An Integrated Control Strategy With Fault Detection and Tolerant Control Capability Based on Capacitor Voltage Estimation for Modular Multilevel Converters

Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) will be extensively used in the high-voltage direct-current transmission networks because of its superior characteristics over line commutated converter. Increasing the reliability of the MMC is directly related to the balancing of the MMC submodule capacitors voltages, which guarantees the proper operation of the converter and lowers the stress on the submodules. This paper presents an adaptive voltage-balancing strategy based on the capacitor voltage estimation, utilizing a hybrid adaptive linear neuron recursive least squares scheme. The proposed strategy eliminates the need of measuring submodules capacitor voltages and associated communication link with the central controller. Furthermore, the estimated capacitor voltages are utilized to detect and localize different types of submodule faults. After isolating the faulty submodules, the proposed fault-tolerant control unit modifies the parameters of the voltage-balancing strategy to overcome the reduction of the active submodules. The dynamic performance of the proposed strategy is investigated, using PSCAD/EMTDC simulations and hardware-in-the-loop real-time simulations, under different normal and faulty operating conditions. The accuracy and the time response of the proposed fault detection and tolerant control units result in stabilizing the operation of the MMC under different types of faults. Consequently, the proposed integrated control strategy improves the reliability of the MMC.