150 CPSS TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 7, NO.
2, JUNE 2022
Capacitor Voltage Fluctuation Suppression Method
Based on Improved MMC Topology for
Variable-Frequency Drive Application
Jiali YU and Chaoying XIA
Abstract—Modular multilevel converter (MMC) has been
widely applied in HVDC systems. When MMC is applied in
variable-frequency drives, the sub-module (SM) capacitor volt-
age fluctuation becomes seriously at low output frequency. To
suppress the fluctuation, a useful method is high-frequency in-
jection. However, the high-value common-mode voltage would
cause the insulation problem to the load. To address this issue, a
hybrid MMC with a series of full-bridge SMs (FMs) inserted at
the dc side is given. The high-value common-mode voltage can be
eliminated by the additional arms. Meanwhile, the SM capacitor
voltage fluctuation of the upper and lower arms of MMC system
can be suppressed by an optimal high-frequency injection meth-
od. Simulation and experiment results confirm the validity of the
given topology.
Index Terms—A hybrid MMC, capacitor voltage fluctuation,
common-mode voltage, optimal high-frequency injection method.
I. Introduction
I N comparison with the conventional multilevel converters,
modular multilevel converter (MMC) has been attracting
much more attention in high-voltage and constant-frequency
applications due to its modularity, scalability, and low harmonic
distortion [1]-[5]. When MMC is applied in the variable-fre-
quency drives, at low output frequency, the sub-module (SM)
capacitor voltage fluctuations are serious, influencing the system
stability [6]. To cope with this issue, a common solution is the
high-frequency injection method [7]. Injecting high-frequency
voltages with opposite polarity into the three-phase upper arm
and three-phase lower arm, and a high-frequency current into
the circulating current, the capacitor voltage fluctuations are
limited into an acceptable range. However, the injected voltage
would be superposed upon the motor side and is harmful to the
motor. Therefore, some improved MMC topologies are pro-
posed to solve these problems, including the improved MMC
with physical channels, adjustable dc-link voltage MMC topol-
ogies and the improved MMC topologies with additional arms
to absorb the injected high-frequency voltage.
Manuscript received July 26, 2021; revised October 9, 2021; accepted November
20, 2021. Date of publication June 30, 2022; date of current version June 20, 2022.
Both authors are with the School of Electrical Automation and Information
Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300070, China (e-mail: yujialihong@126.
com; xiachaoying@126.com).
Digital Object Identifier 10.24295/CPSSTPEA.2022.00014
The first kind of improved MMC topologies can be classified
into two categories, including the isolated MMC and the non-
isolated MMC. The isolated MMC topologies generally use
the isolated dual half-bridge (IDHB) modules to accelerate
the energy transfer between different SMs [8]-[11]. However,
the utilization of the IDHB modules is complex. Besides,
modular structure of MMC system would be destroyed. The
non-isolated MMC topologies include active cross-connected
MMC (AC-MMC), the flying capacitor MMC (FC-MMC),
star-channel or deta-channel MMC [12]-[15]. The fluctuation
suppression principle is similar to the high frequency injection
method. But there is no common-mode problem. However, the
voltage stress and current stress of the flying capacitor limit
the voltage level and power capacity of FC-MMC. Moreover,
under the same voltage and power level, the AC-MMC or the
star/deta-channel MMC use 3N more half-bridge SMs (HMs)
or full-bridge SMs (FMs) than the traditional HM-based MMC
with N SMs in one arm.
The second kind is the adjustable dc-link voltage MMC
topologies. The dc-link voltage is reduced with the reduction
of the output frequency, reducing the capacitor power for a
certain load currents. The capacitor voltage fluctuations are
suppressed without introducing extra common-mode voltage.
In [16], a series of power switches are connected at the dc-link
of the HM-based MMC. By controlling the duty cycle of the
series power switches, the average value of the dc-link voltage
is reduced at low output frequency and the capacitor voltage
ripple is attenuated. However, there is voltage balance problem
for the series power switches at the dc-link. Besides, when the
output frequency is close to zero, the duty cycle is so small
that it cannot achieve effective control of the arm current and
then the capacitor voltage fluctuation would be too large [16].
In [17], based on the back to back (BTB) structures, the MMC
rectifier is replaced by a 24-pulse rectifier. The dc-link voltage
can be regulated by controlling the thyristors. However, the
additional transformers are heavy and the converter cannot
operate in the regenerative braking mode. In [18], a full-
bridge based BTB MMC is presented. The dc-link voltage
is controlled by the MMC rectifier. Compared with the HM-
based BTB MMC, the FM-based BTB MMC requires two
more times SMs. To reduce the SMs, an improved BTB MMC
with a hybrid structure is presented in [19]. The load-side
MMC uses the HM structures whereas the grid-side MMC
J. YU et al.: CAPACITOR VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION SUPPRESSION METHOD BASED ON IMPROVED MMC TOPOLOGY 151

