Fully decoupled current control and energy balancing of the Modular Multilevel Matrix Converter

The Modular Multilevel Matrix Converter (M3C) is a Modular Multilevel Converter topology which is suitable for high power low speed drive applications. This paper presents a fully decoupled current control which allows an independent input, output and internal balancing current control. To equalize the energy stored in the nine converter arms, an energy and balancing control is presented which includes average, horizontal, vertical and diagonal balancing control loops. Simulation results are used to verify the function of the M3C together with an induction motor drive system. Additionally, the proper function of the recently constructed arm PCB working as single phase multilevel STATCOM is presented. This PCB will be used for each arm in the laboratory prototype of the M3C in the near future.