3702 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO.

8, AUGUST 2013
A Steady-State Analysis Method for a Modular
Multilevel Converter
Qiang Song, Wenhua Liu, Member, IEEE, Xiaoqian Li, Hong Rao, Shukai Xu, and Licheng Li
AbstractModular multilevel converters (MMC) are consid-
ered a top converter alternative for voltage-source converter (VSC)
high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) applications. Main circuit de-
sign and converter performance evaluation are always important
issues to consider before installing a VSC-HVDC system. Inves-
tigation into a steady-state analysis method for an MMC-based
VSC-HVDC system is necessary. This paper nds a circular in-
teraction among the electrical quantities in an MMC. Through
this circular interaction, a key equation can be established to solve
the unknown circulating current. A new steady-state model is de-
veloped to simply and accurately describe the explicit analytical
expressions for various voltage and current quantities in an MMC.
The accuracy of the expressions is improved by the consideration
of the circulating current when deriving all the analytical expres-
sions. The models simplicity is demonstrated by having only one
key equation to solve. Based on the analytical expressions for the
armvoltages, the equivalent circuits for MMC are proposed to im-
prove the current understanding of the operation of MMC. The
feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method are veried by
comparing its results with the simulation and experimental results.
Index TermsModular multilevel converter (MMC), steady-
state analysis, voltage-source converter HVDC, VSC-HVDC.
I. INTRODUCTION
H
IGH-VOLTAGE, direct current (HVDC) transmission us-
ing voltage-source converters (VSCs) provides a means
of connecting distant renewable sources to a large ac network
[1][5]. Conventional VSC-HVDC systems usually use two- or
three-level converters based on series-connected insulated-gate
bipolar transistors (IGBTs), which suffer from the following
disadvantages: voltage distribution problems across each IGBT,
high switching loss, and low power quality. Modular multilevel
converters (MMCs) can easily implement a high number of lev-
els. Modular design, low switching frequency, high efciency,
and excellent output voltage waveforms are the advantages of-
fered by MMC [6][15]. The MMC has recently been accepted
Manuscript received June 26, 2012; revised September 13, 2012; accepted
October 23, 2012. Date of current version January 18, 2013. This work was
supported by the National High Technology Research and Development (863)
Program of China under Grant 2011AA05A102. Recommended for publication
by Associate Editor R. Burgos.
Q. Song, W. Liu, and X. Li are with the Department of Electrical En-
gineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China (e-mail: songqiang@
tsinghua.edu.cn; liuwenh@tsinghua.edu.cn; lxqtgzy@126.com).
H. Rao and S. Xu are with the Electric Power Research Institute, China South-
ern Power Grid Company Ltd., Guangzhou 510080, China (e-mail: raohong@
csg.cn; xusk@csg.cn).
L. Li is with the Electric Power Research Institute, China Southern Power
Grid Company Ltd., Guangzhou 510080, China, and also with the South China
University of Technology, Guangdong 510640, China (e-mail: lilc@csg.cn).
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TPEL.2012.2227818
Fig. 1. Diagram of the MMC-based VSC-HVDC system. (a) System diagram
of a two-terminal VSC-HVDC system. (b) Circuit diagram of the MMC.
as one of the most competitive converter alternatives for VSC-
HVDC applications.
Main circuit design and converter performance evaluation
are always essential issues to consider prior to installing a
VSC-HVDC system. Electromagnetic transient (EMT) simu-
lation is usually used to nd adequate converter parameters
and evaluate converter performance. However, MMCs consist
of a large number of switching devices and have a signicantly
longer simulation time compared with conventional converters.
In addition, performance should be evaluated under all possi-
ble operating conditions, and numerous simulations should be
performed correspondingly. Designing circuit parameters and
evaluating steady-state performance using EMT simulation is a
time-consuming process [16], [17]. Analytical description of the
steady-state voltage and current quantities of MMCis necessary
to nd a more efcient method. The analytical expressions are
also useful for understanding the operation of MMC.
As shown in Fig. 1, MMC consists of six arms, with each
arm consisting of N cascaded submodules. The interaction of
0885-8993/$31.00 2012 IEEE
SONG et al.: STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS METHOD FOR A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CONVERTER 3703
various voltages and current quantities in MMC is very com-
plex. Voltage and current harmonics also increase complexity.
Several previous studies focused on using the analytical method
for MMC. In [18][20], the alternating energy stored in the
submodule capacitors is obtained by integrating the instanta-
neous power owing through the arms. The ripple voltage of
the submodule capacitors is then deduced based on the obtained
alternating energy. Using this method, the circulating compo-
nent was found in the arm currents. The circulating currents
ow only among the three-phase arms, and the second-order
harmonic component has a signicant amplitude. The instanta-
neous power owing through the arms is calculated by multiply-
ing the arm voltage and current. Since the amplitude and phase
of the circulating currents are unknown before the calculation,
only the line frequency and dc components in the arm currents
