Three-port energy router for universal and flexible power management in future smart distribution grids

Nowadays the interest in active networks is significantly growing as a result of the larger diffusion of renewable energy sources and distributed generation systems connected to the grid. The possibility of installing in key points of these modern smart networks devices capable of intelligent energy routing and power flow control, is highly desirable in this scenario. Multilevel power converters and, in particular, Cascaded H-Bridge converters allow the required flexibility, availability and reliability to be considered as a building block for active nodes for the future electrical grid. This paper proposes a 3-port multilevel power converter capable of behaving as a network active node and demonstrates all its capabilities of energy routing and control under different operative conditions.