General Electric Technology Gmbh

Timothy James Stott

Philip Robin Couch

Colin Charnock Davidson

Carl David Barker

Robert Stephen Whitehouse

John Lewis Outram

Guillaume De Preville

Francisco Jose Moreno Muñoz

Stéphane Pierre Brehaut

Jerome Gregoire

Adrian Keitley

An electronic valve apparatus for a high voltage direct current, HVDC, power transmission system. The electronic valve apparatus includes a first device chain including a number of first devices connected in series between an input node and an output node. Each of the first devices has an asymmetric transfer function configured substantially to block current flow through the device in a first direction, and the first devices are connected such that they all block current flow in the same direction. The electronic valve apparatus also includes a second device chain including a number of second devices connected in series between the input node and the output node. Each of the second devices has an asymmetric transfer function configured substantially to block current flow through the device in a first direction, and the second devices are connected such that they all block current flow in the same direction.

Electronic valve apparatus

There is provided a switching valve for a voltage source converter. The switching valve comprises a plurality of modules, each module including at least one switching element and at least one energy storage device, the or each switching element and the or each energy storage device in each module arranged to be combinable to selectively provide a voltage source, the switching valve including a controller configured to selectively control the switching of the switching elements to select one or more of the modules to contribute a or a respective voltage to a switching valve voltage,

Switching valve

An electrical apparatus comprises a chain-link converter which includes a plurality of chain-link sub-modules each of which is operable to provide a voltage source. The electrical apparatus also includes a switching control unit to control the chain-link sub-modules. The switching control unit is operatively interconnected with each chain-link sub-module by an electromagnetic radiation conduit. The length of the electromagnetic radiation conduit between the switching control unit and at least one chain-link sub-module differs from the length of the electromagnetic radiation conduit between the switching control unit and at least one other chain-link sub-module. The switching control unit is configured to discern a difference in the time taken for an electromagnetic signal to propagate through each different-length electromagnetic radiation conduit to thereby identify the or each chain-link sub-module associated with each different-length electromagnetic radiation conduit.

Submodule identification in a modular multilevel converter by means of measuring signal propagation times from the central controller

A method of identifying a faulty sub-module of a chain-link converter is provided, wherein the chain-link converter includes a plurality of sub-modules with each sub-module including at least one switching element and an energy storage device which together are selectively operable to provide a voltage source. The method comprises the steps of: measuring a switching characteristic of each sub-module of the chain-link converter; establishing a switching characteristic signature of the chain-link converter; and identifying the or each sub-module with a switching characteristic that deviates from the switching characteristic signature as being a faulty sub-module.

In or relating to chain-link converters

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Staffordshire, United Kingdom

Timothy James Stott