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Modular Multilevel Converter with Full-Bridge

Submodules and Improved Low-Frequency
Ripple Suppression for Medium-Voltage Drives

Conference Paper · May 2015

DOI: 10.1109/APEC.2015.7104668

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 Modular Multilevel Converter with Full-Bridge
Submodules and Improved Low-Frequency Ripple
Suppression for Medium-Voltage Drives
Liqun He, Kai Zhang, Jian Xiong, Shengfang Fan
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic
Engineering and Technology (AEET)
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Wuhan 430074, China
heliqun714@hust.edu.cn
Abstract—Due to the low-frequency voltage fluctuation
problem, application of modular multilevel converters (MMC) in
wide-speed-range medium-voltage (MV) drives is still difficult.
This paper proposes a new approach to this problem. Firstly,
full-bridge submodules (FB-SM) are used in place of the
traditional half-bridge submodules (HB-SM). The former can
significantly reduce the low-frequency pulsating power in the SM
capacitors. Secondly, an improved “square wave plus third-order
harmonic injection” with quasi-resonant (QR) control scheme is
proposed to transfer the low-frequency ripple power into high-
frequency ones. Simulation and experimental results prove the
validity of proposed method. A comparison between the FB-SM
based and HB-SM based MMCs showed good potential of the
former in MV drive applications.
Keywords—modular multilevel converter; full-bridge
submodule; medium-voltage drives
I. INTRODUCTION
As the most promising multilevel converter topology, the
modular multilevel converter (MMC) has found popular
applications in constant-voltage constant-frequency (CVCF)
scenarios, such as high voltage direct current (HVDC)
transmission systems. Since it gets rid of the cumbersome
multi-winding transformers, the MMC should also have the
potential to replace the cascaded H-bridge (CHB) multilevel
converters in medium-voltage (MV) drives. However, up to the
present MMCs are still only fit for MV drives with limited
speed-adjusting ranges, such as fan/blower applications.
The obstacle to wide-speed-range applications of MMCs is
the low frequency voltage fluctuation problem. There is an
inherent, fundamental component in the pulsating power of the
MMC’s submodule (SM) capacitors (which is proportional to
the output/stator current and dc supply voltage). When the
speed of the ac machine drops, this power component tends to
bring larger voltage fluctuation of the SM capacitor, since a
capacitor exhibits higher impedances at lower frequencies.
When the speed approaches zero, the amplitude of the low-
frequency voltage fluctuation will approach infinity [1].
978-1-4799-6735-3/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 2288
Yaosuo Xue
Corporate Technology
Siemens Corporation
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
yaosuo.xue@siemens.com
An effective way to suppress the low-frequency voltage
fluctuation is injecting common-mode voltages and circulating
currents. In [2]-[6], high-frequency sinusoidal common-mode
voltages and circulating currents with the same frequency are
injected to each phase. By doing this, low-frequency pulsating
powers in the SM capacitors are transformed into high-
frequency ones, resulting in much smaller voltage fluctuations.
Though it can reduce the magnitude of capacitor voltages
ripples, this method increases arm current and power loss. To
address this, voltage and current with square-waves or
sinusoidal-harmonic waves are injected instead of sinusoidal
ones in [7]-[9]. Compared with [2]-[6], this method can reduce
arm current by 40%. However, in experiments starting torque
is restricted to 40% rated value, which means overcurrent will
occur if the machine is started with full load torque. Moreover,
in high power MV drives switching frequency is usually
limited (sometimes only a few hundred hertz). Square-wave
current reference can be fairly difficult for the control system
to track.
This paper proposes a new approach to the low frequency
operation problem. First of all, half-bridge (HB) submodules
are replaced by full-bridge (FB) submodules. Although FB-SM
based MMC uses twice more power devices, it is found to be
able to significantly reduce the fundamental frequency
pulsating power, which is the reason behind the low frequency
voltage fluctuation. “Square wave plus third-order harmonic
injection” method with quasi-resonant controllers is proposed
to improve the low frequency ripple suppression. Simulation
and experiments proved the validity of the proposed method. A
comparison between FB-SM based MMC and HB-SM based
MMC is also given.
II. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
A. MMC Based Ac Drives
A three-phase MMC inverter driving an ac motor is shown
in Fig.1. Each phase contains an upper and a lower arm. Each
arm consists of N SMs. Topology of the SMs can be a half
bridge (in Fig.1(b)) or a full bridge (in Fig.1(c)). Detailed
comparison of HB-SM and FB-SM based MMC is given in
Section V-C.
B. Capacitor Voltage Ripple and Conventional Suppression
Methods
According to operating principle of the MMC, the power of
each arm (total power of the SMs within each arm) of the
MMC contains ac components. Specifically, if the circulating
current is controlled in such a way as to provide all the second-
order ripple power needed by the load motor, then powers of
the upper- and lower arms of each phase can be expressed as:
 v dc I x
 p px = v px i px = 4 sin (ω1t + θ x − ϕ ) (1 − M sin (ω1t + θ x ) )
2 2
mode voltage vcm and circulating currents icmx into output
voltage vx and circulating current izx respectively. Then arm
voltages and arm currents can be expressed as:
 v px = vdc / 2 − v x − vcm
 (3)
 vnx = vdc / 2 + v x + vcm
i px = izx + ix / 2 + icmx
 (4)
inx = izx − ix / 2 + icmx
Then (1) becomes:
 pxp = ( vdc / 2 − v x − vcm )(izx + ix / 2 + icmx ) = p x _ cm + px _ dm
 (5)
 pxn = ( vdc / 2 + v x + vcm )(izx − ix / 2 + icmx ) = p x _ cm − px _ dm

