Circulating Current Control for Modular Multilevel Converters With (N+1) Selective Harmonic Elimination—PWM

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) require control of the circulating current, icirc, to improve their operation and efficiency. This is particularly important when low switching frequency modulation techniques, such as selective harmonic elimination pulse width modulation (SHE-PWM) are applied. T...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pérez Basante, Angel Luis, Ceballos Recio, Salvador, Konstantinou, Georgios, Pou, Josep, Sánchez Ruiz, Alain, López Ropero, Iraide, Martínez de Alegría Mancisidor, Iñigo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/76791
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/76791
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:selective harmonic elimination (SHE)
modular multilevel converter (MMC)
optimization algorithms
circulating current
Descripción
Sumario:Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) require control of the circulating current, icirc, to improve their operation and efficiency. This is particularly important when low switching frequency modulation techniques, such as selective harmonic elimination pulse width modulation (SHE-PWM) are applied. This article provides a novel method to control the circulating current along with (N+1) SHE-PWM. Unlike the case of (2N+1) SHE-PWM, explicit redundant levels are not available and, therefore, different modulation indexes, m1 and m2, are employed in the upper and lower arms to obtain the desired modulation index ma. Unlike previous (N+1) circulating current methods, the distances between ma, m1, and m2 remain constant to not disturb the phase output voltage, with an interchange of m1 and m2 between the arms used to follow the desired icirc. The control adjusts the dc component of the circulating current and the energy stored in the SMs to their references, while maintaining the energy balance between the upper and lower arms. Simulation tests and experimental results, obtained from a single-phase laboratory prototype MMC, validate the proposed control technique.