are usually taken into account when calculating the instanta-
neous power. However, this method may introduce errors into
the analysis results. The analytical expressions for the voltage
and current quantities are indirectly deduced by analyzing the
alternating energy of the submodule capacitors. The harmonics
in the arm currents of MMC are extensively investigated in [17]
and [21]. The phase leg voltage equations are described using
the integral of the products of pulse patterns and arm current.
The dc components of the integrands, which should be zero in
steady-state, are then used as a criterion, and an innite number
of equations are obtained to describe all the harmonic contents
of the phase-leg voltages as functions of the arm currents. The
explicit analytical expressions for the harmonic contents in the
arm current can be obtained by solving the matrix equations.
In the previously mentioned literature, taking only the
fundamental-frequency component into account has become
a common practice when using the switching functions. This
assumption is reasonable because the number of levels or the
switching frequency is usually high enough. When perform-
ing the main circuit design and converter performance evalua-
tion, the dc components, fundamental-frequency components,
and low-order harmonic components in the voltage and current
quantities are mainly focused except for harmonic analysis, and
the high-frequency harmonic components in the switching func-
tions have minor impact on these components. Therefore, it is
unnecessary to consider all the harmonic contents in the volt-
ages or currents of MMC and this it will signicantly simplify
the analytical analysis.
This paper develops a new steady-state model to simply and
accurately describe the explicit analytical expressions for the
current and voltage quantities in an MMC, and nds a cir-
cular interaction among the electrical quantities in an MMC.
Using this circular interaction, an equation for the double line-
frequency circulating current can be derived. Therefore, the cir-
culating component in the arm current can be obtained simply
by solving this equation. As soon as the expression of this cir-
culating current is obtained, the fundamental components and
low-order harmonic components of the capacitor voltages, ca-
pacitor currents, armcurrents, and armvoltages can be explicitly
and analytically expressed. One advantage of using the proposed
method is that the derived analytical expressions are more accu-
rate than the analytical expressions derived using conventional
Fig. 2. Interaction among the voltage and current quantities of a submodule.
methods, since the circulating current is always taken into ac-
count during the derivation. Another advantage is the proposed
methods simplicity, since the expression of the circulating cur-
rent can be obtained by solving a single equation, after which
all other expressions are explicit. The equivalent circuits for
the MMC are proposed based on the derivation of the analyt-
ical expressions for the arm voltages, to improve the current
understanding of the operation of the MMC.
This paper is organized as follows. Section II describes
the interaction among various voltage and current quantities.
Section III presents how the detailed analytical expressions are
obtained. Section IV presents the proposed equivalent circuits
for the MMC. The results of simulation using PSCAD/EMTDC
and experimental results using a prototype are compared with
the analytically calculated results in Section V to validate the
proposed methods. Finally, the discussions and conclusions are
given in Section VI.
II. CIRCULAR INTERACTION AMONG THE VOLTAGE
AND CURRENT QUANTITIES OF THE MMC
As shown in Fig. 2, a submodule is used as an example. In
this gure, i is used to denote the ith submodule in this arm.
Assuming that the armcurrent and the switching function of this
submodule are known, the interaction of the voltage and current
quantities can be described as follows.
1) Capacitor Current: The arm current is coupled to the dc
side of the submodule by the switching actions and owthrough
the capacitor. For the ith submodule of this arm, the capacitor
current can be expressed as
i
c i
(t) = S
i
(t)i
x
(t) (1)
where S
i
(t) denotes the switching function of this submodule
and is dened as
S
i
(t) =
_
1, when S
1
is on and S
2
is off
0, when S
1
is off and S
2
is on
(2)
and i
x
denotes the current of this arm. The analytical deriva-
tion should be begun with this arm current. The arm current is
mainly composed of the fundamental-frequency component and
dc component: the former is determined by the ac-line current
3704 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
and the latter is determined by the dc-line current. These two
components can be explicitly expressed as long as the operating
conditions are given. However, circulating components exist in
the arm currents and prevent the explicit expression of the arm
current.
2) Capacitor Ripple Voltage: The switching function and
the electrical quantities can be represented using their Fourier
spectra, including dc component, fundamental-frequency com-
ponent, and harmonic components. The current shown in (1)
causes a voltage ripple in the capacitor. The nth harmonic com-
ponent in the capacitor current causes a corresponding voltage
ripple with nth harmonic frequency and its time-varying func-
tion is expressed as
u
(n)
c i
(t) =
i
(n)
c i
(t)
jn
1
C
d
(3)
where C
d
is the capacitance of the submodule capacitor and
1
is the fundamental angular frequency. i
c j
(n
1
t) is the time-
varying function for the nth harmonic component in the capac-
itor current. Therefore, the capacitor voltage can be expressed
as
u
c i
(t) = U
c
+

