Integration of HTS Coils in a Lab-Scale Modular Multilevel Converter

High-temperature superconducting coils are achieving technological maturity to be integrated into medium and high-voltage direct current applications. We propose to replace the conventional air-core dry-type arm coils of a modular multilevel converter with high-temperature superconducting coils. The goal is to reduce the the size and weight of arm coils, reduce losses under normal operation and limit the current under fault conditions. To demonstrate the feasibility of this proposition, we integrate air-core superconducting pancake coils in the arms of a single-phase modular multilevel converter prototype. The pancake coils were wound with BSCCO tapes. In this article, we detail the construction of the cryo-MMC and report the first experimental results.