Low Voltage Modular Multilevel Converter Submodule for Medium Voltage Applications

Modular multilevel converters have been subject to various research topics in the area of medium voltage conversion. The basic building block of all modular multilevel converters is the submodule, which despite being simple in terms of its topology, poses significant integration challenges when it comes to practical implementation. This paper provides an insight into the structure, design considerations and operation of the modular multilevel converter low voltage submodule for medium voltage applications. Special attention was paid to the submodule specific power and control parts, which were all experimentally tested, with all results being presented in the paper.