IET Power Electronics

Review Article

Review on low-frequency ripple suppression ISSN 1755-4535

Received on 6th July 2018
Revised 18th September 2018
methods for MMCs for medium-voltage drive Accepted on 9th October 2018
E-First on 14th November 2018
applications doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2018.5657
www.ietdl.org

Ze Wang1, Jimin Chen1, Kaiwen Liao1, Jian Xiong1, Kai Zhang1

1State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Engineering and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan,

HuBei, People's Republic of China

E-mail: kaizhang@hust.edu.cn

Abstract: Advantages of the modular multilevel converter (MMC) such as modularity, scalability, fault-tolerant ability, low device
switching frequency, transformerless grid connection etc. have made it the most promising converter topology for medium-to-
high-voltage, high-power applications. However, in MMC-based medium-voltage drives, the excessive fundamental-frequency
submodule capacitor voltage ripple at low speeds or start-up poses a major technological challenge. A lot of low-frequency
ripple suppression methods have been proposed to address this problem. This study summarises the state of the art in this area
and classifies these methods into three categories. The pros and cons of them are discussed. An in-depth analysis of these
methods from a practical viewpoint is given. Some future research trends are also discussed.

1 Introduction also been paid to the implementation of MMC in MV applications

Medium-voltage drives (MVDs) (2.3–13.8 kV) have been widely
employed in various industries such as power generation,
transportation, metallurgy, coal mining, cement [1] etc. Multilevel
voltage-source inverters are ideal inverter topologies for MV drives
since they can easily achieve high equivalent switching frequency,
cause lower electro-magnetic interference (EMI), use only low-
voltage devices etc. [2]. The most common multilevel topologies
have been the neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter, the flying-
capacitor (FC) inverter and the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) inverter
[2–5]. However, the clamp circuits of NPC and FC inverters are
too complex for a higher number of voltage levels, making them
less practical when the motor voltage is >6 kV [2]. For the CHB
inverter, the main drawback is the intricate design and high
manufacturing cost of the multi-winding phase-shifting transformer
[5].
In 2003, a new multilevel topology named modular multilevel
converter (MMC) was proposed by Marquardt and Lesnicar, as
shown in Fig. 1 [6, 7]. Owing to its high degree of modularity and
redundancy, it has been widely used in the high-voltage direct-
current (HVDC) applications in recent years [8–11]. Attention has
Fig. 1  HB-MMC
[12–14] including rail transit [15–17], power quality compensator
[18, 19], DC–DC converter [9, 20, 21] etc.
As shown in Table 1, compared with other multilevel topologies
for MV drives, the MMC has the following advantages:
(1) Compared to the traditional clamp-type multilevel topologies, it
is possible to arbitrarily increase the number of levels, thus to
significantly reduce switching frequency and voltage rating of
power devices.
(2) Compared to the CHB inverter, it reduces cost and increases
power density by eliminating the bulky and complicated phase-
shifting transformer [22, 23].
(3) A single DC bus means a standard input transformer can be
used, and it is easy to be upgraded into a back-to-back (BTB)
converter for regeneration applications.
According to the working principles of the MMC, there will be
a fundamental-frequency ripple in the submodule (SM) capacitor
voltage, the amplitude of which is largely proportional to the
product of DC bus voltage and AC output current, and inversely
proportional to the output frequency. For HVDC applications, this
is not a serious problem because the output frequency cannot go
low. However, when an MMC-based MV drive is operating at low
speeds or start-up, excessive low-frequency fluctuation of the SM
capacitor voltage can occur due to the near-zero output frequency
[24]. Usually, at low speeds (and especially with high-torque load),
the fluctuation of the capacitor voltage is unacceptable without
certain suppression method.
To deal with this problem, a lot of methods [25, 26] have been
proposed in recent years. Some of them, e.g. high-frequency
injection methods [25], have found successful applications in
industry. However, since injection methods significantly increase
current stresses of the switching devices, present applications are
mostly fans and pumps, where the starting torque is small. For
constant-torque applications, low-frequency ripple suppression
remains a tough challenge.
This paper summarises the state of the art in this active research
area. This paper is organised as follows. Ripple power and voltage
in the traditional half-bridge MMC (HB-MMC) are analysed in
Section 2. Methods to suppress the capacitor voltage ripple are
classified into three categories and are reviewed in Sections 3–5.
Moreover, a brief discussion of future research trends is given in
Section 6.

