Method for controlling of a modular converter

1. A method for controlling a modular converter,

a) the modular converter comprising a plurality of M converter cells, each converter cell comprising

i) an AC-to-DC converter, a primary side of which represents a primary side of said converter cell, said AC-to-DC converter being an active AC-to-DC converter comprising a plurality of semiconductor switches, and operable in one of a plurality of modes, the plurality of modes comprising a bypassed mode, an active mode, and a diode mode;

ii) a DC-to-DC converter, a secondary side of which represents a secondary side of said converter cell; with

iii) a secondary side of said AC-to-DC converter and a primary side of said DC-to-DC converter connected in parallel with a DC-link capacitor, wherein

b) the primary sides of the converter cells are connected in series, with a first converter cell connected to a line, preferably a medium voltage line, providing an AC line voltage U(t) having a peak value Û, and an M-th converter cell connected to a ground;

the method comprising the steps of:

c) for a given allowable range [U min , U max ] of a DC-voltage U DC at the DC-link capacitor

i) determining whether any integer number N≦M exists for which

ii) Û/N<U min , and

iii) Û/(N−1)>U max ; and

d) if the condition under c) is fulfilled

i) selecting an integer number L with L<N,

ii) selecting a first set of N−L converter cells,

iii) selecting a second set of L converter cells,

iv) putting the AC-to-DC converter of, preferably all, converter cells which have not been selected in steps ii) or iii) into bypassed mode,

v) putting the AC-to-DC converter of, preferably all, converter cells from the first set into diode mode,

vi) putting the AC-to-DC converter of, preferably all, converter cells from the second set into active mode.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further characterized in that the secondary sides of the converter cells are connected in parallel.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further characterized in that the converter cells selected in step d)ii) of claim 1 form a first subset S 1 of the plurality of M converter cells; the converter cells selected in step d)iii) of claim 1 form a second subset S 2 of the plurality of M converter cells; wherein S 1 ∩S 2 =Ø.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of selecting L=1 in step d)i) of claim 1 .

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

a) as long as the condition under c) of claim 1 is fulfilled,

b) repeatedly:

i) selecting a first converter cell from the first set of converter cells,

ii) selecting a second converter cell from the second set of converter cells, and

iii) assigning the first converter cell to the second set of converter cells, and

iv) assigning the second converter cell to the first set of converter cells.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein for a frequency f line of the line voltage, a maximum time span T between successive executions of steps b)i) to b)iv) of claim 5 is smaller than or at least approximately equal to 1/(2 f line ).

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

a) for each converter cell in the first set of converter cells,

b) determining a DC-link voltage U DC,i at the DC-link capacitance of said converter cell,

c) determining a sum U DC,Σ of DC-link voltages U DC,j as U DC,Σ =Σ j=1 N-L U DC,j ,

d) putting converter cells, preferably all converter cells, from the second set into active mode when |U(t)|>U DC,Σ .

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

a) for each converter cell in the first set of converter cells

b) determining a DC-link voltage U DC,i at the DC-link capacitance

c) determining a sum U DC,Σ of DC-link voltages U DC,j as U DC,Σ =Σ j=1 N-L U DC,j ,

d) putting converter cells, preferably all converter cells, from the second set into diode mode when |U(t)|<U DC,Σ .

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of operating the active cells in a PWM mode, wherein semiconductor switches of said converter cell are switched with a PWM frequency f PWM , preferably with f line <<f PWM .

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising the step of controlling PWM pulses for switching the semiconductor switches of active cells by means of closed loop control based on a set value U DC set for the DC-link voltages of the active cells with U DC,set ε[U min , U max ].

11. The method according to claim 1 , further characterized by bypassing converter cells which have not been selected in step ii) or iii) of claim 1 by short circuiting a primary side of said converter cells.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further characterized in that when an AC-to-DC converter of a converter cell is in active mode, its semiconductor switches are repeatedly switched with an average duration τ pulsing between successive, identical switching operations, preferably with τ pulsing <<1/f line , where f line is an AC frequency of the AC line voltage U(t).

13. The method according to claim 12 , further characterized in that in order to put an AC-to-DC converter of a converter cell into diode mode its semiconductor switches are set to blocking state, preferably for a time interval τ diode where τ diode >2τ pulsing , preferably τ diode >>τ pulsing .

14. A controller for controlling a modular converter,

a) the modular converter comprising a plurality of M converter cells, each converter cell comprising

i) an AC-to-DC converter, a primary side of which represents a primary side of said converter cell, said AC-to-DC converter being an active AC-to-DC converter comprising a plurality of semiconductor switches, and operable in one of a plurality of modes, the plurality of modes comprising a bypassed mode, an active mode, and a diode mode,

ii) a DC-to-DC converter, a secondary side of which represents a secondary side of said converter cell, with

iii) a secondary side of said AC-to-DC converter and a primary side of said DC-to-DC converter connected in parallel with a DC-link capacitance; wherein

b) the primary sides of the converter cells are connected in series, with a first converter cell connected to a line, preferably a medium voltage line, providing an AC line voltage U(t) having a peak value Û, and an M-th converter cell connected to a ground;

the controller configured to perform the method comprising the steps of:

c) for a given allowable range [U min , U max ] of a DC-voltage U DC at the DC-line capacitor

i) determining whether any integer number N≦M exists for which

ii) Û/N<U min , and

iii) Û/(N−1)>U max ; and

d) if the condition under c) is fulfilled

i) selecting an integer number L with L<N,

ii) selecting a first set of N−L converter cells,

iii) selecting a second set of L converter cells,

iv) putting the AC-to-DC converter of, preferably all, converter cells which have not been selected in steps ii) or iii) into bypassed mode,

v) putting the AC-to-DC converter of, preferably all, converter cells from the first set into diode mode,

vi) putting the AC-to-DC converter of, preferably all, converter cells from the second set into active mode.

15. The controller according to claim 14 , further characterized in that the controller is configured to repeatedly switch the semiconductor switches of an AC-to-DC converter of a converter cell in order to put said AC-to-DC converter into active mode, with an average duration τ pulsing between successive, identical switching operations, preferably with τ pulsing <<1/f line , where f line is an AC frequency of the AC line voltage U(t).

16. The controller according to claim 15 , further characterized in that the controller is configured to set the semiconductor switches of an AC-to-DC converter of a converter cell to a blocking state, preferably for a time interval τ diode where τ diode >2τ pulsing , preferably τ diode >>τ pulsing , in order to put said AC-to-DC converter into diode mode.