Arm energy balancing control in AACs: a comparative analysis

Abstract

The alternate arm converter (AAC) is an emerging state-of-the-art topology for voltage-source converter (VSC) by combining two-level converter and modular multilevel converter (MMC). The AAC performs better than the MMC in terms of the ability to block DC-side faults and ride through AC-side faults. Moreover, the number of sub-modules (SMs) per arm of the AAC is reduced by about 50% compared with the MMC. The key issue with AAC is the energy deviation during the alternate operation between the upper and lower arms. Presently, several AAC balancing techniques have been proposed, but no comparative analysis has been performed to provide insight on the effect of each balancing technique on AAC performance. In this study, five proposed balancing techniques are reviewed accordingly, followed by comparing them in terms of four parameters – the presence of DC filter, balancing capability, the presence of redundant SMs and zero-current switching control. Furthermore, a simulation work has been performed to study and compare the effects of each of the five balancing techniques. Both literature and simulation-based comparative analysis are significant to help select appropriate balancing technique as well as to provide helpful insights to improve the existing balancing techniques.