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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
2 Ripple power/voltage in the MMC d N 2
pxp = C vcp (7)
dt 2
The traditional HB-MMC is shown in Fig. 1. Suppose the output
voltage vx and current ix (x = u, v, w) are
With (6) and (7), it can be further found out that, if only the
dominant, fundamental component is considered, the amplitude of
vx = V x sin(ωt + θx) = mvdc sin(ωt + θx)/2 the resultant-ripple voltage of each SM capacitor is proportional to
, (1)
ix = I x sin(ωt + θx − φ) the DC bus voltage and AC output current, and inversely
proportional to the output frequency and SM capacitance C, i.e.
where Vx is the peak output voltage, Ix is the peak output current, ω
is the output frequency, φ is the output power factor angle, vdc is vdcI x
Δvcpx ∝ (8)
the DC voltage, N is the number of SMs in one arm and m is the ωC
modulation index. Neglecting the voltage drop across the inductor,
the arm voltages (vxp,vxn) and currents (ixp,ixn) can be expressed as It should be noted that, though assumption (4) is used in the above
derivation, (8) remains a general conclusion even the circuiting
current is controlled otherwise.
vxp = vdc /2 − vx
(2) For constant-torque loads, the output current is largely constant,
vxn = vdc /2 + vx and the ripple voltage rises rapidly as the motor speed decreases.
Excessive ripple voltage may threaten the safe operation of the
ixp = izx + ix /2 power devices, increase circulating current and cause
(3) overmodulation of the arm voltage [27, 28]. Even for quadratic-
ixn = izx − ix /2
torque loads such as fans and pumps, the motor still needs to
overcome friction and provide acceleration. The resultant voltage
where izx is the circulating current. For ease of derivation, it is
ripple can still be unacceptable. Therefore, for the MMC to be
assumed that the circulating current is controlled according to the accepted for MV drive applications, some suppression method for
following relationship: the low-frequency ripple voltage of SM capacitors is mandatory.
A lot of such suppression methods have been proposed in recent
izx = vxix /vdc (4) years. Their working principles can be categorised into the
following three kinds:
Equation (4) implies that all the second-order ripple power of the
load will be provided by the DC power supply. In other words, (1) Create a new fundamental-frequency ripple power to cancel out
there will be no second-order ripple power in the SM capacitors, the original one through injecting high-frequency voltages and
which is an extra benefit. currents into the arms.
Upper- and lower-arm powers pxp and pxn can be expressed as (2) Take advantage of the ‘mutual cancellation’ nature of the
pulsating powers (of the upper and lower arms or of the three
pxp = vxpixp phases), and realise ripple power cancellation via different ‘power
(5)
pxn = vxnixn channels’ built into the traditional MMC.
(3) Change the operation mode of the MMC to reduce the ripple
Combining (1)–(5) yields power. For example, reduce the DC bus voltage proportionally with
the fundamental frequency.
vdcix
pxp = 1 − m2 sin2 ω1t + θx In light of this, this paper categorises these methods into high-
4
frequency injection methods, power-channel methods and modified
vdcI x operation-mode methods. They will be investigated as follows.
= sin ω1t + θx − φ 1 − m2 sin2 ω1t + θx
4
(6)
vdcix 3 High-frequency injection methods
pxn = − 1 − m2 sin2 ω1t + θx
4
3.1 Traditional (sinusoidal voltage/current) injection
vdcI x
= − sin ω1t + θx − φ 1 − m2 sin2 ω1t + θx According to the above derivation, the fundamental power in the
4
arm is the main reason for the excessive ripple of the capacitor
From (6), it can be seen that the arm powers contain only voltage. According to basic trigonometry, if a high-frequency
fundamental and third-order components, and they are opposite in voltage and current coexist in an MMC arm, their frequency
phase for the upper and lower arms. At low output frequencies and difference being exactly the output frequency of the MMC, then a
high output currents, the fundamental ripple power is the dominant fundamental-frequency ripple power will arise from them and can
component. be used to cancel out the original ripple power. Another high-
The arm powers are basically the powers of the SM capacitors, frequency ripple power will also arise, but it only causes negligible
i.e. (take the upper arm, for example) ripple voltage due to a much smaller capacitor impedance at this
frequency. In practise, the needed high-frequency voltage and
current are ‘injected’ into the arm through proper control of the
common-mode arm voltage and circulating current.

Table 1 Comparison of MMC and other multilevel topologies

Features MMC NPC CHB
suitable for >10 kV motors ✓ ✓
redundancy ✓ ✓
single DC bus ✓ ✓
high-power density ✓
perfect harmonic ✓ ✓
suitable for long cable ✓ ✓
standard rectifier transformer ✓ ✓
ability to use low-voltage devices ✓ ✓

2404 IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
 2
vdcix vx
px_dm = 1− cos(2ωcmt)
4 vdc /2 (16)
−vxicmx − vcmix

