Modular Multilevel Converters Laboratory

360 picture of the lab

Introduction

Modular Multilevel Converters - MMC technology has been successfully adopted by the industry in HVDC and large STATCOM due to its key advantages against conventional converters: modularity and fault tolerance, lower footprint and losses and low filtering requirements.

The modular technology is also used in Modular PV inverters , Battery-Driven Drives in E-Mobility and Smart Modular Battery Packages with inherited BMS.

Facilities

Double-Star MMC (400V/5A) for HVDC transmission (4 SM/arm) and dSpace control
Double Star MMC (400V/10A) for WT BTB Converter with FPGA based control and communication
Single-Star MMC (400V/5A) motor drive with Li-Ion battery modules with and dSpace control
Zynq SoC control platform with WiFi communication to TI C3220 slaves for BMS applications
MX30 bidirectional electronic ac source (400V/30 kVA)
LX4500 electronic ac source (400V/4.5 kW)
Regatron bidirectional dc supply with battery emulaing software (1000V/50 kW)

Special equipment

The MMC lab is featuring a RTDS and a linear power amplifier (400V/21 kW) for testing converters connected to simulated grid with special conditions.

Features & services

The MMC Laboratory can typically offer support for the industry in terms of concept development, hardware prototyping, control design and implementation of MMC-based solutions for a large variety of applications. Additionally, using the RTDS based grid simulator, the stability impact of connecting MMC to given grid can be investigated.

A PhD/Industrial Course based on the book: Design, Control, and Application of Modular Multilevel Converters for HVDC Transmission Systems, by Kamran Sharifabadi, Lennart Harnefors, Hans-Peter Nee, Staffan Norrga, Remus Teodorescu, ISBN: 978-1-118-85156-2 Wiley 2011 is offered once a year.