Voltage converting apparatus and method for converting a voltage

1. A voltage converting apparatus comprising

a series connection of at least four switching elements, each comprising

at least one semiconductor device of turn-off type and a free-wheeling diode connected in anti-parallel therewith,

where opposite ends of said series connection are configured to be connected to different potentials resulting in a direct voltage across said series connection, and

a mid point of the series connection being configured to be connected to an alternating voltage side of the apparatus while dividing the series connection in two halves,

a control unit configured to control said semiconductor devices of the switching elements for obtaining a determined alternating voltage on said alternating voltage side of the apparatus, and

a measuring device configured to measure a parameter representative of the voltage across each said free-wheeling diode when being turned-off,

wherein

said semiconductor devices are gate-controlled and have the respective free-wheeling diode built in therein,

said control unit comprises an arrangement configured to control the amount of charge stored in each said free-wheeling diode at the moment the free-wheeling diode stops to conduct thereby being turned-off, depending upon the results of said measurement carried out by said measuring device for measuring the parameter when being turn-off through applying a positive pulse on the gate of a said semiconductor device when the free-wheeling diode built in therein is conducting and making the properties of the positive pulse depending upon the results of said measurement carried out by said measuring device.

2. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said measuring device is configured to measure the voltage across each free-wheeling diode.

3. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said arrangement is configured to control the charge stored in the respective free-wheeling diode at the moment the respective free-wheeling diode is turned-off by selecting the delay between the end of said positive gate pulse and the turn-off of the free-wheeling diode.

4. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor devices thereof are Reverse Conducting Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (RC-IGBTs).

5. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the voltage converting apparatus is a voltage source converter having at least one phase leg formed by a said series connection of switching elements.

6. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said switching elements of each said half form at least one current valve, that said control unit is configured to control said current valves of the converter to apply direct voltage pulses according to a pulse width modulation pattern on said mid point, and that said arrangement is configured to apply a said positive gate pulse to the semiconductor de-vices of the at least one current valve belonging to the half of said series connection in which for the moment the free-wheeling diodes are alternatively conducting while semiconductor devices of the other half are alternatively turned on and off.

7. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the direct voltage across said opposite ends of said series connection is 1 kV-1200 kV, 10 kV-1200 kV or 100 kV-1200 kV.

8. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said opposite ends of said series connection are connected to a direct voltage network for transmit-ting High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and the alternating voltage side is connected to an alternating voltage phase line belonging to an alternating voltage network.

9. A method for converting a voltage by controlling a voltage converting apparatus comprising a series connection of at least four switching elements each comprising at least one semiconductor device of turn-off type and a free-wheeling diode connected in anti-parallel therewith being gate-controlled having the respective free-wheeling diode built in therein, where opposite ends of said series connection being configured to be connected to different potentials resulting in a direct voltage across said series connection and a mid point of the series connection being configured to be connected to an alternating voltage side of the apparatus while dividing the series connection in two halves, in which said semiconductor devices of the switching elements are controlled for obtaining a determined alternating voltage on said alternating voltage side of the apparatus,

said method comprising the steps of:

measuring a parameter representative of the voltage across each said free-wheeling diode when being turned-off, and

controlling the amount of charge stored in each said free-wheeling diode at the moment the free-wheeling diode stops to conduct thereby being turned off, said controlling depending upon the results of said measurement of said parameter representative of the voltage across the free-wheeling diode when being turned-off through applying a positive pulse on the gate of a said semiconductor device when the free-wheeling diode built in therein is conducting and making the properties of the positive pulse depend upon the results of said measuring.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising the steps of measuring the voltage across each free-wheeling diode as said parameter.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising the steps of controlling the amount of charge stored in the respective free-wheeling diode at the moment the respective free-wheeling diode is turned off by selecting the delay between the end of said positive pulse and the turn-off of the free-wheeling diode.

12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein said control of the amount of charge stored in the respective free-wheeling diode is carried out so as to minimize a possible deviation of the voltage across the respective free-wheeling diode from an average voltage across the free-wheeling diodes when turned-off for equal voltage sharing among the free-wheeling diodes.

13. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said arrangement is configured to control the charge stored in the respective free-wheeling diode at the moment the respective free-wheeling diode is turned-off by selecting the delay between the end of said positive pulse and the turn-off of the free-wheeling diode.

14. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the semiconductor devices thereof are Reverse Conducting Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (RC-IGBTs).

15. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the semiconductor devices thereof are Reverse Conducting Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (RC-IGBTs).

16. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the voltage converting apparatus is a voltage Source converter having at least one phase leg formed by a said series connection of switching elements.

17. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the voltage converting apparatus is a voltage Source converter having at least one phase leg formed by a said series connection of switching elements.

18. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the voltage converting apparatus is a voltage Source converter having at least one phase leg formed by a said series connection of switching elements.

19. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the direct voltage across said opposite ends of said series connection is 1 kV-1200 kV, 10 kV-1200 kV or 100 kV-1200 kV.

20. The voltage converting apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein said opposite ends of said series connection are connected to a direct voltage network for transmit-ting High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) and the alternating voltage side is connected to an alternating voltage phase line belonging to an alternating voltage network.