MACH2-modular advanced control 2/sup nd/ edition

This paper presents the hardware and software used for a modern and fully computerized HVDC control and protection system. Such a control and protection system is built with state of the art computers, microcontrollers and digital signal processors, connected by high performance industry standard busses and fiber optic communication links. All critical parts of the system are designed with inherent parallel redundancy and use the same redundancy and switch over principles as used by ABB for HVDC applications since the early 80's. The system, called MACH2 has been specifically developed for HVDC and is a further development of the MACH system, introduced on the market in 1992. The system has also been used for a large number of RPC, reactive power control, and plants around the world. The MACH systems represent the most modern techniques on the market, but at the same time it is the most "experienced".