 (1) Where:
 p = v i = − vdc I x sin (ω t + θ − ϕ ) (1 − M 2 sin 2 (ω t + θ ) ) 1 1
p x _ cm = vdc icmx − vcmix (6)
 nx nx nx
4
1 x 1 x
2 2
where x = u~w, Ix is the amplitude of stator current, ω1 is the v i v
p x _ dm = dc x (1 − ( x ) 2 ) − vcm icmx − v x icmx − vcm izx (7)
stator frequency, θx is the phase angle of stator voltage, φ is the 4 vdc / 2
power factor angle of the ac machine, and M is the modulation Low-frequency ripple powers come from the first term in
index corresponding to the stator voltage. At low speeds, M is (7), which can be compensated by the second term vcmicm.
small and the dominant components of the arm powers are the
fundamental ones. Since the frequency is low, these A basic choice of vcm and icmx is [3] (also called “sinusoidal
fundamental frequency ripple powers give rise to significant wave method”):
voltage fluctuations, which can be approximately expressed in  (1 − M )vdc
(2). Eq. (2) clearly shows that the voltage ripples are  vcm = sin(ωcm t )
2 (8)
proportional to stator current and inversely proportional to 
stator frequency, which greatly limits MMC’s application in
MV drives.  cmx 1 − M (
i = ix 1 − ( M sin(ω t + θ ) )2 sin(ω t )
1 x cm )
As the state-of-the-art solution, low-frequency terms in (1) The frequency of vcm and icmx is fcm (angular frequency ωcm).
can be compensated by injecting high-frequency common-

 M 2 I x cos ϕ Ix M2 M 2 I x cos ϕ
Δv
 cpx ≈ cos ( ω t + θ ) − (1 − ) cos ( ω t + θ − ϕ ) − cos ( 3ω1t + 3θ x − ϕ )
8ω1C 4ω1C 48ω1C
1 x 1 x
 4
 (2)
 Δv ≈ − M I x cos ϕ cos (ω t + θ ) + I x (1 − M ) cos (ω t + θ − ϕ ) + M I x cos ϕ cos ( 3ω t + 3θ − ϕ )
2 2 2

 cnx
8ω1C
1 x
4ω1C 4
1 x
48ω1C
1 x

u-phase v-phase w-phase

S1
SM1 SM1 SM1 +
+ C vc
Arm vj -
S2
SMN SMN SMN -
vdc x = u, v, w
+ L ipx (b)
dc x ix M
side
L inx
-
SM1 SM1 SM1 S1 S3
+
vj+ C
- - vc
SMN SMN SMN S2 S4

(a) (c)
Fig. 1. (a) Main circuit of MMC for ac drives. (b) Topology of HB-SM. (c) Topology of FB-SM.

