Validation of the plug-and-play AC/AC power electronics building block (AC-PEBB) for medium voltage grid control applications

As ac-to-ac power conversion becomes increasingly importantly in applications such as grid power control and motor control, demand for a plug-and-play converter has been increased. Traditional VSI-based ac-to-ac power converters such as the back-to-back converter require bulky dc-link capacitors that limit their reliability. This paper examines a plug-and-play concept for achieving ac-to-ac power conversion via the direct-ac/ac power electronic building block (AC-PEBB). The AC-PEBB is a compact, self-contained cell requiring no energy storage. It can be used in a variety of direct ac/ac converters including matrix converters, controllable network transformers (CNT), etc. This paper details the design of an 800 V, 100 A AC-PEBB prototype to be used in a 13 kV, 1 MVA application. Successful test results using several AC-PEBBs in a variety of configurations are demonstrated at up to 11 kV and 600 kVA.