A Simplified Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation Implementation in Modular Multilevel Converters for Electric Ship Propulsion Systems
Abstract
The modularity, fault-tolerability, and voltage scalability features allow the modular multilevel converter (MMC) to be a promising topology for modern electric ship applications. Arm voltage and submodule (SM) capacitor voltage balancing controllers with conventional high-frequency modulation schemes are indispensable for reliable and stable operation of an MMC. This requires an additional external arm controller and the control complexity increases for an MMC with a large number of SMs. Alternatively, the space-vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) schemes provide more freedom in selecting the voltage vectors to achieve multiple objectives, thus eliminating the arm voltage balancing controller. In this paper, a simplified SVPWM implementation for an n-level MMC is proposed. This scheme utilizes all the available switching states and calculates switching timings by mapping to a two-level space-vector structure. The computational burden of the proposed scheme is independent of converter voltage level, therefore it is computationally efficient and well suited to the MMC with any number of SMs. Experimental results are presented to show the performance of an MMC system using the proposed scheme under steady-state, rapid acceleration and speed-reversal conditions.
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High-power electric trains and ships use multilevel inverters, while lower-power vehicles like electric buses and passenger EVs are equipped with conventional 2-level inverters due to lower DC-link voltage and simplicity.
“While these structures are being used in high-power electric trains and ships [17], [20], [21], lower-power vehicles like electric buses and passenger EVs are equipped with the conventional 2-level inverter due to their lower DC-link voltage and simplicity in design and implementation [22].”
From A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends (2021) · cites this paper as [17]
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A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in Electric Vehicles: Current Status and Future Trends
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A Review of Modulation and Control Techniques for Multilevel Inverters in Traction Applications
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- Authors
- Ronanki, D., & Williamson, S. S.
- Affiliations
- Ontario Tech University (CA)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification
- Published
- 2019-03
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 335-342
- ISSN
- 2332-7782 (ISSN-L)
- 2372-2088
- OpenAlex
- W2903268711
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 4.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (N01032)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › HVDC Systems and Fault Protection
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Multilevel Inverters and Converters
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced DC-DC Converters
- Keywords
- modular multilevel converter, space vector modulation, electric ships, submodule capacitor voltage balancing, computational efficiency, fault tolerance, voltage scalability, velocity reversal
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