Evaluation of a Control Strategy for a MMC Converter.

Evaluación de una Estrategia de Control para un MMC.

D. Patiño-Ipus 1, J. Mora-Flórez 2, A. Garcés-Ruiz 3

1Grupo de Investigación en Calidad de la Energía Eléctrica y Estabilidad, Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad Tecnológica de
Pereira, Colombia. Email: danferpatino@utp.edu.co
2
Grupo de Investigación en Calidad de la Energía Eléctrica y Estabilidad, Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad Tecnológica de
Pereira, Colombia. Email: jjmora@utp.edu.co
3
Grupo de Investigación en Calidad de la Energía Eléctrica y Estabilidad, Ingeniería Eléctrica, Universidad Tecnológica de
Pereira, Colombia. Email: alejandro.garces@utp.edu.co

RECIBIDO: Julio 31, 2017. ACEPTADO: Septiembre 15, 2017. VERSIÓN FINAL: Octubre 6, 2017

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a control strategy for a MMC converter, using different controls to balance the capacitor voltage and
to control the current between the MMC and the power grid, according to the reference current. As main results, the
performance of MMC is adequate, by using the controls proposed. Finally, according to the results, the MMC has low
harmonic content and fast response to changes at the reference current.

KEYWORDS: Sub-Module, Modular Multilevel Converter, Inner Loop, Phase Locked Loop, Capacitor Balance.

RESUMEN
Este artículo presenta una estrategia de control para un convertidor MMC, utilizando diferentes controles para balancear
la tensión de cada capacitor y controlar la corriente entre el MMC y la red eléctrica, respecto a una corriente de referencia.
Como resultados principales, el rendimiento del MMC es adecuado, mediante el uso de los controles propuestos.
Finalmente, según los resultados, el MMC tiene un contenido armónico bajo y una respuesta rápida a los cambios en la
corriente de referencia.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Sub-Módulo, Convertidor Multinivel Modular, Bucle Interno, Seguidor de Fase en Lazo
Cerrado, Balance de Capacitor.

1. INTRODUCTION [1]. This converter is used in multiple applications such

The bidirectional converter is the heart in modern
distribution systems, and it is used to perform the
coupling of the grid with energy storage devices,
distributed generation and renewable energy sources.
This integration produces different issues associated with
power quality, voltage stability and transient stability,
due that the distributed generation is dynamic,
intermittent and non-deterministic, which requires
devices to control the energy generated and its injection
into the network. The devices to realize this integration
are converters designed to connect the two systems to the
same level of voltage, equal frequency, sequence and
phase, besides controlling the power injected to the
network.
The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC), is a
bidirectional converter that requires a low pass filter at
the ac side and the output voltage has lower harmonics
as motors control and traction systems, high voltage
direct current systems, charging stations for electric
vehicles, distributed generation, among others [2, 3]
The control strategy presented in this paper can be
divided in two sections, AC control and DC control. The
AC control regulated power injected to the network
according to a reference value, using a Inner Loop to
control the current through the converter and the
network. The DC control performance a voltage balance
to each capacitor by leg and a stability control current by
each leg to the MMC converter [2].
2. PROPOSED SYSTEM
The MMC is a bidirectional converter proposed in 2002,
as a converter to couple high voltage AC and DC
systems. This converter performance low harmonic

D. Patiño-Ipus, J. Mora-Flórez, A. Garcés-Ruiz, “Evaluation of a Control Strategy for a MMC Converter,” UIS Ingenierías, vol. xx, no. x, pp. xx-
xx, xxxx.
2
D. Patiño-Ipus, J. Mora-Flórez, A. Garcés-Ruiz

content and its construction is strictly scalable (modular) 𝐿𝑥 = 𝐿𝐴

[1].
Then, the equations (1) and (2) are added and subtracted
2.1. MMC to obtain the equations presented in (5) and (6)
respectively.
The MMC have a P-phase or legs. Each leg is divided in 𝑑𝐼𝑦
0 = 𝑉𝑦 + 𝐿𝑦 + 2𝑉𝑠 (5)
two arms. Each arm has N sub-modules (SM) and a 𝑑𝑡
single inductor. The SM has one capacitor and two fast 𝑑𝐼𝑥
switching elements governed by a modulation signal that 𝑉𝑑𝑐 = 𝑉𝑥 + 𝐿𝑥 (6)
𝑑𝑡
control the voltages of the capacitor modules and the
power injected to the power network. Fig 1 presents the This equations are used to perform the proposed design
circuital model of the MMC. in this document.

