FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART The present invention relates to a plant for transmitting electric power comprising at least one VSC-converter adapted to convert direct voltage into alternating voltage and con- versely and which has an alternating voltage side to which at least one phase of an alternating voltage network is con- nected and a direct voltage side having two poles with a di- rect voltage thereacross.

The expression alternating voltage network is here to be given a very broad meaning comprising not only the case of a conventional alternating voltage network, but all types of electric connections on which an alternating voltage is pre- sent, such as for example output terminals of an AC-genera- tor. With respect to said direct voltage side this may ad- vantageously be connected to direct voltage networks for transmitting power, but it could have any conceivable con- nections.

In order to illuminate but not in any way restrict the in- vention the particular application of such a plant for transmitting electric power through a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) may be mentioned.

Such a plant has recently become known through the thesis "PWM and control of two and three level high power voltage source converters"by Anders Lindberg, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, Stockholm, 1995, in which publication such a

plant for transmitting electric power through a direct volt- age network for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) is de- scribed. Before the issuance of said thesis plants for transmitting electric power through a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current have been based upon the use of line-commutated CSC (Current Source Converter)-converters in stations for power transmission. By development of IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor = bipolar transistor having an insulated gate) for high voltage applications and the suitability to connect them in series in valves in converters, since they may easily be turned on and turned off simultaneously, VSC (Voltage Source Converter)-converters for forced commutation have now instead become an alternative, and this type of transmission of electric power between the direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current being voltage-stiff therethrough and alternating voltage networks connected thereto offers several important advantages with respect to the use of line-commutated CSCs in HVDC, of which it may be mentioned that the consumption of active and reactive power may be controlled independently of each other and there is no risk of commutation failures in the converter and by that no risk of transmission of commutation failures between different HVDC-links, which may take place in line-commutation. Furthermore, there is a possibility to feed a weak alternating voltage network or a network without any generation of its own (a dead alternating voltage network). Further advantages are also there.

In a plant of said design, but also in plants of the type defined in the introduction of other designs, it is desired to manage without expensive transformers and still have the possibility to obtain exactly the voltage asked for on the direct voltage side. It is then desirable to obtain this while generating as low losses as possible on achieving said voltage and at the same time obtain as low demands as possi-

ble upon the current handling capability of the components utilised for creating said voltage from the alternating voltage delivered to said alternating voltage side.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a device of the type defined in the introduction, through which the desires just mentioned are satisfied.

This object is according to the invention obtained by pro- viding the plant with at least one DC/DC-converter having two current valves connected in series and an inductance connected to a midpoint therebetween, and that the DC/DC- converter is connected through said inductance to a first of said poles and through a first output terminal thereof con- nected to one of the current valves to the second of the poles so as to produce an unbalanced step-up-transformation of the direct voltage between the two poles while obtaining a potential of a higher magnitude on the second output ter- minal of the DC/DC-converter connected to the other current valve than on said first output terminal.

A voltage adaption of the direct voltage side may take place without any expensive transformers through such an arrange- ment of a DC/DC-converter. This converter will then function as a so-called"step-up-converter"for raising the voltage level, while it in the corresponding way may be used for lowering the voltage level, i. e. function as a so-called "step-down-converter", when power is transferred from the direct voltage side to the alternating voltage side. Another result of this arrangement is that the total direct voltage of an output terminal (said second output terminal) of the direct voltage side is not applied to the current valves of the VSC-converter, so that these have not to hold such a high voltage and may accordingly be made of a lower number