n=1
u
(n)
c i
(t) (4)
where U
c
is the dc component and the other elements on the
right-hand side are the ripple components. The voltage ripple
applies additional voltage stress to the semiconductor devices.
Therefore, the dc capacitor volume should be designed to keep
the voltage ripple below a specied value.
3) Ripple Voltage of the Submodule Terminal: Another ef-
fect of the ripple components of the capacitor voltage is their
reection to the submodule terminal through the switching ac-
tions. The output voltage of the submodule can be expressed
as
u
o i
(t)=S
i
(t)U
c
+S
i
(t)

n=1
u
(n)
c i
(t) (5)
where the rst element on the right-hand side is the characteristic
voltage generated by the pulse modulation control when the
capacitor voltage is ideal dc. The second element represents the
undesired ripple voltage caused by the capacitor ripple voltage,
and is represented as
u
o i
(t)=S
i
(t)

n=1
u
(n)
c i
(t). (6)
4) Ripple Voltage of the Phase and the Circulating Current:
As shown in Fig. 3(a), the upper and lower arm voltages can be
expressed as
_

_
u
p
(t) =
N

i=1
S
pi
(t)U
c
+
N

i=1
u
p o i
(t)
u
n
(t) =
N

i=1
S
ni
(t)U
c
+
N

i=1
u
n o i
(t)
(7)
where the subscript p denotes the upper arm and the subscript
n denotes the lower arm. Therefore, S
pi
(t) and u
p o i
(t)
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of the circulating current. (a) Two arms in one phase.
(b) Three-phase equivalent circuit.
denote the switching function and ac-side ripple voltage of the
ith submodule in the upper arm, and S
ni
(t) and u
n o i
(t)
denote those of the ith submodule in the lower arm.
To maintain the dc voltage as a constant [4][6], [14], the
relationship between the switching functions of the upper arm
and that of the lower arm is usually controlled as
N

i=1
S
pi
(t) +
N

i=1
S
ni
(t) = N. (8)
Since each phase consists of two arms, the voltage across the
phase can be obtained by
u
p
(t) +u
n
(t) = NU
c
+ u
ph
(t) (9)
where u
ph
(t) denotes the ripple voltage across the phase,
whose nth harmonic component is expressed as
u
(n)
ph
(t) =
N

i=1
u
(n)
p o i
(t) +
N

i=1
u
(n)
n o i
(t). (10)
Note that the three-phase ripple voltages lag or lead each other
by 2/3. Fig. 3(b) shows the equivalent circuit of a three-phase
MMC. The three-phase ripple voltages cause three-phase ripple
currents. This ripple current is the aforementioned circulating
current. The nth harmonic component in this circulating current
is expressed as
i
(n)
Z
(t) =
u
(n)
ph
(t)
jn
1
2L
c
. (11)
As shown in Fig. 2, the aforementioned analysis reveals the
circular interaction among the various electrical quantities in
the MMC. The arm current is coupled to the dc side of the
submodule by the switching actions, thereby generating ripple
voltage in the capacitor. Through the switching actions, the ca-
pacitor ripple voltage is reected to the submodule terminal
SONG et al.: STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS METHOD FOR A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CONVERTER 3705
and generates a ripple component in the submodule output volt-
age. The summed ripple voltages of all submodules within one
phase form a ripple voltage across this phase and generates the
circulating current, which in turn inuences the arm current.
This circular interaction prevents the arm currents from being
expressed explicitly. This result complicates the steady-state
analysis because the analytical derivation should be started with
the arm current. However, the circular interaction also makes it
possible to establish an equation to solve the circulating current.
In the next section, this circular interaction is used to nd an
equation with which to solve the circulating component in the
arm current.
III. STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS
As described in Section II, the analysis should be started with
the arm current. Using Phase A as an example, the arm currents
are assumed to be expressed as
_

_
i
ap
(t) =

2
2
I
a
sin (
1
t +) +I
ad
+I
az
sin (2
1
t +)
i
an
(t) =

2
2
I
a
sin (
1
t +) +I
ad
+I
az
sin (2
1
t +)
(12)
where I
a
denotes the RMS value of the fundamental component
of the ac-side output current and denotes the corresponding
phase angle. I
ad
denotes the dc component in the arm current
and can be expressed as I
d
/3 under normally balanced operat-
ing conditions. Provided that the operating conditions are deter-
mined, the values of I
a
, and I
ad
can be easily obtained and
can be considered known variables.
The existing literature has proven the existence of a circulat-
ing current in the MMC, and the most signicant component in
this circulating current is the second-order harmonic [14][18].
The existence of this circulating current can also be veried
using the methods described in this paper. Prior to beginning
the analysis, a second-order harmonic circulating component is
assumed to exist in the arm current as shown in (12), where I
az
denotes the amplitude of this circulating current and denotes
the phase angle. I
az
and cannot be directly obtained from the
operating conditions and their values are unknown at the out-
set of the analysis. Therefore, the expressions in (12) for the
arm currents are inexplicit. Using the circular interactions, the
following analysis derives an equation to solve for I
az
and .
Because each arm of the MMC consists of a large number
of submodules, it is common practice to evaluate the average
voltage and current quantities of all the submodules in one arm.
The average switching function for an armis thus dened. Using
Phase Aas an example, the switching functions can be expressed
as
_

_
n

i=1
S
ap i
(t) =
N
2
S
a
(t)
n

i=1
S
an i
(t) =
N
2
+S
a
(t)
(13)
where the subscript a denotes Phase A, S
ap i
(t) denotes the
switching function for the ith submodule in the upper arm, and
S
an i
(t) denotes the switching function for the ith submodule
in the lower arm. In (13), S
a
(t) denotes the switching function
for the Phase A terminal, and can be expressed using Fourier
series as
S
a
(t) =
N
2
M sin (
1
t) +

n=2
A
n
sin(n
1
t +
n
) (14)
where M is the modulation index, A
n
and
n
denote the ampli-
tude and phase angle for the nth harmonic, respectively.
The average switching function can be obtained by divid-
ing (13) by N. If N is high enough or the equivalent switch-
ing frequency is high enough, the harmonic components in the
switching function can be ignored, since the high-frequency
components have minor impact on the capacitor voltages and
inductor currents. Therefore, the average switching function of
the submodules can be expressed as
_