employs both FMs and HMs. The hybrid BTB MMC has the idc
same number of capacitors as the HM-based BTB MMC, but FM
uh1
uses 3N more HMs.
The last kind of improved MMC topologies are proposed FM
based on the high-frequency injection method. The injected
high-frequency voltage is absorbed by increasing a new kind ispa ispb ispc
T1 D1
of FM in the middle part of the upper and lower arms, or a HM HM HM A ucspxi C
series of FMs at the ac side of load-side MMC. As only one uspa uspb uspc T2 D2
B
FM is introduced in [20], the capacitor voltage fluctuation Vdc HM HM HM

suppression ability or the common-mode voltage suppression 2

R R R
ability is limited. The improved MMC with cascaded FMs
at the ac side (HMMC-CFB) requires 3N/2 more FMs as the L L L RL LL
isa esa
traditional HM-based MMC [21]-[23]. The injected high- a
isb esb n
o b
isc
frequency voltage can all be absorbed by the additional arms. c
esc
Be different from the former improved MMC, there is also an L L L
usx(x = a, b, c)
improved MMC in [24]. The injected voltages have the same Load

sign in the upper and lower arms, while the injected currents Vdc R R R
are with opposite phase angles. To avoid the high-frequency 2 HM HM HM
current influencing the output sides, three-phase FM-based usna usnb usnc T3 D3 T5 D5
E uch1/2i Ch
arm with star connection are in parallel with the ac output HM HM HM
T4 D4 T6 D6
sides. To generate enough injected voltage in the upper and isna isnb isnc
F
lower arms, the rectifier should employs FM-based MMC or
a hybrid structure of diode/thyristor-based rectifier and FMs. FM
The number of the power devices and the control complex are uh2
much larger than HMMC-CFB. FM
In this paper, based on the high-frequency injection method,
an improved hybrid MMC with cascaded FMs at the dc side
(HMMC-DCFB) is given. The voltages across the cascade Fig.1. The circuit configuration of HMMC-DCFB.
FMs are controlled to be the same or opposite as the injected
high frequency voltage, eliminating the undesired common- current is iscx and is defined by iscx = (ispx + isnx)/2, uspx and usnx are
mode voltage of the traditional HM-based MMC. In further, the arm voltages of the upper and lower arms, uh1 and uh2 are
to achieve ac to ac conversion, a compact direct ac-ac MMC the arm voltages of the series FMs at dc side.
topology is derived, requiring less passive components than Assume that capacitor voltages of each arm have been
the back to back structure. Finally, the simulation verifies the balanced and the average capacitor voltage of each arm is
validity and feasibility of the given two topologies. expressed by ucspx, ucsnx, uch1 and uch2. The arm voltages satisfy
usp/nx = nsp/nxucsp/nx and uh1/2 = nh1/2uch1/2, in which, the insertion
indices satisfy nsp/nx∈[0, N] and nh1/2 ∈[-Nh, Nh].
II. The HMMC-DCFB Topology and Operating
The dynamics of the SM capacitor voltage can be expressed
Principle as

1 ducsp/nx
A. Modeling and Operating Principle of HMMC-DCFB CN = nsp/nx isp/nx (1)
2 dt
Fig. 1 shows the circuit configuration of HMMC-DCFB.
MMC has six arms and each has N HMs and an arm induc- 1 du
Ch N h ch1/2 = nh1/2 idc (2)
tance. Between the positive (negative) polarity of the dc-link 2 dt
and common points of the three-phase upper (lower) arm, Nh
FMs are inserted. At low output frequency, the high-frequency In Fig. 1, the dynamics of arm currents are expressed as
injection method is used to suppress the capacitor voltage
fluctuation. Meanwhile, the two additional arm voltages are dispx Vdc
used to offset the injected high-frequency voltage, eliminating L   Rispx   uh1  us px  usx  uno (3)
dt 2
the high-value of common-mode voltage introduced by high-
frequency injection method. disnx V
L   Risnx  dc  uh2  us nx  usx  uno (4)
In Fig. 1, Vdc is the dc-link voltage, L is the arm inductance dt 2
and R is the equivalent loss resistance, RL and LL are the stator
resistance and inductance, esx is the ac source force, ispx and isnx Where, uno is the voltage between the point “n” and point “o”.
are the arm currents, idc is the dc-link current. isx is the output By summing up (3) and (4), and subtracting (4) from (3), the
current and is equal to isx = ispx - isnx, defining the circulating dynamics of the circulating current and the output current can
152 CPSS TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2022

