Title :
Device loading of modular multilevel converter MMC in wind power application
Author :
Popova, L. ; Pyrhonen, Juha ; Ma, Kwan-Liu ; Blaabjerg, Frede
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Lappeenranta Univ. of Technol., Lappeenranta, Finland
Abstract :
Modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a recently emerged multilevel topology for high-voltage high-power applications. However, in wind power application the performance of the MMC has not been deeply investigated. In this paper the application of MMC in wind energy systems is studied. The converters used to connect the wind turbine to the grid having the rated active powers of 2MW and 10MW are designed and investigated. Electrical losses and thermal loading of the power devices in the proposed converter solutions are analyzed. The efficiency of the MMC converter under different P/Q boundaries defined by grid codes is investigated and compared with two-level and three-level NPC converters. It is concluded that it is possible to use the MMC in wind power application and the losses are distributed evenly between the sub-modules of the MMC converter. However, inside a sub-module the losses of the power devices are not equal that can lead to the de-rating of the converter.
Keywords :
power convertors; power grids; thermal stresses; topology; wind power plants; wind turbines; MMC converter; electrical losses; grid codes; high-voltage high-power applications; modular multilevel converter; multilevel topology; power 10 MW; power 2 MW; power devices; thermal loading; three-level NPC converters; wind energy systems; wind power application; wind turbine; Educational institutions; Inductance; MMC Converters; renewable energy sources; thermal stresses; wind power generation;
Conference_Titel :
Power Electronics Conference (IPEC-Hiroshima 2014 - ECCE-ASIA), 2014 International
Conference_Location :
Hiroshima
DOI :
10.1109/IPEC.2014.6869638
