Start-Up and Dynamic Modeling of the Multilevel Modular Capacitor-Clamped Converter

This paper will present the analytical proof of concept of the multilevel modular capacitor-clamped converter (MMCCC). The quantitative analysis of the charge transfer mechanism among the capacitors of the MMCCC explains the start-up and steady-state voltage balancing. Once these capacitor voltages are found for different time intervals, the start-up and steady-state voltages at various nodes of the MMCCC can be obtained. This analysis provides the necessary proof that explains the stable operation of the converter when a load is connected to the low-voltage side of the circuit. In addition, the analysis also shows how the LV side of the converter is (1/N)th of the HV side excitation when the conversion ratio of the circuit is N. In addition to the analytical and simulation results, experimental results are included to support the analytical proof of concept.