3. CONTROL DESIGN

This section presents the proposed strategy used to

control a MMC converter, with several integrated
controls as Inner Loop, Capacitor controls, PLL and the
Park transformation. This integration controls the
capacitors balancing and the current between the MMC
and the grid.

3.1. Park Transformation and Inverse Park

Transformation

The Inner Loop control requires the Park transformation

to control the current between the MMC and the grid. The
power invariant Park transformation can be defined as the
equation (7) [4].
[0𝑑𝑞] = [𝑇𝜃 ][𝑎𝑏𝑐] (7)
where,
1 1 1
Fig 1. Circuit model of the MMC.
√2 √2 √2
√2 2𝜋 2𝜋
By applying Kirchhoff's voltage law in the figure 1, the 𝑇𝜃 = cos(𝜃) cos (𝜃 − ) cos (𝜃 + )
arm voltage up and down can be defined as (1) and (2) √3 3 3
2𝜋 2𝜋
( sin(𝜃) sin (𝜃 − ) sin (𝜃 + ) )
respectively.
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑑𝐼𝑢𝑝 𝑑𝐼𝑦 3 3
= 𝑉𝑢𝑝 + 𝐿𝐴 + 𝐿𝑇 + 𝑉𝑠 (1)
2 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 The inverse Park transformation can be calculated with
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝑑𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑑𝐼𝑦 the Park transposed as is presented in (8).
− = 𝑉𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 + 𝐿𝐴 + 𝐿𝑇 + 𝑉𝑠 (2)
2 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 [𝑎𝑏𝑐] = [𝑇𝜃 ]−1 [0𝑑𝑞] (8)
The transformation (3) is used to perform a change of where,
variable that facility the control of the MMC.
𝑉𝑥 1 −1 𝑉𝑢𝑝 [𝑇𝜃 ]−1 = [𝑇𝜃 ]𝑇 =
[𝑉 ] = [ ][ ]
𝑦 1 1 𝑉𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 1
(3) cos(𝜃) sin(𝜃)
𝐼𝑥 1 −1 𝐼𝑢𝑝
√2
[𝐼 ] = [ ][ ] √2 1 2𝜋 2𝜋
𝑦 1 1 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 cos (𝜃 − ) sin (𝜃 − )
In addition, the inductance can be described as is √3 √2 3 3
presented in (4). 1 2𝜋 2𝜋
cos (𝜃 + ) sin (𝜃 + )
𝐿𝑦 = 𝐿𝐴 + 2𝐿 𝑇 (4) (√2 3 3 )
Evaluation of a Control Strategy for a MMC Converter 3

3.2. Phase Locked Loop 𝑘𝑖3

𝑉𝑥 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 − (𝑘𝑝3 + ) (𝐼𝑥𝑟𝑒𝑓 − 𝐼𝑥 )
𝑠
The PLL calculates the phase angle Ɵ to the grid using (15)
𝑘𝑖4
the quadrature voltage at the point common coupling 𝐼𝑥𝑟𝑒𝑓 = (𝑘𝑝4 + ) (𝑉̅𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑓 − 𝑉̅𝑥𝑐 )
(PCC) between the MMC and the grid. The PLL uses a 𝑠
proportional control to the quadrature voltage and then The 𝑉𝑦 term is excluded to the equation (15), then it is
integrate this result to obtain the Ɵ grid. The mod divided by the SM number in a leg and add to the
function, is a modulator which prevent high values due reference signal. The equation (15) can be writen as (16).
the integral, as is presented in (9) [5].
𝑘𝑖3 𝑘𝑖4
𝑉𝑥 = (𝑘𝑝3 + ) (𝐼𝑥 − (𝑘𝑝4 + ) (𝑉̅𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑓 − 𝑉̅𝑥𝑐 )) (16)
𝜃 = 𝑚𝑜𝑑 (∫ 𝑘𝑝1 𝑉𝑞 𝑑𝑡 , 2𝜋) (9) 𝑠 𝑠

