Voltage Ripple Suppression Methods for the Capacitor in Modular Multilevel Converter Submodules Employing a Reversed Pulse Width Modulation-Switching Channel

Abstract

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) will be widely applied in onboard integrated power systems due to their high levels of electric power output and good-quality sine waveform outputs. However, the capacitor voltage of MMCs fluctuates greatly because the charge–discharge process of the capacitor is continuous when the system is working. In order to reduce voltage ripples efficiently, a capacitor voltage ripple-suppression strategy employing a reversed PWM switching channel is proposed in this paper. For one pair of the upper and lower arm submodules, a switching channel is built. Then, the highest ripple voltage possible can be offset since the voltage fluctuation direction of the upper and the lower arm capacitors would be reversed. In addition, a clamping capacitor is added to the switching channel to further suppress the fluctuation voltage by 78%. Compared to traditional large capacitance suppression methods, only 12% capacitance is used in the proposed method. The reliability and power density of the proposed MMC both increased, and there are no additional losses compared with previous voltage ripple suppression methods. The effectiveness of the proposed voltage ripple suppression strategy is verified by simulation results.