Bi-directional line-interphase transformer-based converter

1. A multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter comprising:

a magnetic part including magnetic components configured to be connected to a three-phase AC grid; and

an electric part including a multi-phase voltage system configured to be connected to a common DC capacitor;

wherein the magnetic part is configured to split each AC grid phase n times into two phases, resulting in a plurality of intermediate phases at an internal interface, each intermediate phase corresponding to a pulse line of the multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter;

wherein the intermediate phases are connected to the multi-phase voltage system;

wherein the multi-phase voltage system comprises bridges with actively controlled switches;

wherein the bridges are connected in parallel to the common DC capacitor; and

wherein the multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter further comprises a control unit having a signal processing unit configured to emulate the electric part and to provide emulated intermediate phase signals to a controller for controlling the actively controlled switches, and wherein the emulated intermediate phase signals are sinusoidal signals having a pre-calculated phase angle.

2. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the electric part further includes devices that are connected parallel to the actively controlled switches such that the devices conduct current antiparallel to the actively controlled switches.

3. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the actively controlled switches are thyristors or transistors.

4. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the emulation is based on measurements of voltages at the three-phase AC grid connection.

5. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit further comprises a controller configured to control the actively controlled switches based on a comparison of the emulated AC input voltages and pre-defined voltage ranges.

6. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 5 , wherein the bridges are arranged in a plurality of bridge arrangements, each of the plurality of bridge arrangements comprising three bridges, wherein each bridge is connected to an intermediate phase of corresponding splits of the three AC grid phases, wherein the intermediate phases are connected at a center point between two actively controlled switches, the center point being a bridge leg, and wherein the controller is configured to generate control signals based on the comparison such that:

an upper active switch S Top of each bridge is in on-state while the related emulated signal of its bridge leg is higher than both of the emulated signals of the other two phase legs, and this upper active switch S Top is actively switched into off state when the related emulated signal of its bridge leg becomes lower than one of the two emulated signals of the other two phase legs;

each lower active switch S Bot of each bridge is in on-state while the related emulated signal of its bridge leg is lower than both of the emulated signals of the other two phase legs, and upper active switch is actively switched into off-state when the related emulated signal of its bridge leg becomes higher than one of the two emulated signals of the other two phase legs.

7. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 6 , wherein the controller or the signal processing unit is/are configured to calculate an additional angle and to add the additional angle to one of the pre-calculated phase angles of the emulated signals.

8. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 7 , wherein the controller and/or the signal processing unit is/are configured to calculate an angle contributing to the additional angle based on measuring input currents on AC grid-side and using their low order harmonic amplitudes.

9. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 7 , wherein the controller and/or the signal processing unit is/are configured to calculate an angle contributing to the additional angle that compensates for stray inductances and/or other parasitics and/or to control reactive power.

10. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 7 , wherein the additional angle is a common angle calculated for and added to all emulated signals.

11. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 7 , wherein the additional angle is calculated for and added to each of the emulated signals individually.

12. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the line-interphase transformer comprises thyristors or controllable switches connected anti-parallel to the switches.

13. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 12 , wherein the electric part is configured such that:

during an inverter operation mode, each upper anti-parallel thyristor A H is triggered when the related emulated signal of its bridge leg crosses −0.5−D with rising slope, and when it crosses −x+D at falling slope, with x defined as x=abs(sin(π/6−2*π/pn)) where pn is the pulse number of the converter, and where D is a positive value in the range of a few percent of a normalized signal providing freewheeling during commutation; and

in rectifier operation, each upper anti-parallel thyristor A H is triggered at zero-crossing at rising slope of the related emulated signal of its bridge leg, and each lower thyristor A L is triggered at zero-crossing at falling slope of the related emulated signal of its bridge leg.

14. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the line-interphase transformer is a 6-, 12-, 18-, 24 or 48-pulse line-interphase transformer.

15. The multi-pulse line-interphase transformer converter according to claim 1 , wherein the controller or the signal processing unit is/are configured to calculate an additional angle derived from measured low-frequency harmonics of grid currents of the AC grid and to add the additional angle to one of the pre-calculated phase angles of the emulated signals to improve synchronization of the emulated signals with grid voltages and/or to compensate for stray inductances and/or other parasitics and/or to control reactive power.