Offset voltage control scheme for modular multilevel converter operated in nearest level control

Abstract

This paper proposes an offset voltage control scheme for the modular multilevel converter (MMC) operated in nearest level control (NLC) to improve the total harmonic distortion (THD) of AC phase voltages. The offset (neutral-to-zero-point) voltage is adjusted so that the magnitude of each AC pole voltage maintains constant value with N + 1 level in the range of whole modulation index (MI). The validity of the proposed scheme was confirmed by computer simulations for the MMC with 22.9 kV/25 MVA and experimental works for the scaled MMC with 380 V/10 kVA. It was confirmed that the proposed control scheme can generate linearly variable AC phase voltages with improved THD in the over-modulation region as well as the normal-modulation region.