_
S
ap av
(t) =
1
2

1
2
M sin (
1
t)
S
an av
(t) =
1
2
+
1
2
M sin (
1
t)
(15)
where S
ap av
(t) and S
an av
(t) are the average switching func-
tions of the submodules in the upper and lower arms, respec-
tively. In the remainder of this paper, the average switching
function dened in (15) is used for analytical calculation.
1) Capacitor Ripple Current: Using the methods presented
in Section II, the average switching functions shown in (15) are
used to calculate the average capacitor current. The expressions
for the average capacitor currents of the upper and lower arms
are shown in (16), where i
c p
(t) and i
c n
(t) denote the average
capacitor current for the submodules in the upper and lower
arms, respectively.
The dc component on the right-hand side of (16) is zero during
the steady state, which reects the balance between the ac-side
active power and the dc-link side active power, as veried in the
existing literature [14] and discussed in detail in Section IV of
this paper.
The existence of the fundamental-frequency component,
second-order harmonic component, and third-order harmonic
component in the capacitor current, all of which are inuenced
by the circulating components, such as I
az
and , is observed.
Therefore, taking the impact of the circulating current into ac-
count when starting the analysis is crucial to obtain more accu-
rate analytical expressions. In other words, the expressions for
the voltage and current quantities are inexplicit until I
az
and
are solved (16a) and (16b) shown at the bottom of the next page.
2) Capacitor Ripple Voltage: The nth harmonic component
in the capacitor ripple voltage can be obtained by multiply-
ing the nth harmonic current component with the correspond-
ing capacitor reactance. By multiplying the capacitor reac-
tance 1/(j
1
C
d
) and the fundamental frequency current in (16),
the fundamental-frequency component of the capacitor ripple
3706 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
voltages in the upper and lower arms can be obtained as
u
(1)
c p
(t) =
MI
ad
2
1
C
d
cos (
1
t)

2I
a
4
1
C
d
cos (
1
t +)

MI
az
4
1
C
d
sin (
1
t +) (17a)
u
(1)
c n
(t) =
MI
ad
2
1
C
d
cos (
1
t) +

2I
a
4
1
C
d
cos (
1
t +)
+
MI
az
4
1
C
d
sin (
1
t +) . (17b)
By multiplying the capacitor reactance 1/(j2
1
C
d
) and the
second-order harmonic current in (16), the second-order har-
monic components of the ripple voltage in the upper and lower
arms can be obtained as
u
(2)
c p
(t) =

2MI
a
16
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t + )
I
az
4
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + )
(18a)
u
(2)
c n
(t) =

2MI
a
16
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t + )
I
az
4
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + ) .
(18b)
Similarly, by multiplying the capacitor reactance 1/(j3
1
C
d
)
and the third-order harmonic current in (16), the third-order
harmonic components of the ripple voltages in the upper and
lower arms can be obtained as
u
(3)
c p
(t) =
MI
az
12
1
C
d
sin (3
1
t +) (19a)
u
(3)
c n
(t) =
MI
az
12
1
C
d
sin (3
1
t +) . (19b)
2) Ripple Voltage on the Submodule Terminal: The voltage
ripple on the dc side of the submodule is reected to the ac side
of the submodule by switching actions. The ripple voltages on
the ac side of the submodule in the upper and lower arms can
be expressed as
u
o p
(t) =
_
1
2

1
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
[u
(1)
c p
(t) + u
(2)
c p
(t) + u
(3)
c p
(t)] (20a)
and
u
o n
(t) =
_
1
2
+
1
2
M sin (
1
t)
_

_
u
(1)
c n
(t) + u
(2)
c n
(t) + u
(3)
c n
(t)
_
(20b)
respectively.
4) Ripple Voltage Across the Phase: As shown in Fig. 3(a),
the sum of the ripple voltage of all submodules in one phase
forms a ripple voltage across this phase. According to (20), the
ripple voltage across this phase is expressed as
u
ph
(t) = Nu
o p
(t) +Nu
o n
(t)
= u
ph 1
(t) + u
ph 2
(t) + u
ph 3
(t) (21)
where (22a)(22c) shown at the bottom of the next page.
5) Circulating Current in Arms: The second- and fourth-
order harmonic components can be observed in the phase ripple
voltage shown in (22), and can generate a circulating current in
arms with the corresponding frequency. Temporarily ignoring
the fourth-order harmonic component and considering only the
second-order harmonic component, the latters ripple voltage
across Phase A can be obtained by summing all the second-
order harmonic components in (22) as
u
(2)
ph
(t) =
M
2
NI
ad
4
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t) +
3

2MNI
a
16
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t + )

NI
az
4
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + )
M
2
NI
az
6
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + ) .
(23)
The ripple voltage for Phases B and C can be obtained in
a similar manner. The three-phase ripple voltages are phase
shifted by 2/3 and are in negative sequence. If only the circu-
lating current path is considered, an equivalent circuit is shown
as Fig. 3(b). The three-phase ripple voltages generate three-
phase circulating currents.
As shown in (12), a double line-frequency component is as-
sumed to exist in the arm current at the outset of the analysis
in this section. This double line-frequency current is appar-
ently generated by the phase ripple voltage. The assumed dou-
ble line-frequency current should correspond with the ripple
i
c p
(t) =
_
1
2