of power semiconductor devices connected in series and addi- tional costs may by this be saved. But through the fact that the entire voltage across the two poles of the direct volt- age side of the VSC-converter, i. e. the voltage across the two current valves connected in series, are utilised for obtaining said step-up-transformation, instead of utilising a voltage between a pole and the ground therefor, a larger voltage step-up-transformation at a given ratio of the DC/DC-converter is primarily obtained. This means that a lower current handling capability is required for the compo- nents and the losses will be correspondingly lower at a given power transmittance. Thus, the demands upon current handling capability of components included in the VSC-con- verter may be lowered through the unbalanced step-up-trans- formation, but it is primarily possible to have a lower voltage of the converter at a given output voltage of the DC/DC-converter, so that a lower number of components, espe- cially switches of turn-off type connected in series, is re- quired in the VSC-converter for handling the voltage there.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the plant comprises at least two VSC-converters connected to one said DC/DC-converter each in the way mentioned, said second poles of the two VSC-converters are connected to an output terminal each of a first additional said DC/DC-converter in common thereto, the inductance of the latter converter being connected to ground for defining a zero potential level, and poles having opposite polarities form said second poles of the two VSC-converters and the two DC/DC-converters first mentioned are adapted to deliver potentials having mutually opposite polarities on the second output terminals thereof.

Not only the advantages mentioned above in unbalanced trans- formation are obtained in this way, but it becomes also pos- sible to connect a plurality of VSC-converters to a bipolar output in common in this way, in which said second output

terminal of the respective DC/DC-converter forms one of the poles of the output, so that the two DC/DC-converters pro- duces a monopolar voltage each of opposite signs. The first additional DC/DC-converter is required for obtaining current balance. Thus, it will be possible to operate bipolarly while utilising the unbalanced step-up-transformation with a minimum of additional current valves (only the current valves included in said first additional DC/DC-converter).

Furthermore, it will be possible to interconnect converters and by that alternating voltage networks located at com- pletely different places in this way.

According to a second preferred embodiment of the invention, which constitutes a further development of the embodiment last mentioned, said two DC/DC-converters are adapted to de- liver potentials of different signs but having the same mag- nitude on said second output terminals. A voltage balance between the two direct voltage poles defined by these second output terminals is by this obtained in spite of the utili- sation of the unbalanced step-up-transformation with the ad- vantages associated therewith.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, which constitutes a further development of any of the two embodiments last mentioned at least one of the two VSC-con- verters is replaced by a plurality of VSC-converters, which are connected in parallel at the direct voltage side thereof with direct voltage poles in common connected to said DC/DC- converters. Thus, this embodiment makes a connection in par- allel of a larger number of VSC-converters possible should this be desired before the voltage is step-up-transformed by the DC/DC-converter, which may be advantageously made, since the voltage will be that high after the step-up-transforma- tion carried out that the current at the second output ter- minals in question of the DC/DC-converter will be compara- tively low also when a high power is transmitted, which in

this way may be transmitted by adding the part powers from the different converters.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, which constitutes an advantageous further development of the embodiment first mentioned, the two converters and the first additional DC/DC-converter form a unit, the plant comprises two said units, having the second output terminal of one of the DC/DC-converters of each unit connected to a second ad- ditional DC/DC-converter at an output terminal each thereof, the inductance of the second additional DC/DC-converter is connected to ground for defining a zero potential level, the second output terminals connected to said additional second DC/DC-converter having different polarity signs, and the re- maining second output terminal of the DC/DC-converter of the respective unit is connected to the inductance of a separate additional third said DC/DC-converter, the first output terminal of which is connected to the same output terminal of the additional second DC/DC-converter as the unit in question through a said second output terminal is connected to so as, on said second output terminal of the respective third additional DC/DC-converter, to deliver a potential step-up-transformed further with respect to the input of this converter of an opposite sign for the respective unit.

A parallel as well as a cascade connection of the DC/DC- converters is in this way obtained, so that the currents on the direct voltage side may all the time be kept within certain limits. When the voltage is low the current is distributed among many converters and when the voltage is high the current will be low as a consequence of such a high voltage. Thus, very high direct voltages may be obtained through this embodiment with respect to direct voltages pre- sent on the direct voltage side of each single converter.