be obtained as Where, Vs = Mf2Vdc/2f2N and Is are the peak values of the output
voltage and current, φs is the power factor angle, M is the
discx modulation depth (0.8 < M < 1.15).
2L  2 Riscx  Vdc  uh1  uh2  uspx  usnx (5)
dt Substituting (12) into (8) and (9) and integrating the
instantaneous powers, the capacitor voltage fluctuations of the
L di sx R (u  uh1 ) ( usnx  uspx ) upper and lower arms are obtained as
  i sx  h2   u sx  u no (6)
2 dt 2 2 2 Is
∆ε c ≈ (13)
4ω2 CVc
Substituting the constraint of the sum of the three-phase
output current be zero into (6), the common-mode voltage uno Where, Vc = Vdc/N. At the low output frequency and constant-
is expressed as torque load, the first term in (13) would cause large capacitor
voltage fluctuation. To reduce the capacitor voltage fluctuation,
uno =
1
∑ (
3 x = a,b,c
usnx − uspx
2
+ h2
2 )
(u − uh1 )
(7) the low frequency power components, especially ±Vdcisx/4,
should be offset by using the high-frequency injection method.
The injected voltage ucom is given as
As indicated in (5)-(7), the circulating current can be
controlled by the sum of the two arms voltages of the FMs at
(14)
the dc side and the arm voltages of the upper and lower arms.
The output currents can be controlled by the difference of the
Where, ωh ＞ ＞ ω2. Meanwhile, the injected high-frequency cir-
arm voltages of the lower and upper arms. Besides, the two
culating current is given as
additional arms can be used to control the common-mode
voltage, as shown in (7).
(15)
B. Capacitor Voltage Fluctuation Analysis and Suppression
Method Where, q∈ [0, 1] is used to reduce the peak value of the arm
For the traditional MMC, there are uh1 = uh2 = 0. Neglecting current.
the voltages across the arm resistance and inductance, the When the high-frequency injection method is utilized, the
instantaneous powers of upper and lower arms are instantaneous powers are expressed as

pspx = uspx ispx = ( Vdc

2
− u sx )( 1
iscx + isx
2 ) (8)



 pspx =(Vdc
2
− u sx − u com )( 1
i scx_dc + iscx_hf + isx
2 ) (16)

psnx = usnx isnx = ( Vdc

2
+ u sx )( 1
iscx − isx
2 ) (9)

snx (
 p = Vdc + u + u
2
sx com )( i scx_dc + iscx_hf
1
− isx
2 )
The sum and difference of the upper and lower arm power Integrating the instantaneous powers, the capacitor voltage
are fluctuation of each arm is obtained as
Is Is
pspx  psnx  Vdc i scx  u sx isx (10) ∆ε c′ ≈ (1 − q ) +q (17)
4ω2 CVc 8Vh (ωh − ω2 ) CVc
Vdc
pspx  psnx  i sx  2u sx iscx (11)
2 As indicated in (17), the larger the parameter q is, the smaller
the capacitor voltage fluctuation is. However, there would be
As indicated in (10), the total average capacitor voltages of the a contradiction between the capacitor voltage fluctuation and
upper and lower arms can be controlled by the dc component the current stress of power device. The maximum of the arm
in the circulating current. As shown in (11), the difference of current is expressed as
the average capacitor voltages of the upper and lower arms
can be controlled by the output frequency component in the Vs I s cos ϕs 1 V
I max = + I s + q dc I s (18)
circulating current. 2Vdc 2 2Vh
In the steady-state, to maintain the capacitor energy stable, When the output frequency is increased, the output voltage is
the dc components in the instantaneous powers should be zero. increased and the injected voltage Vh is reduced. As shown in
Deriving from (10), the circulating current for power balance is (18), the maximum of the arm current would be too large with
a constant and larger q.
u i
sx sx
Vs I s cos s
To suppress the capacitor voltage fluctuation and reduce the
iscx_dc  x = a,b,c
 (12) current stress of power device, the objective function can be
3Vdc 2Vdc defined as
J. YU et al.: CAPACITOR VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION SUPPRESSION METHOD BASED ON IMPROVED MMC TOPOLOGY 153

