Study and comparison of discontinuous modulation for modular multilevel converters in motor drive applications

• Main Authors: Picas, Ricard, Zaragoza, Jordi, Pou, Josep, Ceballos, Salvador, Konstantinou, Georgios, Capella, Gabriel Jose
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering; Discontinuous Modulation; Low-frequency Operation
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140500
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Discontinuous modulation applied to modular multilevel converters is an effective method for reducing the capacitor voltage ripples. In this paper, the discontinuous modulation is adapted and used in a motor drive application. For proper operation of the converter, a new energy controller is presented, which is suitable for operation with nonsinusoidal reference signals. Experimental results comparing the discontinuous modulation with other techniques operating at low motor speeds are shown. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the discontinuous modulation on reducing capacitor voltage ripples and power losses.