The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) is a new converter technology which proves to be a good candidate for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission systems due to its low losses, modular design, lower filtering requirement and good fault tolerance.
Because of the large number of Sub-Modules (SMs), the classical centralized control strategy becomes is challenging and distributed control is recommended. This will require fast communication and good synchronization.
In this project a SM has been designed, build and experimentally validated to be able to handle fault-tolerant operation and start-up requirement. The communication was build based on real-time Industrial Ethernet protocol and is able to reconfigure on-the-fly during fault operation.
Fault-tolerant operation and start-up procedures have been validate using PSCAD model for realistic test cases.