1
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
i
ap
(t) =
1
2
I
ad

2
8
MI
a
cos()
. .
dc component

1
2
MI
ad
sin (
1
t) +

2
4
I
a
sin (
1
t + )
1
4
MI
az
cos(
1
t + )
. .
fundamental component
+

2
8
MI
a
cos (2
1
t + ) +
1
2
I
az
sin (2
1
t + )
. .
2nd component
+
1
4
MI
az
cos(3
1
t + )
. .
3rd component
(16a)
i
c n
(t) =
_
1
2
+
1
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
i
an
(t) =
1
2
I
ad

2
8
MI
a
cos()
. .
dc component
+
1
2
MI
ad
sin (
1
t)

2
4
I
a
sin (
1
t + ) +
1
4
MI
az
cos(
1
t + )
. .
fundamental component
+

2
8
MI
a
cos (2
1
t + ) +
1
2
I
az
sin (2
1
t + )
. .
2nd component

1
4
MI
az
cos(3
1
t + )
. .
3rd component
. (16b)
SONG et al.: STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS METHOD FOR A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CONVERTER 3707
voltage shown in (23). Therefore, the following equation can be
obtained:
I
az
sin (2
1
t +) =
u
(2)
ph
(t)
j2
1
2L
C
. (24)
Equation (24) is a result of the circular interactions among
the voltages and currents in an MMC, and is a key equation
in the proposed method. As mentioned earlier, both I
az
and
are unknown at the outset of the analysis. By solving (24), the
value of I
az
and can be obtained and all the previous equations
can become explicit. Substituting (23) into (24), the following
equation is obtained:
I
az
sin (2
1
t +)
NI
az
16
2
1
C
d
L
C
sin (2
1
t +)

M
2
NI
az
24
2
1
C
d
L
C
sin (2
1
t +) =
M
2
NI
ad
16
2
1
C
d
L
C
cos (2
1
t)
+
3

2MNI
a
64
2
1
C
d
L
C
cos (2
1
t +) . (25)
By solving (25), the amplitude I
az
and the phase angle for
the circulating current are obtained as
I
az
=
_
(Acos +B)
2
+ (Asin )
2
1
N
16
2
1
C
d
L
C

M
2
N
24
2
1
C
d
L
C
(26)
= arctan (Acos +B, Asin ) (27)
where A =
3

2
64
MNI
a

2
1
C
d
L
C
, B =
N
16
M
2
I
a d

2
1
C
d
L
C
.
The aforementioned equations (15)(27) provide analytical
expressions for various voltage and current quantities in the
MMC, such as arm current, capacitor current, capacitor voltage,
arm voltage, and circulating current. Under a certain operating
condition, the amplitude I
a
and phase angle of the ac line
current are known variables, and the dc component I
ad
is also
a known variable. Therefore, the amplitude and phase angle
of the circulating current can be obtained using (26) and (27).
Then, all the electrical quantities can be explicitly expressed us-
ing (15)(25). Main circuit design and performance evaluation
can be achieved using these steady-state analytical expressions.
Because the circulating component in the arm current is taken
into account in advance, the proposed analytical expressions are
more accurate. Furthermore, all the voltage and current quan-
tities can be directly expressed as a time-varying function, and
the dominant low-order harmonic contents of these electrical
quantities can also be obtained separately.
Aside from the double line-frequency component, there may
be fourth-, sixth-, eighth-, and other order harmonics in the
circulating current. Ignoring these harmonics has a very minor
impact on the accuracy of the analysis results because their am-
plitude is very small, which can be veried using the simulation
and experimental results shown in Section V. Moreover, the ex-
istence of other higher-order harmonic circulating components
in the arm current in (12) can also be assumed in advance to
improve accuracy. The equations for solving the assumed circu-
lating harmonic contents can also be obtained using the circular
interactions in a similar manner. However, this solution would
increase the complexity of the derivations.
IV. EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT OF THE MMC
The proposed analytical expressions can improve the current
understanding of the operation of MMC. According to (7), and
using the average switching function shown in (14), the expres-
sions for the voltages across the upper and lower arms can be
expressed as
_

_
u
ap
(t) =
_
N
2
S
a
(t)
_
U
c
+
_
N
2
S
a
(t)
_
u
c p
(t)
u
an
(t) =
_
N
2
+S
a
(t)
_
U
c
+
_
N
2
+S
a
(t)
_
u
c n
(t)
(28)
u
ph 1
(t) =
_
N
2

N
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
u
(1)
c p
(t) +
_
N
2
+
N
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
u
(1)
c n
(t) =

2MNI
a
8
1
C
d
sin +
M
2
NI
az
8
1
C
d
cos ()
. .
dc component

M
2
NI
ad
4
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t) +

2MNI
a
8
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t + )
M
2
NI
az
8
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + )
. .
2nd component
(22a)
u
ph 2
(t) =
_
N
2

N
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
u
(2)
c p
(t) +
_
N
2
+
N
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
u
(2)
c n
(t)
=

2MNI
a
16
1
C
d
sin (2
1
t + )
NI
az
4
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + )
. .
2nd component
(22b)
u
ph 3
(t) =
_
N
2