1.0 high-frequency injection method is not used, even the current

0.8 k1 =150 cosφs = 0.97 peak value is low, the capacitor voltage fluctuation is the
ω h = 942rad/s M = 0.8 most serious. Con-2 indicates the high-frequency injection
0.6
method is used and q = 1, the capacitor voltage fluctuation is
0.4
suppressed, but the current stress increases. Con-3 indicates the
0.2 high-frequency injection method is used and the parameter q
0 is selected by trading off both the capacitor voltage fluctuation
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
f2/f N and current stress.
(a) As shown in Fig. 2(b), when the output frequency is greater
0.5 than 0.6 pu, the capacitor voltage fluctuation can be restricted
Con1
0.4 into 0.1 by the designed SM capacitance.
0.3
However, according to (7), there is uno = ucom (uh1 = uh2 = 0).
The peak value of the common-mode voltage uno may be as
0.2
high as Vdc/2, which is harm to the motor. To solve this issue,
0.1
Con3 the injected voltage in the upper arms could be offset by uh1
Con2
0 and the injected voltage in the lower arms could be offset by
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
f2/f N uh2. Therefore, the introduced common-mode voltage can be
(b) offset by the two additional arms. As the maximum injected
2.5 voltage of the high-frequency injection method is Vdc/2, the
Con2
total number of the two additional arms satisfies Nh = N/2 when
2.0 the average capacitor voltage of the FMs Vch = Vc.
1.5 Without considering the power loss, the instantaneous
Con3 powers of the two arms at the dc side are expressed as
1.0
Con1
0.5  3Vs I s cos ϕs
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0  ph1 = ucom idc = ucom 2Vdc
f2/f N 
 (21)
 p = −u i = −u 3Vs I s cos ϕs
(c)
 h2 com dc com
2Vdc
Fig. 2. The comparison results of MM under three conditions. (a) The
parameter q; (b) The capacitor voltage fluctuation of the upper or lower arm; (c)
The current stress of the upper or lower arm. Since the two additional arm voltages are high-frequency
and the dc-link current is direct current, the dc powers are zero.
The power balance for these two additional arms could be
automatically achieved. The capacitor voltage fluctuation of
the additional arm is

( )
(19)
2Vh Ps
∆ε ch ≈ (22)
ωh Ch N (Vch ) Vdc
2

Where, k1 > 0 is the weight factor. Using ∂F / ∂q = 0 , the

optimal parameter q is derived as
(20)



 parallel with the two additional arms and the thyristors are
 
 
 
 
Fig. 2 shows the parameter q, the capacitor voltage fluctuations
and Imax/Is under three conditions, including Con-1: q = 0 and
ucom = 0, Con-2: q = 1 and ucom is given by (14) and Con-3: q is
given by (20) and ucom is given by (14).
As shown in Fig. 2(a), the parameter q is reduced with the
increasing of the output frequency. Once parameter q < 0,
q is forced to be zero and then the high-frequency injection
method is removed. In Fig. 2(b) and (c), Con-1 indicates the
To limit the capacitor voltage fluctuation into 0.1, the SM
capacitance could be designed by Ch ≥ VhPs/0.1ωhNh(Vch)2Vdc.
When the high-frequency injection method is removed, the
two additional arms will be bypassed. To reduce the operation
loss, a pair of antiparallel-connected thyristors can be in
enabled when the high-frequency injection method is disabled.
Under the same voltage level, main circuit parameters and
rated-load condition, the comparison results between some
typical MMC-based topologies are given in Table I. Assume
the average capacitor voltage and SM capacitance of the
additional arms of AC-MMC, HMMC-CFB and HMMC-
DCFB are the same as the upper and lower arms of MMC. The
parameter q is given by (20).
Compared with HMMC-CFB and AC-MMC, the proposed
HMMC-DCFB employs the least power devices, capacitors
and inductors.
154 CPSS TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2022

TABLE I
The Comparison Results of Some Typical MMC-based Topologies

Topologies HMs-based MMC [12]:AC-MMC [23]:HMMC-CFB HMMC-DCFB

Total no. of power devices 12N 18N 18N 16N
Total no. of capacitors 6N 9N 7.5N 7N
Total no. of arm inductors 6 12 6 6
Using high-frequency injection Yes Yes Yes Yes
method
The injected high-frequency voltage Vh
Vh sin ωh t sin ωh t Vh sin ωh t Vh sin ωh t
in the upper and lower arms 2
The injected high-frequency current in (15) (15) (15) (15)
the upper and lower arms
The max imum arm current of the (18) (18) (18) (18)
upper and lower arms
The ratio of the maximum currents of / qVdc Vh 1 Ps Vdc Is
the additional arms to I s
The capacitor voltage fluctuation of (17) (17) (17) (17)
the upper or lower arm
qVdc I s Vh I s 2Vh Ps
The capacitor voltage fluctuation of /
the additional arm 2CVcVh (ωh ω2 ) CNVc2 (ω h ω 2 ) CNVc2Vdcωh

Max imum common-mode voltage Vdc 2 Vc 3Vc 2 Vc

The additional arms can be bypassed / No Yes Yes
at high output frequency
At high ouput frequency, the
/ inserted bypassed bypassed
operating state of the additional arms
Dc-fault-blocking capability No No Yes Yes

