TY - GEN
T1 - Minimization of the capacitor voltage fluctuations of a modular multilevel converter by circulating current control
AU - Picas, R.
AU - Pou, J.
AU - Ceballos, S.
AU - Agelidis, V. G.
AU - Saeedifard, M.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is one of the most potential converter topologies for medium/high power/voltage applications. One of the main technical challenges of an MMC is to eliminate/minimize the circulating currents within the legs. Circulating currents, if not properly controlled, increase the amplitude of capacitor voltage variations, rating values of the converter components and converter losses. This paper proposes a closed-loop circulating current control strategy for an MMC to specifically minimize the amplitude of capacitor voltage variations. The proposed strategy is based on adding an offset signal to the modulating signal of each arm. To minimize the amplitude of the capacitor voltage oscillations, an optimal circulating current component is determined and used as a reference signal for the current control of each MMC leg. Performance of the proposed control strategy is evaluated based on simulation studies in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The reported study results demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed strategy to reduce the amplitude of the capacitor voltage oscillations.
AB - The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is one of the most potential converter topologies for medium/high power/voltage applications. One of the main technical challenges of an MMC is to eliminate/minimize the circulating currents within the legs. Circulating currents, if not properly controlled, increase the amplitude of capacitor voltage variations, rating values of the converter components and converter losses. This paper proposes a closed-loop circulating current control strategy for an MMC to specifically minimize the amplitude of capacitor voltage variations. The proposed strategy is based on adding an offset signal to the modulating signal of each arm. To minimize the amplitude of the capacitor voltage oscillations, an optimal circulating current component is determined and used as a reference signal for the current control of each MMC leg. Performance of the proposed control strategy is evaluated based on simulation studies in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The reported study results demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed strategy to reduce the amplitude of the capacitor voltage oscillations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84872966916&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/IECON.2012.6388984
DO - 10.1109/IECON.2012.6388984
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84872966916
SN - 9781467324212
T3 - IECON Proceedings (Industrial Electronics Conference)
SP - 4985
EP - 4991
BT - Proceedings, IECON 2012 - 38th Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
T2 - 38th Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2012
Y2 - 25 October 2012 through 28 October 2012
ER -