An improved phase-shifted carrier PWM for modular multilevel converters with redundancy sub-modules

Abstract

In this paper, the PSC PWM method is chosen as the optimal modulation method for a 20MW VSC HVDC, with consideration of the harmonic distortion of the output voltage, the switching frequency, and the control implementation difficulty. In addition, a new PSC PWM method is proposed in order to achieve an easy application and to solve the redundant control problems encountered in the previous PSC PWM method. To verify the proposed PSC PWM method, PSCAD/EMTDC simulations for an 11-level MMC RTDS HILS test and an 11-level MMC prototype converter test were performed. As can be seen from the results of these tests, the proposed PSC PWM method shows good results in an 11-level MMC with redundant sub-modules.