Arm-Current-Sensorless Circulating Current Control of MMC

The circulating current and the large energy storage requirement are the two major limitations of the modular multilevel converter (MMC). The circulating current in MMC is majorly, in addition to the dc, second harmonic in nature. If not controlled properly, it results in reduced efficiency and/or increased energy storage requirement (ESR). To enhance the efficiency, the second and the higher order harmonic components in the circulating current of MMC are required to be suppressed. On the other hand, controlling the circulating current to have predefined magnitude and phase angle can reduce the ESR. There are many control methods available in the literature to suppress and, also, to control the second harmonic circulating current (SHCC). These methods are mainly based on sensing the arm current and calculating the SHCC and then suppressing or controlling it based on the set objectives. In this article, two control schemes are proposed to suppress the SHCC and to reduce the ESR. The proposed schemes are based on utilizing the instantaneous voltage signals of the submodule capacitors in MMC. Hence, the sensing and communicating the sensed signal of arm currents can be avoided using the proposed schemes, which increases the reliability and leads to reduced cost and complexity. The efficacy of the proposed control schemes is verified using the simulation studies and also by using the scaled-down lab prototype of a three-phase seven-level MMC.