Analysis and semiconductor based comparison of energy diverting converter topologies for HVDC transmission systems

Energy diverting converter topologies are important power electronic components for HVDC connected offshore wind parks to meet grid code requirements. In this paper, three different types of energy diverting converter topologies are investigated. In the first section, the topologies are introduced and compared under general aspects. Afterwards, an approach for a sinusoidal voltage modulation of a MMC based braker is presented. Within its operation range it allows the use of half bridge submodules and also the use of full bridge submodules. Finally the topologies are compared to each other under aspects of braking performance, including a detailed loss calculation for the MMC braker topology.