Since the high-frequency injection method is used, the 0.08

current stresses and capacitor voltage fluctuations of the upper AC-MMC
0.06
and lower arms of MMC are the same. While the additional
arms are different due to the physical position and operating 0.04 HMMC-CFB
principle are different.
0.02
For AC-MMC, the injected high-frequency voltages in HMMC-DCFB
top-half and bottom-half parts of the upper or lower arm are 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
arranged in reverse directions. Meanwhile, the two half arms in f2/fN
parallel with the additional arm are with opposite phase angles. (a)
Therefore, the injected voltage has no impact on the dc and ac 2.5
sides. The additional arm current is two times of the injected AC-MMC
2.0
current. When the high-frequency injection method is removed,
1.5
the additional arm should also be inserted to bear half of the
1.0 HMMC-CFB
dc-link voltage and the voltage drops on the arm inductances.
For HMMC-CFB and the proposed topology in this paper, 0.5
the injected voltages can be absorbed by the additional arms. HMMC-DCFB
0
Therefore, the injected voltage has no impact on ac sides. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
f2/fN
Besides, when the high-frequency injection method is removed, (b)
the additional arm can be bypassed. As the additional arms of
HMMC-CFB are inserted in the ac sides, the arm current is Fig. 3. The comparison results of AC-MMC, HMMC-CFB and HMMC-
equal to the output phase current. For the proposed topology, DCFB. (a) The capacitor voltage fluctuation; (b) The current stress.
the additional arms are inserted in the dc sides and the arm
current is equal to the dc-link current.
The capacitor voltage fluctuations and current stresses of AC- III. Control of HMMC-DCFB Topology
MMC, HMMC-CFB and HMMC-DCFB are depicted in Fig. 3. For the proposed HMMC-DCFB, a multi-loop feed-back
When the output frequency is smaller than 25 Hz, the proposed control strategy is designed, including three sub controls:
topology suffers from the least capacitor voltage fluctuation and The capacitor voltage outer-loop: including the average
current stress. In the majority of low output frequency region, capacitor voltage control of the upper and lower arms and the
the proposed topology has better performance. average capacitor voltage control of the two additional arms.
J. YU et al.: CAPACITOR VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION SUPPRESSION METHOD BASED ON IMPROVED MMC TOPOLOGY 155

*
Vc* *
iscx_feed Vc* Vch
P ucsp/nx
Vch*
0.5 ( ucspx + ucsnx ) Vc* Fig. 4(b)
sign(Vdc )

PSC-PWM with SM capacitor

Fig. 4(a)
ucom

voltage feedback control

uch1/2
*
iscx_feed Gate HMMC-
0 signals DCFB
P *
iscx
"
Circulating current control
uscx
topology
( ucspx  ucsnx ) shown in
 sign(usx ) iscx_dc + iscx_hf iscx Fig. 1
nr*
(a) usx
isd* Vector control of PMSM
Vch* Δuh1/2 nr isd isq θr
P Vdc 2
uch1/2
sign(idc ) ucsp/nx uch1/2 The calculation of the ucsp/nxi uch1/2i
average capacitor voltage
(b) iscx isd/q isp/nx
The calculation of the current

Fig. 4. The capacitor voltage outer-loop control. (a) The capacitor voltage outer-
loop of the upper and lower arms; (b) The capacitor voltage outer-loop of the Fig. 5. The control block diagram of HMMC-DCFB.
additional arms.
TABLE II
The capacitor voltage outer-loops of the upper and lower
Circuit Parameters and PMSM Parameters
arms are used to regulate the circulating current command,
as shown in Fig. 4(a). The reference of the average capacitor
Value
voltage of the upper or lower arm is V *c = Vdc/N.
Parameter
The capacitor voltage outer-loops of the two additional arms Simulation Experiment
are used to regulate the voltages uh1 and uh2, as shown in Fig. Circuit parameters
4(b). To reduce the voltage stress, the reference V *ch = 2Vh/N,
Rated power 1.2 MW 2 kW
reducing with the increasing of the output frequency.
Vdc 8 kV 220 V
The arm voltages of the two additional arms are given by
Vc 1 kV 110 V
N 8 2
ucom  kp uch1 , q  0

uh1   (23) Nh 4 1
0ˈq İ 0
 SM capacitance C 4 mF 2.72 mF
SM capacitance Ch 2 mF 2.72 mF
ucom  kp uch2 , q  0

