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Voltage-balancing control in a modular multilevel converter (MMC) impacts not only the voltage difference among submodule capacitors, but also the power device switching patterns. As a result, MMC possesses a nondeterministic switching pattern and its switching frequency is no longer an independent parameter. This paper theoretically investigates how voltage-balancing control influences the switching frequency in the MMC. Equations describing the relationship between the submodule capacitor unbalanced voltage and converter switching frequency are derived. Since unbalanced voltage also impacts the submodule capacitor ripple voltage and voltage/current harmonics, the design interaction between switching frequency and submodule capacitance, as well as the selection of unbalanced voltage are further investigated. Both simulation and experimental verifications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a complete analysis of studying the impact of interleaving on the ripple current in the dc-side passive components of paralleled three-phase voltage-source converters (VSCs). The analysis considers the effects of different pulsewidth modulation scheme, the modulation index, the interleaving angle, and the power factor or displacement angle. In the analysis, the rms value of the total ripple current in the dc-side is used as figure of merit and calculated in the frequency domain. The results obtained show that all of the factors considered can strongly affect the rms value one way or another. Based on the analysis, the interleaving angle-optimization method is shown to minimize the rms in different cases. The effect of circulating currents on the ripple currents in the dc-side passive components is also taken into consideration to perform a more accurate analysis. All the analysis is based on an example system containing two VSCs, but the proposed analysis method in the frequency domain can be easily expandable for multiple paralleled VSCs. Experimental results are used to verify the analysis conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that single-phase pulse width modulation rectifiers have second-order harmonic currents and corresponding ripple voltages on the dc bus. The low-frequency harmonic current is normally filtered using a bulk capacitor in the bus, which results in low power density. However, pursuing high power density in converter design is a very important goal in the aerospace applications. This paper studies methods for reducing the energy storage capacitor for single-phase rectifiers. The minimum ripple energy storage requirement is derived independently of a specific topology. Based on the minimum ripple energy requirement, the feasibility of the active capacitor's reduction schemes is verified. Then, we propose a bidirectional buck–boost converter as the ripple energy storage circuit, which can effectively reduce the energy storage capacitance. The analysis and design are validated by simulation and experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]