A close examination of (16) shows that it no longer has any low-

frequency terms.
To avoid overmodulation, let

(1 − m)vdc
vcm = sin(ωcmt)
2Kcm
(17)
Kcmix
icmx = 1 − m sin(ω1t + θx) 2 sin(ωcmt)
1−m

where Kcm (usually 1.05–1.2) is a coefficient representing the

utilisation of the modulation margin. Kcm = 1 means the MMC is at
Fig. 2  Amplitudes of injected voltage and current with the traditional the verge of overmodulation after adding vcm into the arm voltages.
method, improved square-wave voltage injection method and reduced- Basically, vcm decreases with speed due to diminishing modulation
phase-shift-angle method margin. Therefore, icmx has to increase with speed so as to maintain
the full cancellation of the ripple power. The exact amplitude
The method was first proposed in MMC-MVD system by ABB curves of vcm and icmx for the full speed range can be found in
cooperation in 2010 [25]. Compared to traditional HB-MMCs, Fig. 2.
high-frequency voltage vcm is added to the (common mode) output As for the implementation of the method, vcm can be ‘injected’
voltage, and high-frequency current icmx is added to the circulating directly through modulation, while icmx needs some sort of tracking
current of each phase, i.e. control. This imposes a requirement on the bandwidth of the
current loop. Therefore, the choice of ωcm needs to consider the
vxp = vdc /2 − vx − vcm switching frequency, which is usually <1/10 of the equivalent
(9)
vxn = vdc /2 + vx + vcm switching frequency [29]. There are various methods for the
tracking control of the injected circulating current [30–35] and
ixp = izx − ix /2 + icmx some are verified with experiments. In [30], the d–q synchronous
(10) rotating coordinates are introduced in the control system in the
ixp = izx + ix /2 + icmx
whole speed range.
In [36, 37], the overall hierarchical control during low-
and the resultant arm powers become frequency operation is optimised. The stability of the control
system is analysed in [38]. Moreover, in [39], the ripple
pxp = (vdc /2 − vx − vcm)(izx − ix /2 + icmx)
suppression from standstill to an intermediate speed is realised with
= px_cm + px_dm sensorless speed control. Since the injection methods decrease the
(11) capacitor voltage ripple, the design of MMC needs to be
pxn = (vdc /2 + vx + vcm)(izx + ix /2 + icmx)
reconsidered. Dimension criteria of MMC-MVD system are
= px_cm − px_dm discussed in [40]. Moreover, the selection of the module capacitors
is discussed in [41].
where px_cm is the common-mode component of the upper and Although the high-frequency injection method can completely
lower arms’ power and px_dm is the differential-mode component suppress the ripple power, it also brings following issues to the
MVD system:
1 1
px_cm = v i − v i (12) (1) The injected high-frequency common-mode voltages may
2 dc cmx 2 cmx x
affect the service life of the motor bearings [42].
vdcix vx 2 (2) The injected circulating current can be as high as the output
px_dm = 1− current, which means the current stress of the devices (which is
4 vdc /2 (13) determined by arm currents) can be doubled after the injection
−vcmicmx − vxicmx − vcmix method is used.
(3) The injected circulating current can become so high in the
Both terms in px_cm are of high frequencies, causing negligible intermediate-speed range that it is unacceptable. Therefore, full
ripple voltage. The second term, i.e. the product of vcm and icmx is cancellation is usually realised only in the low-speed range. It has
to be used to counteract the original ripple power (contained in the to be either dropped or tapered off at higher speeds [43]. This
first term). Specifically, suppose limits its effect with constant-torque loads.

vcm = V cm sin(ωcmt) Many improved injection methods have been proposed to

(14) address these issues. In this paper, they are classified into the
icmx = Icm sin(ωcmt) following five subcategories, and are discussed subsequently:

and (1) Improved injection methods to reduce device current stress.

2
(2) Full speed range operating strategies.
vdcix vx (3) Improved injection methods to reduce common-mode voltage.
V cmIcm = 1− (15)
2 vdc /2 (4) Injection methods in conjunction with non-HB-MMCs.
(5) Alternative ways to realise injection methods.
Substituting (14) and (15) into (13) yields

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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
Table 2 Comparison of different injected voltage/current waveforms (f0 = 5 Hz)
Injected voltage Injected current Peak injected current, Peak arm current, A Maximum frequency of References
A circulating current
sinusoidal sinusoidal 95 220 fcom [25, 36, 43, 46]
square wave sinusoidal 75 180 fcom [47]
square wave sinusoidal + third harmonic 62 160 3fcom [47]
square wave square wave 52 142 — [29, 38]

Table 3 Parameters of the simulated MMC drive system

Parameter Symbol, unit Value
arm inductance L, mH 2
SM capacitance C, mF 1.1
DC voltage vdc, V 6000
number of SMs N 4
peak output current Ix, A 100
switching frequency fsw, Hz 1000
output frequency f0, Hz 5