uh2   (24) Arm inductance L 1 mH 1 mH
0ˈq İ 0

Switching frequency 1 kHz 5 kHz

Where, ucom is given by (14). PMSM parameters

The current inner-loop: it is used to regulate the output Rated peak value of phase current 250 A 10 A
phase currents and the circulating currents to track their Rated rms line-line voltage 4 kV 110 V
commands. No. of pole pairs 10 3
Firstly, the output currents are transformed into the rotor- Rated motor speed 300 r/min 1000 r/min
flux-oriented reference frame, the q-axis current command
i*Lq is obtained by the output of the motor speed controller.
The d-axis current command i*Ld is zero. The d-axis and q-axis Dividing V *c = Vdc/N and V *ch = Vh/N by the arm voltage re-
voltage references are obtained from the output current loops ferences, the insertion indices of the upper and lower arms and
and then the output voltage reference usx are obtained by the two additional arms are obtained.
applying an inverse rotating transformation. Individual capacitor voltage balancing control: it is similar
Secondly, the circulating current inner-loop is designed. to all the MMC family members. The overall control block
The circulating current references consist of the feed forward diagram of HMMC-DCFB is shown in Fig. 5.
components (12) and (15) and the feedback components of the
capacitor voltage outer-loops of the upper and lower arms IV. Simulation Results
i*scx_feed. Through the PI controllers, the voltage references uscx of
the circulating current loops are obtained. In this paper, the simulation platform of HMMC-DCFB is es-
To ensure the common-mode voltage be zero, according to tablished and the main circuit parameters are shown in Table II.
the voltage references of the upper and lower arms are given by Firstly, the effectiveness of HMMC-DCFB topology is veri-
fied at 10 Hz. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 6. In
Vdc Fig. 6(a)-(d), the high-frequency injection method is disabled
uspx   uh1  usx  uscx (25)
2 and the two additional arms are bypassed.
As shown in Fig. 6(c), the capacitor voltage fluctuations of
Vdc the upper and lower arms are 750 V-1350 V ( ± 30% of the
usnx   uh2  us x  uscx (26)
2 reference value). If the output frequency is decreased in further,
156 CPSS TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2022

500
isa isb isc
500
isa isb isc
500
isa isb isc 500
250 250 250 isa isb isc
250
Current/A

Current/A

Current/A

Current/A
0 0 0
250 250 250
0
500 500 500 250
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1 0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1 0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
t/s t/s t/s 500
(a) (e) (i)
500 500 500
ispa isna
250 250 250 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Current/A

Current/A

Current/A
0 0 0 t/s
250 250 250 (a)
500
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
500
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
500
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1 500
t/s t/s t/s ispa isna
(b) (f) (j) 250

Current/A
1.6 1.6 1.6
1.4 ucspa ucsna 1.4 1.4
uch1 uch2 0
Voltage/kV

Voltage/kV

Voltage/kV
1.2 1.2 1.2
1.0
600 V
1.0
140V
1.0
250
0.8 0.8 0.8
40 V
500
0.6 0.6 0.6
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1 0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1 0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
t/s t/s t/s
(c) (k) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
t/s
(g)
4 4 4
3 3 3
2 2 2 (b)
Voltage/kV

Voltage/kV

1 1
Voltage/kV 1
0 0 0
1
2 0.8 kV 1
2
1
2
1.4 kV 1.2 ucspa ucsna

Voltage/kV
3 3 3
4
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
4
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
4
0.9 0.95 1.0 1.05 1.1
1.0
t/s t/s t/s
(d) (h) (l) 0.8
uch1 uch2
0.6
0.4
Fig. 6. The waveforms of the HMMC-DCFB at 10 Hz. (a/e/i) The output
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
currents; (b/f/j) The arm currents of phase “a”; (c/g/k) The average capacitor t/s
voltages of the upper and lower arms of phase “a” and the average capacitor (c)
voltages of the two additional arms; (d/h/l) The common-mode voltage. 4
3
2

Voltage/kV
1
0
the capacitor voltage fluctuation would be too large to maintain 1
2
the stable operation of the converter. In Fig. 6(e)-(h), the high- 3
4
frequency injection method is enabled and the two additional 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
t/s
2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

arms are also bypassed. As shown in Fig. 6(g), the capacitor (d)
voltage fluctuations are reduced to 930 V-1070 V ( ± 7% of the
Fig. 7. The waveforms of HMMC-DCFB under different output frequencies.
reference value). Since the high-frequency injection method is (a) The output currents; (b) The arm currents of phase “a”; (c) The average
used, the arm currents contain the high-frequency component capacitor voltages of the upper and lower arms of phase “a” and the average
and the peak value of the arm current is 1.5 times of the output capacitor voltages of the two additional arms; (d) The common-mode voltage.
current. Meanwhile, the common-mode voltage is shown in Fig.
500
6(h) also contains the injected high-frequency voltage and the isa isb isc
250
Current/A

