New MMC-Based Multilevel Converter with Two-And-One Set of Arms and One Inductor

Abstract

This paper proposes a new medium-voltage high-power converter topology to produce multilevel output voltages. The proposed converter is based on conventional modular multilevel converter (MMC). The recommended topology improves the conventional MMC by introducing a middle arm to the standard MMC topology which comprises of only the upper arm and the lower arm. The proposed MMC topology can generate the same number of output voltage levels as conventional MMC with a less submodule (SM) count, requires half the dc-link voltage, and uses only one dc-source and one buffer inductor. This paper first illustrates the new topology and explains its operation modes, then it provides simulation results to verify the theoretical outcomes. A prototype has been built to investigate the performance of proposed MMC.