The plant may be extended further according to this princi- ple for additional step-up-transformation of the voltage.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the converters are arranged in connection with different generators of electric power driven by wind power, in which a converter may in this way be arranged at each said genera- tor and such generators located over a larger geographical region may in this way be interconnected to a direct voltage network in common, preferably for transmitting the power generated through the direct voltage network to one or more stations remotely located for conversion thereof into alter- nating voltage to consumers of electric power.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the plant comprises at least two said DC/DC-converters, which have a pole each of the direct voltage side of the converter connected to the inductance thereof and the oppo- site pole to the first output terminal thereof for deliver- ing a potential of a higher magnitude at the second output terminals thereof than at the first output terminals thereof. A balanced high bipolar voltage may in this way be obtained through an unbalanced step-up-transformation for each pole of the converter and by that the need of current handling capability of the components included in the DC/DC- converters and the losses be reduced, although it in such a case may be more natural to connect the DC/DC-converters be- tween one of the poles and the ground instead of between the two poles.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, which constitutes a further development of the embodiment last mentioned, the plant comprises more than two DC/DC-con- verters, said DC/DC-converters being connected in a cascade connection with the first output terminal of a third DC/DC- converter to the second output terminal of a first of the two said DC/DC-converters and the inductance thereof to the second output terminal of the second of the two DC/DC-con- verters first mentioned for a continued unbalanced step-up-

transformation of the direct voltage between said second output terminals. It is in this way possible to step-up- transform the voltage of the direct voltage side of the con- verter to very high levels so as to enable low resistive losses in power transmittance through a direct voltage net- work in this way through the use of comparatively few cur- rent valves with low demands upon current handling capabil- ity of the components belonging thereto.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) is directly or indirectly connected to said direct voltage side of the VSC-converter, which constitutes a par- ticularly advantageous application of the present invention.

Further advantages as well as advantageous features of the invention will appear from the following description and the other dependent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS With reference to the appended drawings, below follows a de- scription of preferred embodiments of the invention cited as examples.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a very schematic diagram of a plant according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram of the plant shown in fig. 1 simplified with respect to fig. 1 by summarising symbols, Fig. 3 is a diagram corresponding to fig. 2 of a plant ac- cording to a second preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 4 is a diagram corresponding to fig. 2 of a plant ac- cording to a third preferred embodiment of the invention, Fig. 5 is a diagram corresponding to fig. 2 of a plant ac- cording to a fourth preferred embodiment of the invention, Fig. 6 is a diagram corresponding to fig. 2 of a plant ac- cording to a fifth preferred embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 7 is a diagram corresponding to fig. 2 of a plant ac- cording to a sixth preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVEN- TION The structure of a plant for transmitting electric power ac- cording to the invention is very schematically and simpli- fied illustrated in fig. 1, in which only the different com- ponents having directly something to do with the function according to the invention have been shown in the drawing for facilitating the comprehension of the invention. The plant comprises a VSC (Voltage Source Converter)-converter 1 in the form of a conventional so-called six-pulse-bridge adapted to convert direct voltage into alternating voltage and conversely. The VSC-converter comprises three so-called phase legs 2,3,4, each consisting of two current valves 5- 10 connected in series, in which each current valve consists of at least one breaker 11 of turn-on and turn-off type, preferably in the form of an IGBT, and a rectifying diode 12 connected in anti-parallel therewith. A great number of IGBTs may be connected in series in one single valve so as to turned on and turned off simultaneously so as to function as one single breaker, wherethrough the voltage across the valve is distributed among the different breakers connected in series. Thus, the symbol 11 shown in fig. 1 also com-

prises a series connection of such breakers. The control of the breakers is performed by pulse with modulation (PWM).

One phase 13-15 of a three phase alternating voltage network is connected to the midpoints of the respective phase leg and it forms an alternating voltage side 16 of the con- verter. On the direct voltage side 17 of the converter two capacitors 20, 21 are connected in series between a first pole conductor 18 and a second pole conductor 19 with a grounded midpoint so as to define the direct voltage of the direct voltage side and ensure that one of the pole conduc- tors is on a potential +Ud and the other on a potential-Ud.

This constitutes conventional technique.

