Start-Up and Dynamic Modeling of the Multilevel Modular Capacitor-Clamped Converter

This paper will present the analytical proof of concept of the multilevel modular capacitor-clamped converter (MMCCC). The quantitative analysis of the charge transfer mechanism among the capacitors of the MMCCC explains the start-up and steady-state voltage balancing. Once these capacitor voltages are found for different time intervals, the start-up and steady-state voltages at various nodes of the MMCCC can be obtained. This analysis provides the necessary proof that explains the stable operation of the converter when a load is connected to the low-voltage side of the circuit. In addition, the analysis also shows how the LV side of the converter is (1/
N
)th of the HV side excitation when the conversion ratio of the circuit is
N
. In addition to the analytical and simulation results, experimental results are included to support the analytical proof of concept.