The system frequency can be defined as (10). where,

1 𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝑓= 𝑘 𝑉 (10) 𝑉̅𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑓 =
2𝜋 𝑝1 𝑞 𝑁𝑠𝑚
1 2𝑁𝑠𝑚
3.3. Inner Loop 𝑉̅𝑥𝑐 = ∑ 𝑉𝑐𝑗
2𝑁𝑠𝑚 𝑗=1

With the Park transformation, the equation (5) can be 3.4.2. Individual Capacitor Balance
described in direct and quadrature terms. Then, the Inner
Loop control minimize the error between the direct and The individual capacitor balance use a proportional
quadrature currents reference with the direct and control to minimize the error between the reference
quadrature currents between the MMC and the grid as is capacitor voltage and the individual instantaneous
given in (11) [6]. capacitor voltage in a leg, as is presented in (17).
𝑘𝑖2
𝑢𝑦𝑑 = (𝑘𝑝2 + ) (𝐼𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑓 − 𝐼𝑦𝑑 ) 𝑉𝑤𝑗 = (±1)𝑘𝑝5 (𝑉 ̅ 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑓 − 𝑉𝑐𝑗 ) (17)
𝑠
(11)
𝑘𝑖2 The currents 𝐼𝑢𝑝 and 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 are used to guarantee that the
𝑢𝑦𝑞 = (𝑘𝑝2 + ) (𝐼𝑞𝑟𝑒𝑓 − 𝐼𝑦𝑞 )
𝑠 value of the individual capacitor voltage is greater than
zero, as is defined in (18).
The direct and quadrature voltage 𝑉𝑦 is defined as (12).
1: 𝐼𝑢𝑝 > 0, 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 < 0
𝑉𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝑢𝑦𝑑 − 𝜔𝐿𝑦 𝐼𝑦𝑞 + 2𝑣𝑑 (18)
(12) −1: 𝐼𝑢𝑝 < 0, 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 > 0
𝑉𝑞𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝑢𝑦𝑞 + 𝜔𝐿𝑦 𝐼𝑦𝑑 + 2𝑣𝑞
3.4.3. Leg Capacitors Balance
Then, the inverse Park transformation is used to find the
reference voltage 𝑉𝑦 as is presented in (13). The leg capacitor balance use a proportional control to
[𝑉𝑎𝑏𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑓 ] = [𝑇𝜃 ]−1 [𝑉0𝑑𝑞𝑟𝑒𝑓 ] (13) minimize the error between the average capacitor
voltages of the two arms in a leg. This control produce an
3.4. Capacitor Control energy balance in each leg, and define the operation
mode of the MMC as is given in (19).
The capacitor control use three controls to balance the 𝑉𝑧 = (±1)𝑘𝑝6 𝐼𝑦 (𝑉 ̅ 𝑐𝑝 − 𝑉
̅ 𝑐𝑛 )
capacitors voltage and the leg current [6].
1: 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 (19)
3.4.1. Leg Current Control
−1: 𝐼𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒
The leg current control use the equation (6) to minimize where,
the reference capacitor voltage with the average capacitor 𝑁𝑠𝑚
voltage in a leg. This control requires the current trough 𝑉̅𝑐𝑝 = ∑ 𝑉𝑐𝑗
𝑗=1
the capacitors as is presented in (14). 2𝑁𝑠𝑚
𝑑𝐼𝑥 𝑉̅𝑐𝑛 = ∑ 𝑉𝑐𝑗
𝑉𝑥 = 𝑉𝑑𝑐 − 𝐿𝑥 𝑗=𝑁𝑠𝑚 +1
𝑑𝑡 3.5. Reference Signal
(14)
𝑑𝑉𝑥𝑐
𝐼𝑥 = 𝐶𝑒𝑞 The reference signal contains the 𝑉𝑦 term divided by the
𝑑𝑡
SM number in a leg, and the previous controls to create a
Two PI controls are proposed to control the leg current as signal different to each SM. This signal is divided by the
is given in (15). j-th instantaneous capacitor voltage, as is given in (20).
4
D. Patiño-Ipus, J. Mora-Flórez, A. Garcés-Ruiz