2289
The dominant fundamental-frequency (ω1) term in (1) will then
be cancelled out by the same-frequency component of vcmicmx.
Since injected circulating current icmx increases loss (in the
inductors, power devices, etc.) and injected vcm may cause
over-modulation, “third-order harmonic injection” method [7],
“square wave injection” method [7], [8] as well as hybrid
technique [9] are proposed. However, with these methods in
experiments load torque is still limited to 40% rated value if
overcurrent is to be avoided. Besides, the bandwidth of the
current controller has to be high enough to track the square
wave reference, which is often unrealistic in high-power
applications. To address these problems, FB-SM based MMC
is adopted in this paper, adopting “square wave plus third-order
harmonic injection” method and quasi-resonant controllers.
III. FB-SM BASED MMC
A. Working Principle
Regardless of SM configuration, the following equations
always hold for MMC (neglecting voltage drop on buffer
inductors):
 vdc = v xp + v xn
 (9)
 v x = ( v xn − v xp ) / 2
For HB-SM based MMC, arm voltages are unipolar, i.e.:
 v xp = vdc / 2 − v x ≥ 0
 (10)
 v xn = vdc / 2 + v x ≥ 0
Therefore:
based MMC in practical.
For FB-SM based MMC, arm voltages can be bipolar, then
(10) and (11) are rewritten as:
 v xp ≤ Nvc
 (12)
 v xn ≤ Nvc
vdc
| v x | ≤ Nvc − (13)
2
By setting vc > vdc / N, ac output voltage of FB-SM based
MMC could surpass that of HB-SM based MMC in case of the
same dc-link voltage. For instance, setting vc = 1.5vdc / N for
HB-SM based MMC, its output range extends to vx ≤ vdc,
double of HB-SM based MMC. In another word, same phase
output voltage can be achieved with half the original dc voltage
(0.5vdc) and 25% lower SM capacitor voltage (0.75vdc/N).
According to (1), halved dc link voltage means halved low-
frequency ripple power. The burden of the injection method is
therefore greatly reduced, making it possible to start up the ac
machine with nearly full load torque and without overcurrent.
B. Modulation and Capacitor Voltage Balance

0 ≤ v xp ≤ vdc , 0 ≤ v xn ≤ vdc

 vdc v (11)
− ≤ v x ≤ dc
 2 2
Consequently, if capacitor voltage of SM is set to vc ≥ vdc /
Fig. 3. Nominalized carrier waves, continuous as well as discretized reference
N, HB-SM based MMC produce ac output voltage with signal of PDPWM for FB-SM based MMC (N = 2).
amplitude 0.5vdc at most. vc = vdc / N is usually set for HB-SM

Fig. 2. Switching states distribution and capacitor voltage balancing method for FB-SM based MMC (N = 2).

2290
 I zx∗ ∗
∗ izx∗ v2∗ xcom v2∗ x vxp
i1zx

I zx* 0 izx
Vdc / 2
∗
vx∗ icmx
ix vx∗
vdc v∗
∗
v1x∗ ∗
vxn
cm
izx vcm
Fig. 4. Overall control structure with low-frequency ripple voltage suppression embedded.