peak value is reached to 4 kV, increasing the insulation of the load. 0

In Fig. 6(i)-(l), the high-frequency injection method is 250
enabled and the two additional arms are inserted. The output 500
0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3
current, the arm currents and the capacitor voltage fluctuations t/s
of the upper and lower arms are the same as Fig. 6(e)-(g). (a)
500
As the two additional arms are inserted, the peak value of the 250
ispa isna
Current/A

common-mode voltage is reduced to 0.7 kV, reflecting the 0

superiority of the proposed topology. Due to the switching 250
modulation of the additional arms, the common-mode voltage 500
0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3
is a little larger than the voltage in Fig. 6(d). Besides, the t/s
(b)
average capacitor voltages of the additional arms are balanced 1.2 ucspa ucsna
at 837 V with the fluctuation of ± 40 V. The voltage stress
Voltage/kV

1.0
of the additional arm is lower than the main arm and the
0.8
fluctuation is only ± 5% of the reference value. uch1 uch2
0.6
Secondly, the dynamic performance of HMMC-DCFB is 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3
t/s
verified. Firstly, the variable frequency waveforms are given (c)
under rated torque. As shown in Fig. 7, the dynamic waveforms 4
3
of the state variables are smooth when the output frequency 2
Voltage/kV

1
varies from 0 Hz to 50 Hz. The peak-to-peak capacitor 0
1
voltage ripples of the upper and lower arms can be limited to 2
3
4
900 V-1100 V ( ± 10% of the reference value). The average 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3
t/s
capacitor voltage of the additional arm is reduced with the (d)
increasing of the output frequency. When the additional arms
are bypassed, the capacitor voltages remain constant. During Fig. 8. The waveforms of the HMMC-DCFB at 10 Hz when the load torque
changes from 0.5 pu to 1 pu. (a) The output currents; (b) The arm currents of
the speed-adjustment process, the maximum arm current is no phase “a”; (c) The average capacitor voltages of the upper and lower arms of
more than 400 A (1.6 times of the output current). Meanwhile, phase “a” and the average capacitor voltages of the two additional arms; (d) The
there is no severe common-mode voltage problem in the common-mode voltage.
J. YU et al.: CAPACITOR VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION SUPPRESSION METHOD BASED ON IMPROVED MMC TOPOLOGY 157

topology has good dynamic performance.

Fig. 8 shows the dynamic waveforms of the proposed
topology at 10 Hz with the load torque changing from 1 pu to
0.5 pu and back to 1 pu. At t = 1.1 s, the load torque starts to
reduce and reached to half of the rated value at t = 1.5 s. The
DC source
DC source+ output current is reduced accordingly. For constant output
DC source-
frequency, the injected voltage is invariant. As the parameter
Dynamometer q is inversely proportional to the square of the peak value of
MywayPE- HMMC-
Expert4
DCFB the output current, the capacitor voltage fluctuations of the
PMSM upper and lower arms are slightly increased. Besides, due to
Oscilloscope
Testing
environment
the reduced load torque, the dc-link current is also reduced.
Optical fibres Therefore, the capacitor voltage fluctuations of the additional
arms are smaller than before. Moreover, the injected high-
(a) frequency voltage has no effect on the common-mode voltage.

PC: program compiling

HMMC-
DCFB
PMSM
Dynamo-
meter
V. Experimental Results
and real-time control
Optical SMB
To test the performance of the proposed topology, the
SMB
Cables fibres Cables experimental validation is carried out on a scaled down proto-
×6 ×16 ×14
type, as shown in Fig. 9. Each arm of MMC part has two HMs
SMB Optical SMB
Base interface output interface and each additional arm employs one FM. The measurements
LAN
board FPGA ADC of 14 SM capacitor voltages and 6 arm currents are fed into the
base boards base boards
AD boards and then send to the DSP. Finally, the duty cycle of
Arm
SM
duty
SM
capacitor each arm is send to the field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
currents cycles voltages board and then the PWM signals are transmitted to each SM
MywayPE-
through optical fibers.
Expert4
Main Bus DSP
TMS320C6657
The experimental parameters are given in Table II. In the
controller
experiment, the common-mode voltage is measured and
(b)
depicted on the oscilloscope, the three-phase output current, the
arm currents and the average capacitor voltages are depicted on
Fig. 9. Picture of (a) Experimental platform; (b) System configuration.
the computer.
Fig. 10 shows the experimental waveforms of traditional
5 A/div

MMC at 10 Hz. The output currents are symmetrical with the

peak value of 10 A. The arm currents are no more than 5 A.
t(20 ms/div)
The average capacitor voltages of phase “a” are stabilized at
(a) 110 V and the fluctuation is ± 9%.
When the high-frequency injection method is used, the
5 A/div

experimental waveforms of traditional MMC are shown in

Fig. 11. The arm currents contain the injected high-frequency
t(20 ms/div) components and the peak value of the arm current is about
(b) 1.5 times of the output current. Compared with Fig. 10, the
fluctuation of the average capacitor voltage is reduced to ±
20 V/div