3.2 Improved injection methods to reduce device current

stress
To reduce the device current stress at low speeds, the injected
waveforms can be improved including sine wave plus third
harmonic, quasi-square wave and square wave [38, 39, 43–45] etc. Fig. 3  Reduction of compensated ripple power with the constant-ripple
All of these methods try to boost the fundamental component of method proposed in [49]
injected voltage without causing overmodulation. The injected
voltage/current for the third harmonic method is 3.3 Full speed range operating strategies
(1 − m)vdc 1 As mentioned above, the traditional injection method cannot be
vcm = sin(ωcmt) + sin(3ωcmt) used in the medium-to-high-speed range for constant-torque loads.
2Kcm2 6
Antonopoulos [46, 48] proposed a method to reduce the average
Kcm2ix 2 1 capacitor voltage at an intermediate speed while tapering off the
icmx = 1 − m sin(ω1t + θx) sin(ωcmt) + sin(3ωcmt)
K0(1 − m) 6 injection. This ensures that the instantaneous value of the capacitor
(18) voltage does not exceed the upper limit. In the high-speed range
where the pulsating power decreases, the injection method is
The equations for the square-wave method are removed. Capacitor voltage average value is gradually reset to its
nominal value to provide an adequate output voltage. To employ
(1 − m)vdc 1 this method, the demarcation of the speed ranges and the capacitor
0<t≤
2Kcm 2 f cm voltage curve must be determined appropriately according to
vcm = (19) specific applications.
(1 − m)vdc 1 1
− <t≤ Li proposed a constant-ripple range of capacitor voltage for the
2Kcm 2 f cm f cm whole speed region [49]. Since the same amplitude of capacitor
voltage ripple corresponds to higher ripple power at higher
ix 2vx2 vdc 1 frequencies, this means the degree of ripple power cancellation can
− 0<t≤
∗
2V cm vdc 2 2 f cm be reduced at higher speeds, as shown in Fig. 3. Comparisons of
icmx = (20) the amplitudes of injected current in the traditional (dual
ix 2vx2 vdc 1 1 sinusoidal) method with that in the constant-ripple method are
− − <t≤
∗
2V cm vdc 2 2 f cm f cm shown in Fig. 4. It is seen that the injected current can be greatly
reduced with the constant-ripple method in the full speed range.
Table 2 compares several combinations of these waveforms Another method to achieve full speed range operation is
through simulations. The simulations are based on an MMC drive proposed in [50], where the original peak value of injected current
system with parameters listed in Table 3. With square-wave is multiplied by a variable (Vcm) which decreases with speed, as
circulating current and voltage injection, the peak of the injected shown in (21). The modified amplitude (Icm ′ ) will be reduced to
current can be halved compared with the conventional dual-sine zero at nominal speed
injection method. Since the square-wave common-mode voltage
brings huge dv/dt at the motor side, the quasi-square wave becomes V cm
a more practical choice. Fig. 2 compares the amplitudes of injected Icm
′ = Icm (21)
0.5vdc
current between the traditional injection method and square-waved
voltage method in the whole speed range (The reduced-phase-shift-
The method is easier to implement, but the ripple voltage at
angle method will be discussed later in Section 3.6.). It is worth
medium-high-speed region may increase compared with [49].
noting that a complex current waveform is difficult to track. For
example, the square-wave current is usually tracked at two
frequency points (ωcm and 3ωcm) [38], which increase the 3.4 Improved injection methods to reduce common-mode
requirement for control bandwidths. voltage
For quadratic-torque loads, the load torque and current are The high-frequency common-mode voltage induces shaft voltage/
relatively small at low-to-medium speeds. Therefore, the injection current on the motor, which is harmful to the motor bearing and
method may not increase the device current beyond the rated value, shortens the lifespan of the motor [42]. Besides, high-frequency
and the injection can be tapered off at higher speeds [33]. voltage and current increase EMI.

2406 IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
Fig. 4  Reduction of injected current with constant-ripple method proposed
in [49]
Fig. 5  FC-MMC
Fig. 6  Per-phase equivalent circuit of FC-MMC
An improved topology named FC-MMC is proposed to address
the problem [50], as shown in Fig. 5. It adds a branch at the
midpoint of the upper and lower arms to divide the main circuit
into four sub-arms (U1, U2, L1 and L2). The branch consists of N
IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
Fig. 7  Improved MMCs
(a) MMC with star-connected branches, (b) MMC with delta-connected branches
suspended capacitors. It can also be composed of N half-bridge
SMs [51], but with increased cost. This method requires an even
number of SMs (N).
The high-frequency injection method used in this topology is
essentially the same as mentioned in Section 3.1, but there is a
symmetry among the injected voltage and current in the four sub-
arms. The equivalent diagram of one phase is shown in Fig. 6. The
high-frequency voltages injected to sub-arms U1 and L1 are
opposite to that of U2 and L2, respectively. Therefore, total
injected voltages for the whole arms (e.g. vU1 + vU2) no longer
contain common-mode components.
High-frequency currents (ih) flow in opposite directions in sub-
arms U1 and U2. They merge into branch current (im) and then
flow into the lower arms. The command of ih is similar to that in
(17) and is tracked through feedback control. In this way, the
pulsating power can be transferred between U2 and L1 and
between U1 and L2. Since the output voltages do not contain
common-mode components, the high-frequency voltage (vh) can be
chosen as a square wave to reduce current stress. The injected
frequency should be kept away from the inductor–capacitor
resonance frequency to avoid resonance.
Similar ideas can be found in [52, 53], where series-connected
full-bridge (FB) SMs are used to construct high-frequency current
paths between the three phases. The three added branches can be
star or delta connected as shown in Fig. 7.
The injected circulating currents in the three phases are
symmetrical and the sum is zero. The control diagrams of the two
topologies are similar. With same device voltage rating, the number
of FBs is doubled with delta connection, but the current stress is
reduced by half.
2407

