Modulation, harmonic analysis, and balancing control for a new modular multilevel converter

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) has been receiving increased attentions in recent years. The new modular multilevel converter is a derivative topology from the traditional MMC in which the number of sub-modules (SMs) necessitated by each phase can be reduced by one. This paper presents a phase-shifted carrier pulse-width modulation (PSC-PWM) for the new MMC with an optimal phase-shifted angle to suppress the harmonics of the output voltage. Further, the harmonic features when the capacitor voltage of the middle SM is selected as two different values are also investigated. Moreover, in order to avoid introducing an unnecessary dc offset current at the ac terminals of the new MMC, a novel capacitor voltage balancing scheme is proposed by adjusting the amplitude of the reference signals rather than the offset. Finally, the validity and effectiveness of the proposed modulation and balancing schemes have been verified by experimental results based on a three-phase prototype of the new MMC.