Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters

Nearest-level control (NLC) is a popular technique used in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) with a large number of submodules (SMs) owing to the NLC's flexibility and ease of implementation. However, in medium-voltage applications, MMCs contain a relatively low number of SMs, and the drawba...

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Main Authors: Minh Hoang Nguyen, Sangshin Kwak
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2020-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9114885/
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author Minh Hoang Nguyen
Sangshin Kwak
author_facet Minh Hoang Nguyen
Sangshin Kwak
author_sort Minh Hoang Nguyen
collection DOAJ
description Nearest-level control (NLC) is a popular technique used in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) with a large number of submodules (SMs) owing to the NLC's flexibility and ease of implementation. However, in medium-voltage applications, MMCs contain a relatively low number of SMs, and the drawbacks of the NLC methods emerge, wherein the poor quality of output voltages and currents result in high total harmonic distortion, large ripples in SM capacitor voltages, and unsuppressed circulating currents. Several NLC methods have been proposed to handle these problems, but they do not satisfy all the control objectives simultaneously. This paper proposed a modified NLC capable of enhancing the output quality of MMCs with low number of SMs without deteriorating the control objectives. Unlike previously reported NLC methods, instead of directly calculating the numbers of SMs from the upper and lower arm voltage references, the difference and total number of SMs are obtained from the output voltage reference and circulating current control, respectively. Hence, the numbers of SMs in the upper and lower arms are acquired by simply solving a system of first-order two-variable equations. The simulated and experimental results for a single-phase MMC system were used to verify the appropriateness and effectiveness of the proposed modified NLC method.
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spelling doaj.art-bc002c0586e14acfbdb1c0e0a1eac0f92022-12-21T19:58:05ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362020-01-01811023711025010.1109/ACCESS.2020.30015879114885Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel ConvertersMinh Hoang Nguyen0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1784-0842Sangshin Kwak1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2890-906XSchool of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South KoreaSchool of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South KoreaNearest-level control (NLC) is a popular technique used in modular multilevel converters (MMCs) with a large number of submodules (SMs) owing to the NLC's flexibility and ease of implementation. However, in medium-voltage applications, MMCs contain a relatively low number of SMs, and the drawbacks of the NLC methods emerge, wherein the poor quality of output voltages and currents result in high total harmonic distortion, large ripples in SM capacitor voltages, and unsuppressed circulating currents. Several NLC methods have been proposed to handle these problems, but they do not satisfy all the control objectives simultaneously. This paper proposed a modified NLC capable of enhancing the output quality of MMCs with low number of SMs without deteriorating the control objectives. Unlike previously reported NLC methods, instead of directly calculating the numbers of SMs from the upper and lower arm voltage references, the difference and total number of SMs are obtained from the output voltage reference and circulating current control, respectively. Hence, the numbers of SMs in the upper and lower arms are acquired by simply solving a system of first-order two-variable equations. The simulated and experimental results for a single-phase MMC system were used to verify the appropriateness and effectiveness of the proposed modified NLC method.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9114885/Nearest-level controlmodular multilevel converterincrease level numberoutput voltage qualitycirculating current
spellingShingle Minh Hoang Nguyen
Sangshin Kwak
Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters
IEEE Access
Nearest-level control
modular multilevel converter
increase level number
output voltage quality
circulating current
title Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters
title_full Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters
title_fullStr Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters
title_full_unstemmed Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters
title_short Nearest-Level Control Method With Improved Output Quality for Modular Multilevel Converters
title_sort nearest level control method with improved output quality for modular multilevel converters
topic Nearest-level control
modular multilevel converter
increase level number
output voltage quality
circulating current
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9114885/
work_keys_str_mv AT minhhoangnguyen nearestlevelcontrolmethodwithimprovedoutputqualityformodularmultilevelconverters
AT sangshinkwak nearestlevelcontrolmethodwithimprovedoutputqualityformodularmultilevelconverters