Modular multilevel converter based on arm transfer to clear dc fault

Modular multilevel converter (MMC) has great prospects in voltage source converter-based high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission. Although the typical half-bridge MMC can bring huge economic benefits, it is unable to clear dc fault. An MMC based on arm transfer (AT-MMC) and corresponding timing control are presented to effectively solve this drawback. Compared with the half-bridge MMC, the AT-MMC adds the arm-transferring branch to the each phase unit of the converter and adds the current-breaking branch and the energy-absorbing branch to the dc line. Through these branches cooperating with each other, the fault current is cleared. Referring to the half-bridge MMC with the same voltage grade, the AT-MMC has a good economy and its additional device cost is low and additional conduction loss is very small. A model of 51-level MMC-HVDC system is built in RT-LAB OP5600 to verify the effectiveness of the proposed solution.