Fig. 8  Illustrations of the method in [57]
(a) Reduced-phase-shift angles between carriers of PS-PWM, (b) Fast Fourier
transform of the injected voltage and current
Fig. 9  Equivalent circuit of the injection path
Fig. 10  Reduced-phase-shift angles for FC-MMC
3.5 Injection methods in conjunction with non-HB-MMCs
In addition to the above classic HB-MMC-MVD system, the high-
frequency injection method has also been applied to other
improved MMC converter topologies.
The method is used with an FB-MMC in [54], where the FB-
MMC and the HB-MMC are compared in detail. It is pointed out
that, with the same output capacity, the voltage and current stresses
of the power devices in the FB-MMC can be reduced to 75 and
66% of the HB-MMC, respectively. This is because the DC input
voltage, a major culprit behind the fundamental-frequency ripple
power, can be significantly lowered for the FB-MMC. Therefore,
though the number of devices in the FB-MMC is doubled, the total
device cost is close to the HB-MMC. The FB-MMC also has such
extra benefits as doubled equivalent switching frequency and DC
fault ride-through ability.
An improved MMC topology is proposed in [55], where the
top- and bottom-layer SMs are parallel-connected. Since ripple
powers of the three phases sum to zero, there will be no ripple
power in the parallel-connected SMs. Therefore, the compensating
ripple power that the injection method needs to create for each arm
is reduced by 1/N.
2408
Wang et al. [56] used the high-frequency injection method in a
modified HB-MMC topology. It can increase the output voltage
level by one, but has the disadvantage that capacitor voltage
waveforms in the middle SM are different from others.
3.6 Alternative ways to realise injection methods
The injection methods mentioned above relies on modulation
margin (i.e. the difference between the amplitude of arm voltage
reference and its upper limit set by linear modulation) of each
phase to inject the needed high-frequency common-mode voltage.
When the margin gets smaller at higher speeds, the injected current
must be increased significantly. Also, the current needs to be
tracked through feedback control.
In fact, the high-frequency voltage and current can be generated
through other means to achieve the ripple power cancellation.
Aiello and Barie [57] proposed a modified modulation method with
phase-shifted pulse-width modulation (PS-PWM) to realise the
injection in an HB-MMC. Phase-shift angles for the carriers of the
MMC arms are reduced to Kr×2π/N (Kr < 1) from the normal value
of 2π/N [58]. The switching pulses in the lower arm are opposite to
the upper arm. Therefore, switching-frequency (fsw) voltages (vh)
with opposite phases will be generated in the upper and lower
arms.
Since the SM ripple voltages of the upper and lower arms are
also in opposite phases, the PWM process will generate an in-phase
arm voltage component ve at a frequency of fsw ± fo (fo is the output
frequency) in the upper and lower arms. Here, ve can then generate
a high-frequency circulating current ih as shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
For each arm, the product of ih and vh can generate a fundamental-
frequency ripple power similar to (15)
V h × sin(ωfswt) × Ihsin((ωfsw ± ω0)t − φ)
V h × Ih (22)
= (cos(ω0t + φ) − cos((2ωfsw ± ω0)t − φ))
2
In (22), Vh, Ih are the magnitudes of vh and ih. The amplitude of
the injected voltage vh is higher than the traditional injection
method (as shown in Fig. 2). Moreover, most importantly, it does
not decrease quickly with speed since it does not rely on
modulation margin.
The ripple power can be well compensated in the whole speed
range, and the injected current is smaller than the traditional
injection method. In addition, the injection is completed in the
PWM process, which needs no high-frequency tracking control of
the current. Therefore, it can work with lower switching frequency.
The drawbacks of this method are also obvious. First, the
common-mode voltage is made larger. Second, the output
waveform quality deteriorates due to the modification of normal
carriers of PS-PWM. Therefore, it is necessary to switch Kr to 1 in
the medium speed range (i.e. turn off the method), and this should
be done with care because sudden changes of Kr may cause
transient currents.
This above idea was also applied to the FC-MMC in [59], and
the carrier arrangement is slightly different, as shown in Fig. 10.
The FC-MMC can avoid excessive common-mode output voltage
on the motor. Since the high-frequency current (ih) path is different
from Fig. 9 and similar to Fig. 6, some benefits can be achieved.
The arm inductance and SM capacitance should be designed
properly to ensure that the impedance of the ih path changes little at
the frequencies of fsw ± fo. Kr can be arbitrarily switched from 0 to
any value in the full speed range without causing a transient
current. Therefore, according to specific load type, better trade-offs
can be made between ripple power suppression and output voltage
quality, making this method (i.e. reduced-phase-shift angle in
conjunction with FC-MMC) a better option for MMC-MVDs.
An asymmetric operation-mode method was proposed with HB-
MMCs in [60]. The references for arm voltages and currents at low
speeds are shown in (23). K is switched in a square-wave fashion to
periodically change the DC component in the upper- and lower-
arm voltages, so that one of the arm voltages is close to the upper
IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
Fig. 11  Asymmetrical operation mode of HB-MMC

