High-voltage pulse generator using sequentially charged full-bridge modular multilevel converter Sub-modules, for water treatment applications.

This paper proposes a new high-voltage pulse generator (PG) fed from a low-voltage DC supply V_s, which charges one arm of N series-connected full-bridge (FB) modular multilevel converter (MMC) sub-module (SM) capacitors sequentially, through a resistive-inductive branch. By utilising FB-SMs, the proposed PG is able to generate bipolar rectangular pulses of peak NV_s and unipolar rectangular pulses of either polarity, at high repetition rates. Asymmetrical pulses are also possible. The proposed topology is assessed via simulation and scaled-down experimentation, which establish the viability of the topology for water treatment applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]