Modulation methods for HB-SM based MMC can be
directly applied to FB-SM based MMC, with slight
modification. Phase-Disposition (PD) PWM method is
adopted here. Taking N = 2 as instance, there are 2N + 1 levels
in arm voltage, and 2N stacked carrier waves, as shown in Fig.
2. Compared with HB-SM based MMC with the same N,
equivalent switching frequency is doubled.
After generating discretized reference vpwm from above
PWM method, switching states are distributed to SMs and
achieving capacitor voltage balance at the same time. SM states
are defined as Sj = 0, 1, 2 in accord with SM output voltage vj =
-vc, 0, vc. Flowchart of distribution and balancing method is
shown in Fig. 3.
The algorithm in Fig. 3 is based on N = 2, and can be easily
extended to FB-SM based MMC with more submodules. It is
implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and
vpwm(k) is sampled during each system clock cycle of FPGA.
IV. LOW-FREQUENCY OPERATION TECHNIQUE
A. Improved Injecting Method to Decrease Arm Current
Pressure
To ensure precision tracking control of injected current
especially with low switching frequencies, a “square wave plus
third-order harmonic injection” method is applied, in which vcm
= 1.056. For sinusoidal wave method, they are Kcm = 1, Kpm = 1
and K0 = 1.
At startup, since m is close to zero, the peak value of icmx
will only be 37% ( = Kcm / (KpmK0)) of ix. This ratio is 100% for
sinusoidal wave and 73% for third-order harmonic injection.
B. Control Struture
The overall control structure of FB-SM based MMC with
proposed low-frequency ripple suppression method integrated
is given in Fig. 4 (Detail of ac output regulation is not
included). According to [10], the dc and fundamental
frequency component of circulating current, Izx* and i1zx*, are
separately generated by total energy control and differential
energy control, to maintain constant average capacitor voltage.
As for low-frequency ripple suppression, injected high-
frequency common-mode voltage vcm*are directly added to the
reference of phase voltage, while the control of circulating
current is relatively complex, since differential frequency
components are involved.
To realize accurate and fast control of injected circulating
current, quasi-resonant (QR) controller is adopted:
2 K Rωc s
GR ( s ) = (16)
s + 2ωc s + ω02
2

is of square wave, while icmx is a same-frequency sine wave Two QR controllers are paralleled with resonant frequency
with a third-order harmonic, as shown below: ω0 = ωcm and ω0 = 3ωcm respectively. fcm is chosen as 133.3Hz
here.
 (1 − M )vdc 1
 2K (0 < t ≤ )
 2 f cm
vcm =
cm
(14) V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
− (1 − M )vdc 1 1
( <t≤ ) Simulation and experiments are carried out to validate the
 2 K cm 2 f cm f cm proposed FB-SM based MMC. The main parameters are
summarized in TABLE I. Verifications on a HB-SM based
icmx =
K cm i x
K pm K 0 (1 − M )
( )
2  1 
1 − ( M sin(ω1t + θ x ) )  sin(ωcm t ) + sin(3ωcm t ) 
 6 
MMC with the same rated parameters are also carried out for
comparison. Note that to keep the same equivalent switching
(15) frequency, the HB-SM based MMC is configured with N = 4
and VC = 150 V. In simulations the induction motor (IM)
Where Kcm reflects magnitude margin of vcm with respect to drives a constant-torque load. In experiments, a dc-generator
vx and Kcm = 1.15. Kpm denotes utilization ratio of fundamental with resistor load serves as the load of the IM.
frequency component and Kpm = 2.546. K0 is the proportion of
zero-order component with respect to sinusoidal method and K0

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 TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF FB-SM BASED MMC IN SIMULATION AND A. Simulation Results
EXPERIMENTS.
With proposed square wave plus third-order harmonic
Rated apparent power of MMC: S 4 kVA injection method, steady state waveforms of the two types of
Arm inductor: L 4.62 mH MMCs at f1 = 10Hz are shown in Fig. 5. In both cases,
Number of SMs per arm: N 2
fluctuations of the SM capacitor voltages (Δvpp) are limited to a
low level. For HB-SM based MMC, there is a significant (60%)
Capacitance of SM: C 560 µF
increase of arm current as compared with the output current (in
Rated dc voltage: Vdc 600 V terms of peak values), while for FB-SM based MMC, this
Rated capacitor voltage of SM: VC 225 V current increase is under 20%. Fig. 6 shows start-up
Switching frequency: fsw 1 kHz performance of the FB-SM based MMC. As rotor speed
Rated power of IM: PN 3 kW increases, injected high-frequency components gradually
Rated line voltage of IM: VLL 380 V
reduce. In medium-frequency range, command of capacitor
voltage is appropriately decreased. In the whole speed range,
Rated frequency of IM: f1 50 Hz
capacitor voltage ripple is constrained within 10% of rated
Rated rotor speed: nr 1440 r/min value.
Rated load torque: (simulation) 100%
B. Experimental Results
10
iu_peak = 7.5A
10
iu_peak = 8.2A In the experimental results, the current increase figures are
in an even sharper contrast (71% for HB-SM based MMC and
iu (A)

iu (A)