N
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
u
(3)
c p
(t) +
_
N
2
+
N
2
M sin (
1
t)
_
u
(3)
c n
(t)
=
M
2
NI
az
24
1
C
d
cos (2
1
t + )
. .
2nd component
+
M
2
NI
az
24
1
C
d
cos (4
1
t + )
. .
4th component
. (22c)
3708 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
where
_
u
c p
(t) = u
(1)
c p
(t) + u
(2)
c p
(t) + u
(3)
c p
(t)
u
c n
(t) = u
(1)
c n
(t) + u
(2)
c n
(t) + u
(3)
c n
(t)
(29)
which represents the ripple voltage on the dc-link capacitor. The
detailed expressions are shown as (17)(19), and the relationship
between the capacitor ripple voltages in the upper armand lower
arm can be obtained as
_

_
u
(1)
c p
(t) = u
(1)
c n
(t)
u
(2)
c p
(t) = u
(2)
c n
(t)
u
(3)
c p
(t) = u
(3)
c n
(t).
(30)
Substituting (29) into (28) and considering the relationship
shown in (30), (28) can be rewritten as
_

_
u
ap
(t) =
NU
c
2
S
a
(t)U
c
u
a dif
(t) + u
a com
(t)
u
an
(t) =
NU
c
2
+S
a
(t)U
c
+ u
a dif
(t) + u
a com
(t).
(31)
The rst two elements on the right-hand side of (31) indicate
the characteristic arm voltage when the capacitor voltage is
assumed as ideal dc, where NU
c
/2 and S
a
(t)U
c
represent the
dc component and the ac component, respectively.
The other two elements indicate the undesired ripple com-
ponents in the arm voltage caused by the capacitor ripple volt-
age. The ripple voltages are divided into differential-mode and
common-mode components. The differential-mode component
represents the ripple component that has opposite directions in
the upper and lower arms, and is expressed as
u
a dif
(t) =
N
2
u
(1)
c n
(t) +
N
2
M sin(
1
t)u
(2)
c n
(t)
+
N
2
u
(3)
c n
(t). (32)
The common-mode component represents the ripple compo-
nent that has the same direction in the upper arm and lower arm,
and it is expressed as
u
a com
(t) =
N
2
M sin(
1
t)u
(1)
c n
(t) +
N
2
u
(2)
c n
(t)
+
N
2
M sin(
1
t)u
(3)
c n
(t). (33)
Therefore, according to (31), an equivalent circuit for MMC
is proposed, as shown in Fig. 4. Each MMC arm is considered
a series-connected, controllable voltage source. There are four
equivalent voltage sources in each arm, and their denitions are
as follows.
1) DC voltage source: The dc voltage of the arm can be
controlled by the capacitor dc voltage U
c
, which is expressed as
NU
c
/2.
2) Characteristic ac voltage source: The characteristic volt-
age source is expressed as S
a
U
c
, where S
a
represents the switch-
ing functions of this MMCphase. This component is the desired
ac voltage during the voltage conversion of the capacitor from
dc to ac voltage using pulse modulation. In other words, the
Fig. 4. Equivalent circuit for the MMC.
characteristic voltage source is generated when the capacitor
voltage is assumed to be the ideal dc. The characteristic ac volt-
age sources in the upper and lower arms are noted in opposite
directions.
3) Differential-mode ripple voltage source: This component
is represented by u
dif
(t), whose detailed expression is shown
in (32). During the voltage conversion of the capacitor from dc
to ac via pulse modulation, the ripple voltage on the submodule
capacitor is also reected into the arm voltage, and an undesired
ripple component is generated. The ripple voltage is divided into
two components. The differential-mode ripple voltage source
represents the ripple component that has opposite directions in
the upper and lower arms.
4) Common-mode ripple voltage source: This component is
represented by u
com
(t), whose detailed expression is shown
in (33). The common-mode ripple voltage represents the ripple
component that has the same direction in the upper and lower
arms.
The proposed equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 4 provides an
effective model to demonstrate the operation and the current
path of the MMC.
Fig. 5 shows the equivalent circuit representing the method for
integration into dc lines. The three-phase arms are considered
three controllable dc voltage sources, connected in parallel, and
then integrated into the dc lines. Under normally balanced op-
erating conditions, the three-phase dc current can be expressed
SONG et al.: STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS METHOD FOR A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CONVERTER 3709
Fig. 5. Equivalent circuit for the dc current.
Fig. 6. Equivalent circuit for the integrated ac grid.
as
I
ad
= I
bd
= I
cd
=
I
d
3
=
P
dc
/U
d
3
(34)
where P
dc
is the dc-side active power.
Fig. 6 shows the equivalent circuit demonstrating the integra-
tion into ac grids. The characteristic ac voltage sources dominate
this equivalent circuit, and the differential-mode ripple ac volt-
age sources affect this circuit as well. The upper and lower
arms in this circuit can be assumed as two parallel-connected ac
voltage sources, both integrated into the ac grid with the same
amplitude and phase. The MMC can exchange active power and
reactive power with the ac grid by controlling the characteristic
ac voltage sources.
In addition to the fundamental-frequency component, har-
monic components also exist in the characteristic ac voltage.
The harmonic components are usually determined using the
employed modulation scheme and the number of levels, and
are also the cause of the ac-side harmonic current. The unde-
sired differential-mode ripple ac voltages also function in the
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 6, and mainly affect the ac-side
harmonic current.
Fig. 7. Equivalent circuit for the circulating current and the dc-line harmonic
current.
The equivalent circuit also demonstrates the balance between
the ac-side active power and the dc-side active power. Fig. 5
shows that the dc-side active power is expressed as
P
dc
= U
d
I
d
= 3U
d
I
ad
. (35)
Fig. 6 shows that the ac-side active power is expressed as
P
ac
= 3
MU
d
/2

