipation analysis and temperature field simulation. The research results can serve as a reference for the design of saturable reactors used in converter valves.