Reformulation of a Linear Program to Reduce the Average Current in a Modular Multilevel Converter

A modular multilevel converter contains many capacitor full-bridge converter cells. An increased capacitance in the converter means a large overall converter size and increased converter cost. Previous research has investigated methods to reduce converter cell capacitance. One paper presents an iterative linear program to reduce the capacitance while limiting the average currents. The work presented in this paper modifies the linear program to further reduce average currents for similar reduction in capacitance. Furthermore, the results presented here show root-mean-square currents will also be reduced.