2
I
a
cos . (36)
Ignoring the converter losses and considering P
ac
= P
dc
, the
relationship between the ac-side current and the dc-side current
can be derived as
I
ad
=
M cos
2

2
I
a
. (37)
Equation (37) explains the zero dc component in (16).
The equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 5 seemingly cannot work
because the dc voltage sources are parallel connected. However,
the dc controllable voltage sources actually reect the voltages
of the submodule capacitors. These submodules capacitors play
a role in interfacing the ac-side active power and dc-side active
power. The dc controllable voltage sources are kept delicately
close to the dc line-side voltage. The capacitors supply addi-
tional active power if the ac-side active power exceeds that of
the dc- side active power. The capacitor voltages then tend to
decrease, and the dc current I
d
tends to increase. Subsequently,
the dc-side active power increases until a balance is reached with
the ac-side active power. In a reverse situation, the additional
active power charges the capacitors if the ac-side active power
is lower than that of the dc-side active power. The capacitor
voltages then tend to increase, and the dc current I
d
tends to
decrease; the dc-side active power decreases until a balance is
reached with the ac-side active power.
Fig. 7 shows the equivalent circuit to describe the path of
the circulating current and the dc-line harmonic current. The
common-mode ripple voltage source dominates this equivalent
circuit. The common-mode ripple voltages share the same direc-
tion in the upper and lower arms, and cannot generate a current
owing into the ac grid. Apparently, the zero-sequence compo-
nents, such as the triple-order harmonics, generate the current
that ows into the dc lines, which causes the dc-line harmonic
current. The positive- and negative-sequence voltages generate
3710 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
TABLE I
PARAMETERS OF THE SIMULATED MMC-HVDC SYSTEM
TABLE II
COMPARISON RESULTS WHEN P = 300 MW AND Q = 0 Mvar
the circulating current (for example, the second-order harmonic
circulating current) that only ows among the three-phase arms.
V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Simulation Results
A simulated model for a 300 MW/150 kV MMC-HVDC
system was constructed using PSCAD/EMTDC to verify the
proposed steady-state analytical expressions for the electrical
quantities of the MMC. Each arm in this model consisted of
ten submodules to improve simulation efciency. Although the
number of submodules may be much higher in actual appli-
cation, a lower number does not affect the verication of the
analytical expressions. The MMC is integrated into a 220 kV ac
grid through an interface transformer. The rated converter-side
ac voltage is 150 kV. The other parameters are listed in Table I.
Several operating conditions are simulated, and the simula-
tion results are compared with the analytically calculated results
using the proposed methods. The receiving end of the MMC-
HVDC system is observed to obtain the values and waveforms
of the concerned electrical quantities. P and Q are used to de-
note the active power and the reactive power of the receiving
end, respectively.
Table II shows the values of selected quantities when P =
300 MW and Q = 0 Mvar. The fundamental component and
second-order harmonic current of the capacitor, the fundamen-
tal component and second-order harmonic current of the capac-
itor ripple voltage, and the double line-frequency circulating
current are listed in this table to compare the simulated results
and analytically calculated results. Fig. 8 compares the simu-
lated time-varying waveforms and the analytically calculated
time-varying waveforms for the corresponding operating condi-
Fig. 8. Comparison between the simulated waveforms and the analytically
calculated waveforms when P = 300 MW and Q = 0 Mvar.
TABLE III
COMPARISON RESULTS WHEN P = 212 MW AND Q = 212 Mvar
Fig. 9. Comparison between the simulated waveforms and the analytically
calculated waveforms when P = 212 MW and Q = 212 Mvar.
tions. The waveforms of the capacitor voltage and arm currents
are compared. Table III and Fig. 9 show the comparison re-
sults when P = 212 MW and Q = 212 Mvar. Table IV and
Fig. 10 show the comparison results when P = 0 MW and Q=
300 Mvar.
SONG et al.: STEADY-STATE ANALYSIS METHOD FOR A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CONVERTER 3711
TABLE IV
COMPARISON RESULTS WHEN P = 0 MW AND Q = 300 MVAR
Fig. 10. Comparison between the simulated waveforms and the analytically
calculated waveforms when P = 0 MW and Q = 300 Mvar.
Tables IIIV show that the analytically calculated results are
very close to the simulation results, and the maximum error is
less than 5%. Figs. 911 show that all the analytically calcu-
lated waveforms t the simulation waveforms very well, which
indicates that the proposed analysis method for the MMC is
accurate enough to satisfy engineering requirements.
In actual application, the performance of all possible operat-
ing conditions should be evaluated in advance. Using the given
analytical expressions, designing a programto scan all the possi-
ble operating conditions for parameter design and performance
evaluation becomes easy. In the MMCsystemlisted in Table I, S
is used to denote the apparent power of the MMC, and is used
to denote power factor angle. The active power is P = Scos,
and the reactive power is Q = Ssin. Therefore, the operating
condition varies with the phase angle . Fig. 11 shows how the
analytical expressions help design the main circuit parameters
and evaluate converter performance. Phase angle is varied
across its entire range. In Fig. 11, the -varying waveforms of
several quantities, such as the RMS arm current, RMS capacitor
current, RMS capacitor ripple voltage, and RMS circulating cur-
rent, are easily obtained using the analytical calculation method.
The analytical calculation is a time-efcient process. Numerous
simulations are required to obtain a continuous waveform using
EMT simulation, making it a time-consuming process. In this