0 0
12% for FB-SM based MMC), as shown in Fig. 7.
-10 -10 Fig. 8 demonstrates a startup process of the induction motor
20 20
driven by the FB-SM based MMC with proposed injection
ipu_peak = 12A ipu_peak = 9.8A method. The process is prolonged deliberately with the load
resistance of the dc generator gradually increased to roughly
ipu (A)
ipu (A)

0 0
keep load torque. The SM capacitor voltages exhibit no
-20 -20
significant fluctuations, and the arm currents are kept at the
200 275
vpp = 20V
same level as the output current.
vpp = 18V
vcp1 (V)

vcp1 (V)

150 225

100 175
2.8 2.9 3 2.8 2.9 3
t (s) t (s)
(a) (b)
Fig. 5. Simulated waveforms with proposed injection method (f1 = 10 Hz). (a)
HB-SM based MMC. (b) FB-SM based MMC.

(r/min)
2000
nr 1000
0
(A)
10
iu 0

-10
(A)
10
ipu 0
-10

(V)
300
vcp1 200
100
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
t (s)
Fig. 6. Startup process of the IM driven by FB-SM based MMC (with proposed control method, simulation results). From top to
bottom: Rotor speed, ac output current of phase u, upper arm current of phase u, capacitor voltage of SM1 in phase u.

2292
 (10A/div) (10A/div) (10A/div) (70V/div) (70V/div)
(10A/div) (10A/div) (10A/div) (50V/div) (50V/div)

vcp1
vcp1

vcn1
vcn1

iu
iu

ipu
ipu

inu
inu

Fig. 7. Experimental waveforms with proposed injection method (f1 = 10 Hz). (a) HB-SM based MMC. (b) FB-SM based MMC.

280
(70V/div)
vcp1

0
280
(70V/div)
vcn1

0
(5A/div)

0
iu
(5A/div)

0
ipu
(5A/div)

0
inu

t (6s/div)
Fig. 8. Startup process of the IM driven by FB-SM based MMC (with proposed control method, experimental results, phase u). From
top to bottom: upper arm capacitor voltage, lower arm capacitor voltage, ac output current, upper arm current, lower arm current.

2293
 TABLE II. COMPARISON OF HB-SM BASED MMC AND FB-SM BASED MMC.
HB-SM based MMC
Peak of ac output voltage
Number of power devices
Dc source voltage
Rated capacitor voltage
Peak value
% increase with
Arm current
respect to the output
current
Equivalent switching frequency
C. Discussion
A comparison of HB-SM based MMC and FB-SM based
MMC are summarized in TABLE II. Although FB-SM based
MMC uses twice more power devices, the voltage- and current
stresses are 75% and 66% (8.6/13=0.66) lower (experimental
results). Since the product of the voltage- and current stresses is
nearly halved (0.75*0.66=0.495) for each power device, it can
be seen that power device cost of the FB-SM based MMC will
not be significantly higher. The FB-SM based MMC also
provides some bonus features like doubled equivalent
switching frequency and dc-link short circuit protection
capability (thanks to the bipolar output of FB SMs).
VI. CONCLUSION
The huge ripples in capacitor voltages of MMC at low
frequency range inhibit MMC from direct application in MV
drives. Existing high-frequency injection methods are still
difficult to meet the requirement for large starting torque
applications. In this paper FB-SM based MMC with a new
injection control scheme is proposed to improve low-frequency
ripple suppression. Simulation and experimental results shows
that the proposed solution can achieve the same low-frequency
ripple suppression with virtually no increase in the arm currents.
A comparison of FB-SM based MMC with HB-SM based
MMC suggests the former to be a better candidate for MMC
topology intended for MV drives.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Power Electronics Science
and Education Development Program of Delta Environmental
& Educational Foundation (Project No. DREG2014013) and
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.
51477063).
2294
FB-SM based MMC
Vx Vx
2N 4N
Vdc 0.5 Vdc
Vdc / N 0.75 Vdc / N
13 A 8.6 A
71% 12%
N*fsw 2*N* fsw
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