A Generalized Switching Strategy and Capacitor Sizing Algorithm for Granular Multilevel Converters

The granular multilevel converter (GMC) is a multilevel converter built by hybridizing a conventional two-level converter with an asymmetrical cascaded H-bridge converter. Addition of each additional H-bridge submodule doubles the number of the GMC output voltage steps. Thus, with a small number of power electronic switches and associated gate drive signals and circuits, a GMC can offer a high-quality ac voltage to meet the stringent requirements of high-performance drives and grid-tied converters in low and medium voltages. This paper proposes: 1) a generalized switching strategy to control the output voltage as well as capacitor voltages of H-bridge submodules for a GMC with an arbitrary number of submodules n (this proposed strategy is scalable, which allows for easy modification of the voltage rating or the number of the voltage steps of the GMC) and 2) a systematic analysis for optimal sizing of the submodule capacitors to minimize the required total energy of the installed capacitors. Simulation and experimental case studies evaluate the performance of the proposed switching and capacitor sizing algorithms.