The invention discloses a bridge arm bypass protection circuit of a modularization multi-
level converter aiming at a 
direct current short circuit fault, and belongs to a converter fault protection device range. The protection circuit is realized by arranging a bridge arm bypass, which is formed by serially connecting a bypass 
thyristor and a bypass 
resistor together, between the upper bridge arm and the lower bridge arm of every phase of the modularization multi-
level converter. During common function, the bypass 
thyristor is in an off state, and the bridge arm bypass does not work. After the fault occurs, a sub-module IGBT is locked, and at the same time, the bypass 
thyristor is conducted, and because of the 
shunting function of the bridge arm bypass, fault current flowing through sub-module devices is reduced, and attenuation of 
direct current side current is also accelerated after trip-out of an alternating 
circuit breaker, and therefore fault 
recovery time is reduced, and a good fault protection function is provided for the devices and the 
alternating current system. For a 
system adopting the 
direct current circuit breaker, the protection circuit is used to reduce the fault current of the direct current side, and therefore a requirement on the switching-on / off of the current of the direct current 
circuit breaker is reduced, and economic performance and reliability are improved.