𝑉𝑦 𝑉𝑑𝑐
𝑉𝑥 + 𝑉𝑤𝑗 + 𝑉𝑧 − +
𝑁𝑠𝑚 2𝑁𝑠𝑚
𝑉𝑢𝑝𝑗 =
𝑉𝑐𝑗
(20)
𝑉𝑦𝑉
𝑉𝑥 + 𝑉𝑤𝑗 + 𝑉𝑧 + + 𝑑𝑐
𝑁𝑠𝑚 2𝑁𝑠𝑚
𝑉𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑗 =
𝑉𝑐𝑗

3.6. Modulation

This section requires a triangular wave to perform the

modulation and create the trigger signals that activate the
IGBTs to each SM. The triangular wave can be write as
(21), where 𝐴 is the amplitude of the triangular signal, 𝐹𝑠
is the switching frequency and 𝑡 is the simulation time.
2𝐴 −1 (21)
𝑇𝑤 = sin (sin(2𝜋𝐹𝑠 𝑡))
𝜋
The trigger signals to each SM is calculated comparing
to the reference signals and the triangular wave. The
trigger signals that activate the IGBTs to each SM are
calculates with the restriction (22).
𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑆𝑀𝑗1 = 0
𝑉𝑗 < 𝑇𝑤 { 2 Fig 2. Ɵ of the grid and Frequency system.
𝑆𝑀𝑗 = 1 (22)
𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑆𝑀𝑗1 = 1 4.3. Inner Loop
𝑉𝑗 ≥ 𝑇𝑤 { 2
𝑆𝑀𝑗 = 0
4. TESTS AND RESULTS In fig 3, the Inner Loop control is evaluated with two
states of direct and quadrature reference current. In this
This section presents the tests and results obtained with cases, the direct and quadrature currents between the
the proposed design to control a MMC converter of 5 MMC and the grid (red and green) follow the direct and
sum-modules for arm. quadrature reference currents (blue and purple).

4.1. System Parameters 4.4. Capacitors Balance

The table 1 presents the parameters of the system Fig 4 presents the voltage in the first, third and fifth
proposed. This parameters are estimated with an capacitor of a leg at the MMC in the phase A (red, green
optimization method that reduce the system loss and and blue). This capacitors present a close balance of
minimize the second current harmonic between the voltage between them, as expected with capacitor
MMC and the grid. control.
Table 1. Parameters of the proposed system.
Parameter Value
𝑷𝒏𝒐𝒎 [MW] 1
Frequency 60
𝑽𝒂𝒄_𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌
[Hz] [V] 500
𝑽𝒅𝒄 [V] 1000
𝑵𝒔𝒎 5
𝑳𝑨 [mH] 1.2
𝑳𝑻 [mH] 4
Fig 3. Current Control.
𝑪𝒔𝒎 [uF] 3400

4.2. PLL

The Ɵ of the grid and the frequency system is presented

in fig 2 respectively. The fundamental frequency system
is 60 [Hz].
Evaluation of a Control Strategy for a MMC Converter
Fig 4. Capacitor Voltage.
4.5. MMC Voltage
The output voltage of the MMC converter, is presented
in fig 6. This output voltage contain high frequencies due
the switching frequency at the IGBTs in each sub-
module. The coupling inductance between the MMC and
the grid mitigate this high frequencies.
Fig 5. Output voltage MMC.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The proposed design helps to control the current between
the MMC and the grid according to a reference current.
However, at the initial state of the power system, the
capacitors have low charge and this produces low
performance in the inner loop. The capacitor control uses
different controls to balance the voltage in each SM
capacitor. To implement the proposed control, it is
required an instantaneous measurement of each SM
capacitor voltage, the current of each arm, the voltage at
the common connection point and the current between
the MMC and the grid. Then, several measurements are
required to implement the MMC of 5 sub-modules in
each arm, but the converter performance is efficient and
has low harmonic content at the AC side. Finally, the
control equations are easy to implement and have a good
performance for the power control.
5
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special acknowledgment to the “Vicerrectoría de
Investigación, Innovación y Extensión” of the
Univesidad Tecnológica de Pereira.
7. REFERENCES
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