Study on Operational Tests for FACTS Thyristor Valves

Developed synthetic test circuits for thyristor valves of flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) are established in this paper. By controlling the thyristor valves of synthetic test circuits, it can reproduce test stresses, including, but not limited to, the forward high voltage before the thyristor valve withstanding overcurrent and reverse recovery voltage after thyristor valves withstanding overcurrent, on thyristor valves in FACTS equipment equal to or greater than those that appear in commercial projects. With corresponding test circuits and control strategies, the temperature-rise test, overcurrent test, and the synthetic test for thyristor valves can be performed, respectively. Then, a protection method of synthetic test circuits is presented. Finally, a temperature-rise test platform, overcurrent test platform, and synthetic test platform for thyristor valves have been set up, respectively. The test results show that the developed circuit and proposed control and protect strategies are available to test for thyristor valves used in FACTS.