Picas, R.Ceballos, S.Pou, J.Zaragoza, J.Konstantinou, G.Agelidis, V. G.Balcells, J.2024-07-242024-07-242015Picas , R , Ceballos , S , Pou , J , Zaragoza , J , Konstantinou , G , Agelidis , V G & Balcells , J 2015 , Discontinuous modulation of modular multilevel converters without the need for extra submodules . in IECON 2015 - 41st Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society . , 7392484 , IECON 2015 - 41st Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. , pp. 2538-2543 , 41st Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2015 , Yokohama , Japan , 9/11/15 . https://doi.org/10.1109/IECON.2015.7392484conference9781479917624https://hdl.handle.net/11556/2519Publisher Copyright: © 2015 IEEE.In this paper, a new approach to the discontinuous modulation technique for the operation of the modular multilevel converter (MMC) is presented. Discontinuous modulation is based on adding a zero-sequence to the original modulation signals so that each MMC arm is clamped to the upper or lower terminals of the dc-link bus during some intervals. In combination with a circulating current control, the original discontinuous modulation can reduce the capacitor voltage ripple amplitudes and the switching power losses. However, additional submodules (SMs) are required to control the circulating current. This new approach presents a clamping algorithm that eliminates the requirement of additional SMs. As a result, the conduction losses are reduced while the capacitor voltage ripples are maintained low. Simulation and experimental results on a silicon-carbide-based MMC are reported and compared against the original discontinuous modulation and a conventional carrier-based pulse-width modulation.6enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessconference output10.1109/IECON.2015.7392484Capacitor voltage ripplesdiscontinuous modulationefficiency improvementmodular multilevel convertersilicon carbideElectrical and Electronic EngineeringIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineeringhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84973176463&partnerID=8YFLogxK