Control and Experimental Validation of the Series Bridge Modular Multilevel Converter for HVDC Applications

Martinez Diez, Carlos; Costabeber, Alessandro; Tardelli, Francesco; Trainer, David; Clare, Jon

Abstract

© 1986-2012 IEEE. The series bridge converter (SBC) is a modular multilevel converter (MMC) recently developed to enhance power density in high-voltage high-power applications. The MMC is a well-established solution, widely researched, and exploited in practical HVdc connections, thanks to its high power quality and high efficiency. However, the main limitation of the MMC is the relatively large energy storage, also due to the fact that power ripples in the submodule capacitors include a component at the fundamental ac frequency. As a result, volume becomes critical in applications such as offshore or city center in-feeds, where space is restricted and expensive. The SBC offers a more compact footprint by exploiting a series connection on the dc side and by operating the submodules with rectified waveforms, thus moving the minimum component of the instantaneous power to twice the ac fundamental and reducing capacitors size. The drawback of the converter is a more complex energy control compared to the MMC. This paper proposes the first experimental validation of the SBC, using a 2-kW laboratory-scale prototype. Since the basic converter design has been discussed in previous papers, the focus of this paper is on converter control design and experimental validation.

Citation

Martinez Diez, C., Costabeber, A., Tardelli, F., Trainer, D., & Clare, J. (2019). Control and Experimental Validation of the Series Bridge Modular Multilevel Converter for HVDC Applications. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 35(3), 2389-2401. https://doi.org/10.1109/tpel.2019.2929862

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 24, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 24, 2019
• Publication Date: Jul 24, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jul 25, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 25, 2019
• Journal: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
• Print ISSN: 0885-8993
• Electronic ISSN: 1941-0107
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 2389-2401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/tpel.2019.2929862
• Keywords: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2342034
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8768228
• Additional Information: © 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
• Contract Date: Jul 25, 2019