Optimized Design of Modular Multilevel DC De-Icer for High Voltage Transmission Lines

Ice covering on overhead transmission lines would cause damage to transmission system and long-term power outage. Among various de-icing devices, modular multilevel converter (MMC) based DC de-icer (MMC-DDI) is recognized as a promising solution due to its excellent technical performance. Its principle feasibility has been well studied, but few literature discuss its economy or hardware optimization, thus the designed MMC-DDI for high voltage transmission lines is usually too large and too expensive for engineering applications. To fill this gap, this paper presents a quantitative analysis on the converter characteristics of MMC-DDI, and calculates the minimal converter rating and its influencing factors. It reals that, for a given de-icing requirement, the converter rating varies greatly with its AC-side voltage. Then an optimization configuration is proposed to reduce the converter rating and improve its economy. The proposed configuration is verified in a MMC-DDI for a 500kV transmission line as a case study. The result shows, in the case of outputting same de-icing characteristics, the optimized converter rating is reduced from 151 MVA to 68 MVA, and total cost of MMC-DDI is reduced by 48%. This analysis and conclusion are conductive to the optimized design of multilevel DC de-icer, then to its engineering application.

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Optimized Design of Modular Multilevel DC De-Icer for High Voltage Transmission Lines

Electronics ◽

10.3390/electronics7090204 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (9) ◽

pp. 204 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jiazheng Lu ◽

Qingjun Huang ◽

Xinguo Mao ◽

Yanjun Tan ◽

Siguo Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transmission Lines ◽

Engineering Application ◽

Optimized Design ◽

Multilevel Converter ◽

Power Outage ◽

Total Cost ◽

Technical Performance ◽

Promising Solution

Ice covering on overhead transmission lines would cause damage to transmission system and long-term power outage. Among various de-icing devices, a modular multilevel converter based direct-current (DC)de-icer (MMC-DDI) is recognized as a promising solution due to its excellent technical performance. Its principle feasibility has been well studied, but only a small amount of literature discusses its economy or hardware optimization. To fill this gap, this paper presents a quantitative analysis and calculation on the converter characteristics of MMC-DDI. It reveals that, for a given DC de-icing requirement, the converter rating varies greatly with its alternating-current (AC) -side voltage, and it sometimes far exceeds the melting power. To reduce converter rating and improve its economy, an optimized configuration is proposed in which a proper transformer should be configured on the input AC-side of converter under certain conditions. This configuration is verified in an MMC-DDI for a 500 kV transmission line as a case study. The result shows, in the case of outputting the same de-icing characteristics, the optimized converter is reduced from 151 MVA to 68 MVA, and the total cost of the MMC-DDI system is reduced by 48%. This conclusion is conducive to the design optimization of multilevel DC de-icer and then to its engineering application.

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