• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.558-572
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• 2018

In addition to its modular nature, a Hybrid Modular Multilevel Converter (HMMC) assembled from half-bridge and full-bridge sub-modules, is able to block DC faults with a minimum number of switching devices, which makes it attractive for high power applications. This paper introduces a control strategy based on the Root-Least Square (RLS) algorithm to estimate the capacitor voltages instead of using direct measurements. This action eliminates the need for voltage transducers in the HMMC sub-modules and the associated communication link with the central controller. In addition to capacitor voltage balancing and suppression of circulating currents, a fault tolerant control unit (FTCU) is integrated into the proposed strategy to modify the parameters of the HMMC controller. On advantage of the proposed FTCU is that it does not need extra components. Furthermore, a fault detection unit is adapted by utilizing a hybrid estimation scheme to detect sub-module faults. The behavior of the suggested technique is assessed using PSCAD offline simulations. In addition, it is validated using a real-time digital simulator connected to a real time controller under various normal and fault conditions. The proposed strategy shows robust performance in terms of accuracy and time response since it succeeds in stabilizing the HMMC under faults.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.213-218
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• 2020

In this study, we propose a control algorithm to reduce the unbalanced characteristics of a three-phase system power caused by the unbalanced load of the AC electric railway. Then, we verify its performance through the design of a power compensator and experiments applying it. Like electric railway systems, a Scott transformer is applied, and the load and single-phase back-to-back converters are connected to the M-phase and T-phase outputs. The back-to-back converter monitors the difference in active power between the unbalanced loads in real-time and compensates for the power by using bidirectional characteristics. The active power is performed through PI control in the synchronous coordinate system, and DC link overall voltage and voltage balancing control are controlled jointly by M-phase and T-phase converters to improve the responsiveness of the system. To verify the performance of the proposed power compensation device, an experiment was performed under the condition that M-phase 5 kW and T-phase 1 kW unbalanced load. As a result of the experiment, the unbalance rate of the three-phase current after the operation of the power compensator decreases by 58.66% from 65.04% to 6.38%, and the excellent performance of the power compensator proposed in this study is verified.