The plant comprises also a DC/DC-converter 22, which con- sists of two current valves 23,24 connected in series of a similar type as the current valves of the six-pulse-bridge, an inductor connected to the midpoint between these current valves and a capacitor 26 connected in parallel with the current valves between the two output terminals 27,28 of the converter. The DC/DC-converter is through the inductance 25 connected to a first 18 of the poles of the direct volt- age side of the converter and through a first output termi- nal 28 to the second 19 of these poles, which means that the voltage potential of the first output terminal 28 will be- Ud, while it will be +Ud (2X-1) at the second output terminal 27, so that accordingly an unbalanced step-up-transformation of the direct voltage across the two poles takes place. X is then the ratio of the DC/DC-converter, and this is dependent upon the relationship between the conduction times of the two semiconductor devices 29,30, which are alternatingly made conducting so as to apply different voltages across the inductance 25. If the ratio X is for example 3, the output voltage on said second output terminal 27 will then be 5Ud.

This is to be compared with the case of connecting the DC/DC-converter directly between ground and a pole, in which at the same ratio thereof the output voltage would be 3Ud.

This means the advantages discussed above of a lower demand upon current handling capability of the components, since it is transformed up to a higher voltage, at the same time as the losses get lower.

The plant comprises further a so-called fourth phase leg 31 with the same design as the other phase legs, but which is connected between the poles 18 and 19 and has the midpoint thereof connected to an inductance 32, which in its turn is connected to ground. The fourth phase leg or"balancing con- verter"is controlled through pulses applied on the semicon- ductor devices thereof with a frequency associated with the frequency by which the valves of the converter is con- trolled. The latter may typically be about 2 kHz. A zero po- tential level may be defined through this additional phase leg, which is necessary for enabling a monopolar operation obtainable through this plant, which is simplifiedly illus- trated in fig. 2. A drawback of such a monopolar operation is, however, that electrodes are required, which in the HVDC-case are buried in the ground and may cause problems.

The possibility to monopolar operation of a direct voltage network is therefore primarily utilised when there is a failure on one of the cables of the two pole conductors in a network for bipolar operation. The contents of the two dashed frames 1'and 22'in fig. 1 is in fig. 2 summarised through the symbols 1 and 22. The corresponding symbols for VSC-converters and DC/DC-converters have been used in the other figures.

A plant according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig. 3 and it is constructed ac- cording to the same principle as the plant according to fig.

2, but it is modified for obtaining a bipolar voltage. The additional phase leg 31 is here illustrated by dashed lines, since it is not necessary, but when it is there it is possi- ble to operate through half the bridge towards ground upon

cable failure. Thus, this embodiment has two DC/DC-convert- ers 33,34, which have a pole each of the direct voltage side of the converter 1 connected to the inductance thereof and the opposite pole to the first output terminal 28 thereof, so as to deliver a potential on their second output terminals 27 having a higher value than on the first output terminals thereof, namely +Ud (2X-1) and-Ud (2X-1), respec- tively.

A plant according to a third preferred embodiment of the in- vention is illustrated in fig. 4, said plant comprising two converters 35,36 connected to a DC/DC-converter 37,38 each in the same way as the plant in fig. 2. The second poles 39, 40 of the two converters are connected to an output terminal 41,42 each of a first additional DC/DC-converter 43 in com- mon thereto, the inductance of which is connected to ground for defining a zero potential level. The poles 39,40 having opposite polarities form said second poles of the two con- verters. Under the condition that the two DC/DC-converters 37 and 38 have a ratio X and the potential of the respective pole of the two converters is +Ud and-Ud, respectively, the potential of the output terminals 44,45, which may form pole conductors of a bipolar direct voltage network, will be +Ud (2X-1) and-Ud (2X-1), respectively. It is then possible to place the DC/DC-converter 43 so that the two converts 35 and 36 may be separated geographically and for example be connected to the output of a generator of electric power each driven by wind power, so that a plurality of such gen- erators may in this way be connected to one and the same di- rect voltage network. The DC/DC-converter 43 is used for ob- taining current balance, and through the arrangement thereof, accordingly through only two additional valves, it is possible to operate bipolarly.