limit (i.e. vdc) while the other is just above zero, as shown in
Fig. 11. The final effect is similar to that of the traditional injection
method (with a square-wave injected voltage), only the injection
frequency is lower. Similarly, a circulating current (Izx) is needed to
be injected to generate the fundamental-frequency ripple power.
When the voltage of one arm is close to vdc, it is guaranteed by the
controller that the output current only flows through the other arm.
Moreover, Izx is controlled to ensure that the capacitor in this
arm does not discharge continuously, thus preventing severe
unbalance. vcom is used to generate the required circulating current.
Since this method is equivalent in effect to the traditional injection
method with a low injection frequency, the residual ripple voltage
has a lower frequency and higher amplitude

vxp = − vx sin(ωt) + Kvdc + vcom

vxn = vx sin(ωt) + (1 − K)vdc + vcom
(23)
ixp = Izx + I x sin(ωt + φ)
ixn = Izx

4 Power-channel methods Fig. 12  MMC topology with power channels between upper and lower
arms
It is known that the odd-order voltage ripples (the fundamental one (a) Modified MMC, (b) Circuit of ‘new SM’ with a DAB power channel
being the most significant) of the upper and lower arms are in
opposite phases, while the even-order ones are in phase. At the
same time, all voltage ripples, be they odd or even order, are three-
phase symmetrical.
This feature was first utilised in [61], which use dual active
bridges (DABs) to transmit opposite ripple powers between the
upper and lower SMs, as shown in Fig. 12. The DAB acts as a
power channel. Combined with the connected upper and lower half
bridges, a new SM is formed, thus retaining the modularity of the
original MMC topology.
The half-bridge SMs in Fig. 12 are controlled in the same way
as in a traditional MMC as if there are no DABs. The power
channels (i.e. the DABs) are controlled to balance the voltages of
the upper- and lower-arm SMs connected by them. Phase-shift
control is usually employed for the DABs. Both primary and
secondary voltages in the transformer are 50% duty cycle square
waves. The shift angle between them is determined according to
the magnitude and direction of instantaneous power that is needed
to be transferred from the higher-voltage side to the lower-voltage
side, so as to balance the SM voltages.
The switching frequency of the DABs must be relatively high to
make the transformer smaller. As indicated in Fig. 3, the
fundamental ripple power needed to be transferred is quite high,
especially at low speeds. Usually, the power devices of the DABs
are the same as the main circuit devices.
The method ensures that the fundamental pulsations of the
upper- and lower-arm capacitors are completely cancelled. The
second-order pulsating power can be suppressed by additional
control strategy such as injecting a second-order circulating
current. Theoretically, the capacitors only need to withstand Fig. 13  Six-phase MMC with power channels for open-winding motors
switching-frequency ripple. The required capacitance is, therefore,
reduced greatly. Compared to the traditional injection method, this order) low-frequency pulsating powers of the three phases sum to
method will decrease the current stress of power devices to a large zero. A three-port power channel is constructed in each layer of
extent. This idea can be also implemented in open-winding motor SMs, each connecting three SMs from the three phases, as shown
drives [62], as shown in Fig. 13. in Fig. 14. The overall MMC topology is shown in Fig. 15. A
An improvement to the above method was proposed in [63], similar phase-shift control can be employed to transfer the
which takes advantage of the fact that all (i.e. both even and odd pulsating power between three phases.

IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414 2409
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
 Table 4 Comparison of the two power-channel methods
MMCs with MMCs with three-port
DABs in upper power channels
and lower arms
number of extra 4N 4N
switching devices
number of power 3N 2N
channels
ripple power odd orders odd and even orders
frequencies suppressed
insulation requirements vdc (same for all) (j + 1)vdc/N (j = 1, 2, …,
on transformers N)

Fig. 14  ‘New SM’ formed with a three-port DAB connecting three original
SMs (each from a different phase)

