We are pleased to inform you that our team of four - Edik Planson, Emeric Brun, Benjamin Lebrun, and Yohann Eldin - is currently working on the prototyping of a Multi-Level Converter (MMC).
This work is being carried out as part of a university project and involves the use of OwnTech products.
More specifically, we are developing the lower arm of a four-module leg (with an additional module dedicated to the master control).
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Ana Luiza Haas Bezerra, whose documentation on MMCs has been extremely helpful for our project.
Here is an update on our MMC prototyping project progress.
We have successfully completed the integration of a 5-module MMC Lower Arm using OwnTech Twist boards in a 1 Master / 4 Slaves architecture, as part of our SAE Hackathon Energy project.
This work was inspired by the TWIST MMC tutorial project (initially developed for an Upper Arm with 3 modules), which we adapted, extended, and re-engineered for a Lower Arm topology with 5 modules.
Hardware
Twist boards modified for series operation (0Ω resistors replacing fuses, auxiliary power isolation)
48V DC main power bus and chained 6V auxiliary supply for SPIN controllers
Full rack integration and dedicated autonomous test circuit (with load resistance and protection diode)
Software
Control code adapted to 5 modules
UID-based addressing for deterministic Ethernet communication
Integration of NLM modulation and CVB (Capacitor Voltage Balancing) algorithm
Stable Master/Slave network communication
Status
Communication, control, and startup sequences are fully operational
A mid-week blocking issue was traced to a faulty switching board
The issue was solved by reassigning roles:
the faulty board now acts as Master (control + network only)
a healthy board was inserted in the power chain as Slave
The system is now unlocked and fully functional.
Next steps
Long-duration validation of the CVB algorithm
Coupling with an Upper Arm to form a complete MMC phase-leg
Final hardware consolidation
Best regards,
Edik Planson
On behalf of the team
IUT of Toulouse