4.2%. Unfortunately, the injected high-frequency voltage

is also imposed on the common-mode voltage. When the
t(20 ms/div) proposed HMMC-DCFB is used, the experimental waveforms
(c)
are shown in Fig. 12. The output currents and the arm currents
are similar to the traditional MMC with high-frequency
20 V/div

injection method. Moreover, the injected voltages in the upper

t(20 ms/div)
(d)
Fig. 10. The experimental waveforms of the MMC at 10 Hz. (a) The output
currents; (b) The arm currents of phase “a”; (c) The average capacitor voltages
of the upper and lower arms of phase “a”; (d) The common-mode voltage.
whole speed range. The simulation results show the proposed
and lower arms are absorbed by the additional arms. As shown
in Fig. 12(e), the common-mode voltage only contains the
voltage components generating by switching modulation.
Fig. 13 shows the experimental waveforms of the proposed
topology when the output frequency is increased from 5 Hz to
10 Hz. The peak value of the output currents remains constant
as the load torque is unchanged. In the varying frequency
process, the arm currents are stable and the average capacitor
158 CPSS TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 7, NO. 2, JUNE 2022

5 A/div
5 A/div

t(100 ms/div)
t(20 ms/div) (a)
(a)

5 A/div
5 A/div

t(100 ms/div)
(b)
t(20 ms/div)

20 V/div
(b)
20 V/div

t(100 ms/div)
(c)

20 V/div
t(20 ms/div)
(c)
t(100 ms/div)
50 V/div

(d)

Fig. 13. The experimental waveforms of the HMMC-DCFB when the output
t(20 ms/div)
frequency varies from 5 Hz to 10 Hz. (a) The output currents; (b) The arm
(d) currents of phase “a”; (c) The average capacitor voltages of the upper and lower
arms of phase “a”; (d) The average capacitor voltages of the two additional arms.
Fig. 11. The experimental waveforms of the MMC with high-frequency
injection method at 10 Hz. (a) The output currents; (b) The arm currents of
5 A/div

phase “a”; (c) The average capacitor voltages of the upper and lower arms of
phase “a”; (d) The common-mode voltage.
t(100 ms/div)
(a)
5 A/div

5 A/div

t(20 ms/div)
(a) t(100 ms/div)
(b)
5 A/div

20 V/div

t(20 ms/div)
(b) t(100 ms/div)
(c)
20 V/div

20 V/div

t(20 ms/div)
(c) t(100 ms/div)
(d)
20 V/div

Fig. 14. The experimental waveforms of the HMMC-DCFB when the loads
t(20 ms/div) reduce to half at 10 Hz. (a) The output currents; (b) The arm currents of phase “a”;
(d) (c) The average capacitor voltages of the upper and lower arms of phase “a”; (d)
The average capacitor voltages of the two additional arms.
20 V/div

experimental results show that the proposed topology has good

steady and dynamic performances.
t(20 ms/div)
(e)

Fig. 12. The experimental waveforms of the HMMC-DCFB at 10 Hz. (a) The
output currents; (b) The arm currents of phase “a”; (c) The average capacitor
voltages of the upper and lower arms of phase “a” and the average capacitor
voltages of the two additional arms; (d) The common-mode voltage.
voltages are balanced well.
Fig. 14 shows the experimental waveforms of the proposed
topology when the load is reduced to half at 10 Hz. The peak
value of the output currents is reduced when the load torque
is decreased. And then the arm currents are reduced. In the
varying load process, the system is operated stably. The
VI. Conclusion
This paper gives a HMMC-DCFB topology, which is
characterized by the two additional arms with FMs inserted
between the dc-link and the traditional MMC. In the whole
frequency adjustment process, the capacitor voltage fluctuation
and common-mode voltage can be limited into acceptable
range. There is no current stress and over voltage problems.
The effectiveness of proposed topology is verified by the
simulations and experiments. The results show that the
proposed topology has promise in the medium/high-voltage
variable-frequency drive application.
J. YU et al.: CAPACITOR VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION SUPPRESSION METHOD BASED ON IMPROVED MMC TOPOLOGY
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Jiali Yu received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
electrical engineering from Tianjin University,
Tianjin, China, in 2020. Her research interest focuses
mainly on modular multilevel converter, motor
drives, and converter topologies.
Chaoying Xia received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in
Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, in 1982 and 1987.
His research interest focuses mainly on the controls
of modular multilevel converter, brushless doubly fed
motor, the optimal control hybrid electric vehicle and
converter topologies.