paper, the operating points for the -varying step by /6 are
simulated. The analytical results and simulation results t very
Fig. 11. Comparison between the -varying waveforms obtained using ana-
lytical and EMT methods.
TABLE V
POWER CIRCUIT PARAMETERS FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
well. However, the analytical calculation method is far more
time efcient than the EMT simulation method.
B. Experimental Results
A 10 kVA/350 V MMC prototype was built, and the ex-
perimental results were compared with the analytical results
to verify the proposed method. The main parameters for this
prototype are listed in Table V. A carrier phase-shifted sinu-
soidal pulse-width-modulation scheme was employed, and the
switching frequency for each switching device is 800 Hz [14].
The waveforms of the capacitor voltage and the upper arm cur-
rent were selected to be shown in this paper. Fig. 12 shows
the comparison between the experimental waveforms and the
analytically calculated results under four typical operation con-
ditions. The analytical and experimental results were a good
t.
3712 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 28, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
Fig. 12. Comparison between the experimental waveforms and the analytically calculated waveforms under various conditions. (a) P = 8 kW and Q = 0 kVar.
(b) P = 0 kW and Q = 8 kVar. (c) P = 8 kW and Q = 7 kVar. (d) P = 8 kW and Q = 7 kVar.
VI. CONCLUSION
Asteady-state model that simply and accurately describes the
analytical expressions for the current and voltage quantities in
an MMC is proposed. A circular interaction among the various
electrical quantities is found. Through this circular interaction,
a key equation can be established to solve the unknown circulat-
ing current. By solving this key equation, the fundamental com-
ponents and low-order harmonic components of the capacitor
voltages, capacitor currents, arm currents, and arm voltages can
be explicitly and analytically expressed. The proposed steady-
state model is both simple and accurate. Its accuracy is improved
by the consideration of the circulating current when deriving all
the analytical expressions. The models simplicity is demon-
strated by having only one key equation to solve, after which
all the expressions become explicit, as well as by deriving only
the dominant low-order harmonic contents in the voltages and
currents. This simplication is reasonable in actual application
and the simulation and experimental results have shown that the
analytically calculated results are accurate enough to satisfy en-
gineering requirements. Using the given analytical expressions,
designing a programto scan all possible operating conditions for
the parameter design and performance evaluation becomes easy.
Furthermore, the equivalent circuits for the MMC are proposed
based on the analytical expressions for the arm voltages. These
equivalent circuits will improve the current understanding of the
operation of the MMC. The feasibility of the proposed methods
is validated by comparing of the analytically calculated results
with the simulation results using PSCAD/EMTDC, and with the
experimental results using a prototype.
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Qiang Song was born in Changchun, China, in 1975.
He received the B.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electri-
cal engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China, in 1998 and 2003, respectively.
From 2003 to 2008, he was a Lecturer in the De-
partment of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua Uni-
versity, where since 2008, he has been an Associate
Professor. His main research interests include high
power electronic interfaces for utility system, exi-
ble ac transmission system, voltage-source converter-
HVDC system, and custom power quality.
Wenhua Liu (M03) was born in Hunan, China, in
1968. He received the B.E.E., M.E.E., and Ph.D. de-
grees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in
1988, 1993, and 1996, respectively, all in electrical
engineering.
He is currently a Professor in the Department
of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University. His
main research interests include high power electronic
and exible ac transmission system.
Xiaoqian Li was born in Hebei, China, in 1987.
She received the B.S. degree in electrical engineer-
ing from North China Electrical Power University,
Beijing, China, in 2010. She is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at
Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Her current research interests include high-
power electronic, exible ac transmission systemand
voltage-source converter HVDC system.
Hong Rao was born in Hubei, China, in 1962. He
received the B.E.E. degree from the Huazhong Uni-
versity of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in
1983.
He is currently an expert Engineer at the Electric
Power Research Institute, China Southern Power Grid
Company Ltd., Guangdong, China. His main research
interests include HVDC, voltage-source converter-
HVDC, and power system analysis.
Shukai Xu was born in Guangdong, China, in 1978.
He received the B.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electri-
cal engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China, in 2002 and 2007, respectively.
He is currently a Senior Engineer at the Elec-
tric Power Research Institute, China Southern Power
Grid Company Ltd., Guangdong. His main research
interests include exible ac transmission system and
voltage-source converter high-voltage dc system.
Licheng Li was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1941. He
received the B.E.E degree from Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China, in 1963.
He is a member of the Chinese Academy of En-
gineering. He is currently a Professor at the South
China University of Technology, Guangdong, China.
He is also with the Electric Power Research Institute,
China Southern Power Grid Company Ltd., Guang-
dong. His main research interests include HVDC,
voltage-source converter-HVDC technology, high-
voltage engineering, and power system analysis.