A plant according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in fig. 5 and constitutes a further de-

velopment of the embodiment illustrated in fig. 3, and this figure illustrates how an arbitrarily high voltage may be obtained through cascade coupling of DC/DC-converters 46-53.

Thus, each step of connected DC/DC-converters utilises the entire output voltage from the previous step for the voltage step-up-transformation thereof, i. e. the entire bipolar voltage is used, so that the DC/DC-conversion gets maximally efficient with respect to a current dimensioning of the con- verters and the DC/DC-converters and the losses are mini- mised. If we assume that the ratio of the converters 46,47 in step 1 is X1, of the converters 48,49 in step 2 X2, of the converters 50,51 in step 3 X3 and so on, and in the n- th step illustrated through the converters 52 and 53 Xn, the output voltage will after the respective step be Ud (2X1- 1), Ud (2X1-1) (2X2-1), Ud (2X1-1) (2X2-1) (2X3-1) and finally Ud [rI (2Xn-1)]. If we for example assume that n = 3 and X1 = n X2 = X3 = 4, the output voltage of the direct voltage side of this plant will be Ud x 343. This shows that this DC/DC- conversion technique may without unrealistically many steps perform impressing step-up-and step-down-transformations of the voltage, respectively.

A plant according to a fifth preferred embodiment of the in- vention is illustrated in fig. 6, said plant only differing from the plant illustrated in fig. 4 by the fact that it is here shown that a plurality of converters 54-57 may be con- nected in parallel on the direct voltage side thereof with direct voltage poles in common connected to the respective DC/DC-converter 37,38,43. The dashed lines indicate here the possibility to connect an arbitrary number of converters in parallel in this way. In this way may for example the se- ries of generators of electric power in the form of an al- ternating voltage or current of any conceivable type, such as such driven by wind power, be connected to the direct current network in common, also if these are geographically comparatively widely separated. Thanks to the high voltage

obtainable on the direct voltage network the total current will nevertheless be that low that the direct voltage net- work may deliver the electric power generated by all these generators without to large losses.

Finally, a plant according to a sixth preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in fig. 7, in which the DC/DC-converters have been connected both in parallel and according to cascades. Two units 58,59 constructed accord- ing to the embodiment according to fig. 4 are with the sec- ond output terminal 60,61 of one of the DC/DC-converters of each unit connected to a second additional DC/DC-converter 62 at each output terminal thereof, in which the inductance of the DC/DC-converter 62 is connected to ground for defin- ing a zero potential level. The units are so connected that the output terminals 60 and 61 connected to the DC/DC-con- verter 62 have opposite polarity signs. The remaining second output terminal 63,64 of the DC/DC-converter of the respec- tive unit is connected to the inductance of a separate addi- tional third DC/DC-converter 65,66, the first output termi- nal of which is connected to the same output terminal of the additional second DC/DC-converter 62 as the unit in ques- tion through one said second output terminal 60,61 is con- nected to so as to on said second output terminal 67,68 de- liver a potential further step-up-transformed with respect to the input of this converter and having opposite signs for the respective unit. The voltage of the output terminals 67, 68 will then be Ud (2X1-1) (2X2-1), in the case that the ra- tio of the DC/DC-converters in the first stage is X1 and the two 65,66 in the second stage is X2. An advantage of this way to make connections is that the direct currents are all the time kept within certain limits. When the direct voltage is low the current is distributed among many converters, so that the current handling capability of the components in- cluded therein has not to be to high, and when the voltage

is high the current will be low as a consequence of the high voltage.

The invention is of course not in any way restricted to the preferred embodiments described above, but many possibili- ties to modifications thereof would be apparent for a man skilled in the art without departing from the basic idea of the invention as defined in the claims.

It is for example well possible to combine the plants ac- cording to the different embodiments with each other, and the number of step-up-transformation steps or the number of VSC-converters included in the plants may in principle be arbitrary.

The VSC-converter may be designed in another way than shown and for example have a NPC-bridge.