Decoupling Capacitor Minimization of an MMC-Based Photovoltaic System With Three-Winding Power Channel

Abstract

This article proposed a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) converter based on modular multilevel converter (MMC), which can realize long-distance dc transmission while realizing the local consumption of PV. In addition to the advantage that there is no PV power mismatch between the upper and lower arms, the isolation transformer couples the two submodules of the upper and lower arms on a three-port transformer, and the differential-mode components of the capacitor voltage ripples in the upper and lower arms can be canceled between each other. Besides, through the double fundamental frequency circulating current control, the power exchange among MMC phase units can be realized, thereby eliminating the common-mode component of the capacitor voltage ripple. Through the combination of topology and control strategy, the low-frequency components of the voltage ripple can be completely canceled. Since the decoupling capacitance is reduced dozens of times, the volume and cost of the system are significantly reduced. Therefore, the life and reliability of the system are increased. Simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed topology and its control strategy.