Optimal Selective Harmonic Mitigation Technique on Variable DC Link Cascaded H-Bridge Converter to Meet Power Quality Standards

Abstract

In this paper, power quality standards such as IEC 61000-3-6, IEC 61000-2-12, EN 50160, and CIGRE WG 36-05 are fulfilled for single- and three-phase medium-voltage applications using selective harmonic mitigation-pulsewidth modulation in a cascaded H-bridge (CHB) converter. Furthermore, the ER G5/4 power quality standard, which has the strictest grid codes at the medium-voltage level, will also be met in the whole range of the modulation indices. In order to achieve this goal, a symmetrical CHB with variable dc links are employed, while the converter has a low number of switching transitions. In other words, all of the dc link voltages have the same voltage, which is dependent on the modulation index. Finally, in order to validate the effectiveness and the applicability of the proposed method, it is verified by simulations and experiments for a seven-level CHB converter.