Modular voltage source converter

1. A modular voltage source converter, comprising:

a plurality of cells conformal to a basic cell design comprising a first and a second terminal, a capacitor and at least two switches arranged in a half-bridge configuration, wherein:

a first group is formed by a number n of said cells connected serially at their terminals; and

a second group is formed by an equal number n of said cells connected serially at their terminals,

wherein each of the terminals of the cells in said first group are connected, via a current limiting connecting element, to a corresponding one of the terminals of a corresponding one of the cells in said second group and the serial connections between the cell terminals are realized as low-impedance conductive elements.

2. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein the basic cell design comprises four switches arranged in a full-bridge configuration.

3. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said connecting elements is a resistive element.

4. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said connecting elements is an inductive element.

5. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein said connecting element is adapted to structurally reinforce the converter.

6. The modular voltage source converter of claim 4 , wherein said connecting element is a bar of a high-resistivity material.

7. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein corresponding cells belonging to different groups are operated in such manner as to provide identical momentary terminal voltages.

8. The modular voltage converter of claim 1 , further comprising a controller for controlling the conduction state of switches in the cells, wherein the controller is configured to set corresponding switches of corresponding cells belonging to different groups into a common conduction state.

9. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , further comprising at least one current sensor arranged to sense current flowing in said connecting element.

10. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein:

at least one further group is formed by an equal number n of cells connected serially at their terminals; and

said connecting elements connect the first terminals of corresponding cells in said first, second and at least one further groups.

11. The modular voltage source converter of claim 1 , wherein a switch in the basic cell design is one of:

an insulated gate bipolar transistor, IGBT;

a reverse-conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor, RC-IGBT;

a bi-mode insulated gate transistor, BIGT;

a gate turn-off thyristor, GTO;

an integrated gate commutated thyristor, IGCT;

a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, MOSFET.

12. A method in a modular voltage source converter, comprising the steps of:

repeating a basic cell design comprising a first and a second terminal, a capacitor and at least two switches arranged in a half-bridge or full-bridge configuration, to provide a plurality of cells;

connecting a number n of said cells serially at their terminals to form a first group;

connecting an equal number n of cells serially at their terminals to form a second group; and

connecting each of the terminals of the cells in said first group to a corresponding one of the terminals of a corresponding one of the cells in said second group using a current limiting connecting element,

wherein the number n of cells in each group is chosen in accordance with a rated switching voltage and the serial connections between the cell terminals are realized as low-impedance conductive elements.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the steps of:

i) connecting an equal number n of cells to form a further group;

ii) connecting the terminals of corresponding cells belonging to different groups using said connecting element; and

repeating steps i) and ii) until a number m of parallel groups is provided, wherein the number m of parallel groups is chosen in accordance with a rated switching current.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the steps of:

operating corresponding cells belonging to different groups in such manner as to provide identical momentary terminal voltage at the terminals of each of the cells, wherein the terminals of the cells are interconnected via said connecting elements;

sensing a current flowing through the connecting element and determining, in response to the current exceeding a threshold, an abnormal condition.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, in response to an abnormal condition having been determined, the step of:

locating at least one faulty cell; and

operating those cells which correspond to the faulty cell and belong to different groups in a zero-voltage mode.

16. The modular voltage source converter of claim 2 , wherein at least one of said connecting elements is a resistive element.

17. The modular voltage source converter of claim 2 , wherein at least one of said connecting elements is an inductive element.

18. The modular voltage source converter of claim 2 , wherein said connecting element is adapted to structurally reinforce the converter.

19. The modular voltage source converter of claim 3 , wherein said connecting element is adapted to structurally reinforce the converter.

20. The modular voltage source converter of claim 4 , wherein said connecting element is adapted to structurally reinforce the converter.