Fig. 16  Hybrid MMC with a DC chopper

Fig. 15  MMC topology as constructed with the new SMs

The insulation requirement of the mediate-frequency

transformers can be a critical factor in the design process since it
affects the total cost [64, 65]. It is worth noting that in Fig. 12, the
insulation voltage (vdc) for the transformers are the same because
SMs connected by DABs in each phase are at the same positions of
the upper and lower arms. However, in Fig. 15, transformers in the
power channels that are closer to the midpoints (i.e. output
terminals) of the phase legs are subject to higher insulation
stresses. To avoid different insulating voltages for the SMs,
maximum insulation voltage (which is rough vdc) should be
selected for all DAB transformers. Considering the voltage level
(2.3–13.8 kV) the MMC-MVDs is intended for, this should not
pose a difficult issue.
Table 4 compares the two power-channel methods. As
explained previously, the device ratings for both power channels
are at the same level as the SM power devices, so the losses of the
two methods are almost the same. The three-port method reduces
the number of power channels by 1/3. Therefore, less magnetic
cores are used. Moreover, it suppresses both odd- and even-ordered
low-frequency ripple powers without extra circulating control.
Insulating stresses of the transformers are basically the same for
the two methods. In summary, the three-port power-channel
method seems a better solution in practise.
5 Modified operation-mode method
It is possible to change the operation mode of the MMC to greatly
reduce the pulsating power, so that the SM capacitors can
withstand the reduced ripple voltages without any other
suppression methods.
2410
Fig. 17  Reduced DC voltage versus the output voltage of the hybrid MMC
5.1 Variable DC voltage methods
A hybrid MMC [66] as shown in Fig. 16 was proposed following
this principle, which uses a chopper on the DC side to reduce the
average voltage (vdc) of the DC bus (vdc′) to provide the minimum
voltage needed. The voltage waveform on the DC side of the MMC
is shown in Fig. 17. The average DC voltage can be expressed as
(24), where vxm is the amplitude of the output AC voltage
vdc = D vdc + (1 − D) 2 vxm
(24)
vxm = m vdc /2
Duty cycle D must be selected appropriately to ensure power
balance between the AC and DC sides. With a constant-torque
load, D is set equal to m. This method can significantly reduce the
ripple voltage as shown in Fig. 18, which is based on parameters
listed in Table 3.
The average DC voltage cannot be reduced to zero at standstill.
The ripple voltage will increase to its maximum value (about 20%)
at standstill. For this reason, Zhou et al. [67] proposed reducing the
average value of the capacitor voltage at extremely low
frequencies, so that the peak voltage, or the device voltage stress,
will not exceed a certain limit.
The voltage stress for the switch in DC chopper is vdc, so a
series connection of devices is necessary, which in turn calls for the
IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
Fig. 18  Comparison of voltage ripples without suppression, with reduced
DC voltage [66] and with constant vdc/ω
Fig. 19  Reduced DC voltage with thyristor combination for MMC drives
complicated voltage-sharing circuit. As another way to change the
DC bus voltage, a switched combination of thyristors and diode
rectifiers (see Fig. 19) is proposed in [68]. It achieves step
regulation of the DC voltage according to motor speed. The DC
voltage can be reduced to 25% of the rated value, and the
corresponding voltage ripple can also be reduced to 25% of the
original value.
Similarly, a T-type MMC as shown in Fig. 20 was proposed in
[69], where N/2 FB modules are inserted between the midpoint of
the DC bus and each midpoint of the phase leg, forming an FB
arm. In the medium–low-speed range, only the lower arm and the
FB arm are working. This is equivalent to reducing the DC bus by
half. At extremely low speeds, DC bus voltage is linearly regulated
by an FB DC/DC converter to reduce ripple voltage.
According to (8), if vdc/ω is kept constant, Δvcpx will also be
kept constant in full speed range, as shown in Fig. 18. The
principle was first utilised in [70]. It takes advantage of the
negative-output capability of FB SMs. An FB-MMC rectifier on
the grid side is employed to provide a DC bus voltage that is
proportional to the speed, as shown in Fig. 21.
In [70], the DC bus current is controlled to be constant. In this
case, when the motor runs at a high speed and a light load, the
output voltage is high while the power is relatively low. To ensure
power balance, the DC bus voltage cannot be too high. Therefore,
the motor-side MMC must be able to output high-AC voltage with
low-DC input voltage. Therefore, an FB-MMC is also needed at
the motor side.
At standstill or ultra-low speeds, the constant vdc/ω relationship
must be forsaken because vdc needs to be boosted to maintain the
constant-torque capability of the motor. An injection method,
IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018
Fig. 20  Open-winding motor drive consisting of two T-type MMCs and a
series-diode-bridge front end
Fig. 21  BTB-MMC topology for regeneration applications
therefore, becomes necessary to deal with the added pulsating
power (due to boosted DC bus voltage), so as to keep the ripple
voltage constant. Such a method was proposed in [71].
The BTB structure shown in Fig. 21 can be further improved. In
[72], the grid-side MMC was modified into a hybrid one, where the
upper arms consist of FBs SMs and the lower arms half-bridge
SMs. Moreover, the motor-side MMC is changed into an HB-
MMC. Such changes can greatly reduce the total device count.
In [73, 74], the motor-side MMC was changed into an HB-
MMC and the control strategy was simplified. The DC bus current
is no longer kept constant. The DC voltage is linearly changed with
speeds. This BTB structure fully utilises the advantages of the
MMC and is especially suitable for regeneration applications such
as railway traction drives and wind power generation systems.
5.2 Quasi-two-level operation modes
A quasi-two-level operation is first proposed in [75] for MV
DC/DC converters. The upper and lower arms are conducted
alternately at a high frequency to simulate the operation of
traditional two-level inverters. The voltage waveform in one arm is
a quasi-trapezoidal wave. In this way, the fundamental pulsating
2411
Table 5 Commercial MMC-based motor drives
Product name Power, MVA Voltage, kV Developed by
SM120 [77] 6–13.7 3.3–7.2 Siemens
GH150 4–48 4.16–11 Siemens
M2L 3000 [78] 0.225–7.466 2.3–6.6 Benshaw

