Modeling, Controlling Approaches, Modulation Schemes, and Applications of Modular Multilevel Converter: Review

There has been a lot of buzz about the recently designed modular multilevel converter (MMC), which is quickly becoming a viable technology for a wide range of high- and medium-power applications. The MMC provides emulous benefits such as excellent output quality, flexible modularity, simple scaling, and low rating demand for the power switches that make it stand out from the competition. MMC topologies, on the other hand, present a number of unique problems, such as reduced voltage stress, significantly lower semiconductor losses, and compactness. A reduced cost of operation for high-power systems such as high-voltage direct current transmission and distribution systems is attributable to these factors. The most significant contribution of this work is to examine MMC applications and various circuit configurations. There is a lot of work being done around the globe for its uses in photovoltaic devices, wind energy conversion, low-/medium-voltage drives, and so on. We will go deep into the topological derivatives, modeling, modulation methods, controlling provisions, fault-tolerant behavior, capacitor voltage balancing techniques of MMC, and a few other topics in this article in detail.