Fast Sorting Method for Balancing Capacitor Voltages in Modular Multilevel Converters

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is attracting more and more interest in high-power and high-voltage applications. Highly redundant, each arm of the converter is made of a large number of identical submodules with inner storage capability allowing to reach very high voltage without dc-link capacitor. The control of such a converter represents a challenge when it comes to the implementation of an MMC with a large number of submodules, namely in distributing the control tasks and handling the communicated values in-between controllers and submodules. This paper presents the details of an innovative submodule selection method for the submodule capacitor´s voltage balancing within one arm of an MMC. “The Tortoise and the Hare” sorting method shows very fast response, high reliability, and its implementation suits a large number of implemented submodules as for high-voltage dc applications. The proposed submodule capacitor´s balancing method is validated on a three-phase 10-kVA prototype with five submodules per arm.