Table 6 Performances of all other methods as compared with traditional injection method
Extra cost Constant-torque Extra loss Major advantage Major disadvantage
load ability
improved injection methods to N F N reduced device current stress complicated controller
reduce device current stress
full speed range operating N T + easy to implement constant voltage ripple
strategies
improved injection methods to ++ — N no common-mode output extra cost in hardware
reduce common-mode voltage voltage
injection methods in conjunction + F — — —
with non-HB-MMCs
alternative ways to realise injection + — N — —
methods
power-channel methods ++++ T +++ high-power density extra cost and loss
Modified operation-mode method
reduced DC voltage + F N easy to implement phase-shifting transformer
BTB-MMC +++ T − bi-directional power flow and extra cost and complicated
transformerless grid connection control strategy
quasi-two-level operation modes ++ T − easy to implement low output wave quality
—: Uncertain, N: not too much, +: increased, −: decreased, F: false, T: true.

power can be reduced to the level of a two-level converter, but the
harmonic characteristic is sacrificed compared with the normal
operation mode.
In [76], this idea was applied to MMCs for motor drives. Since
the full output current flows through the arms just like in a two-
level inverter, the current stresses of the power devices increase
significantly. Moreover, the harmonics in the output voltage
increase dramatically, which requires additional filtering
components.
6 Further discussion
Owing to good modularity, MMC inverters can easily cover the
voltage range from 2.3 to 13.8 kV or even higher. Most industrial
drives fall within this range. Up until now, there have been three
representative product series (see Table 5) of MMC-MVDs aimed
chiefly at quadratic-torque applications such as fans, pumps,
natural gas compressors etc. They are mostly based on injection
methods.
A brief comparison of the suppression methods as compared
with the traditional injection method (in terms of extra cost,
capability in constant-torque loads and switching loss) is listed in
Table 6. Since different methods aim at different optimisation
goals, it is necessary to make a trade-off of the advantages and
disadvantages when choosing for specific applications. For
instance, power-channel methods can achieve the highest power
density, but also incur the highest cost.
As discussed in Section 2.2, quadratic-torque loads require
smaller torques at lower speeds. It is, therefore, easier for the
devices to tolerate the rise in current brought by high-frequency
injection methods. At high speeds, the method can be removed.
Therefore, the injection methods are best suited for such
applications [79, 80].
For ship propulsion systems which usually require high-power
density [81, 82], power-channel methods seem more attractive. In
applications that require power regeneration such as railway
traction drives and mine hoists, an active front end is necessary. A
BTB-MMC system that can easily reduce the DC-link voltage
would be suitable for those applications since the extra cost can be
well justified.
The high-frequency injection method has been studied
extensively. However, the existing literature mainly focuses on
altering the injected waveforms and the implementation of
injection methods for improved MMC topologies. However, there
are still remaining problems to be coped with such as how to track
the high-frequency circulating current at the limited switching
frequency, and how to ensure that voltage ripples do not increase at
SM failure mode.
Power-channel methods seem promising to achieve high-power
density. However, they also incur extra power loss due to the high
switching frequency of DABs. Twin modules [80] combined with
three-level DABs to achieve soft switching may be a solution for
that.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is how to evaluate the
many suppression methods, especially how to design a set of
benchmark performance indices with which different methods can
be compared fairly and quantitatively.
7 Conclusion
In this paper, the phenomenon of low-frequency capacitor power/
voltage pulsation that hampers the application of the MMC in AC
drives is described, and the latest developments on suppressing the
low-frequency voltage ripple are reviewed. The suppression
methods can be classified into three categories: high-frequency
injection methods, power-channel methods and modified
operation-mode methods. Each method has its own pros and cons.
Selection of an appropriate method should be based on specific
applications. There have been commercial MMC-MVD products
incorporating injection methods in the market, but chiefly for
quadratic-torque applications. Products for constant-torque
applications may come out in the near future if other more
sophisticated methods can prove their cost-effectiveness.
8 Acknowledgment
This research was sponsored by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant no. 51477063).
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IET Power Electron., 2018, Vol. 11 Iss. 15, pp. 2403-2414
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2018