Resilient two dimensional redundancy based fault-tolerant controller array for modular multi-level converters

Azidehak, Ali; Agarwal, Reena; Yousefpoor, Nima; Dean, Alexander G.; Bhattacharya, Subhashish

doi:10.1109/ecce.2017.8095856

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A resilient controller aims to reduce the effect of a failure utilizing firmware or redundant components. This paper adopts a resilient two-dimensional redundant controller [21], seen in Fig. 4.…”

Section: Modular Distributed Fault-tolerant Controllermentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of a Modular Distributed Fault-tolerant Controller for MMC Applications

Isik¹,

Burugula²,

Alharbi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Centralized control algorithm limits the hardware flexibility of a Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC). Therefore, industrial MMC applications have started adopting distributed control structures. Even though distributed controller reduces a single point of failure risk compared to the centralized controller, the failure risk of the entire control systems increases due to the number of local controllers. However, the distributed controller can be programmed in such a way as to bypass the faulty local controller and take care of the power modules with the adjacent local controllers. This paper implements a modular distributed fault-tolerant controller for a scaled laboratory MMC prototype. Experimental results show that an MMC can operate without interruption, even under two local controller failures. Besides, the experimental results are verified with the Opal-RT, a real-time simulator with the same controller in a Control Hardware in Loop (CHIL) environment.

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Section: Modular Distributed Fault-tolerant Controllermentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of a Modular Distributed Fault-tolerant Controller for MMC Applications

Isik¹,

Burugula²,

Alharbi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is assumed that all SMs operate in the rated operation point before CI appears. Considering that the output control for normal SMs functions effectively during CI, the fundamental frequency component in the MMC output switching function can be regarded as unchanged as given in (18).…”

Section: A Sustention Stagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A fail-safe operation scheme is designed for the MMCs in [17], where the failure of slave controllers or SMs can be recognized in the communication break scenario by continuously checking the incoming data of the master controller. A fault-tolerant control architecture based on MMC distributed systems is presented in [18], in which a set of controllers are endowed with the capabilities to be the master controller and each controller in the control array is linked to the nearby controllers to improve the communication network redundancy. According to the previous research, the CI fault in an MMC system would terminate the data exchange among controllers and might cause system failure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To the best of our knowledge, existing solutions for MMC CI fault mostly focus on the post-fault operation. The network timeout method is mentioned in [18] to detect the failure in the controller modules. However, it is quite tricky to affirm a timeout in a real-time control system for the sake of an equilibrium between the effective protection and avoiding frequently triggering the fault alarm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Resilient Operation of an MMC With Communication Interruption in a Distributed Control Architecture

Yang

Chen

Sun

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Power Electron.

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Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) in HVDC applications usually adopt a distributed control architecture to manage a large number of sub-modules (SMs) through a communication network. The communication congestion and network disconnection might lead to communication interruption (CI) and eventually cause the system to malfunction. In this paper, a resilient operation strategy is proposed and studied to ride through the CI fault, in order to prevent frequent fault SM bypassing, replacement, or even system shutdown. The analysis of the MMC distributed control system with the presence of CI indicates that the insertion index of the faulted SM might become constant, which distorts the output current and results in over-voltage of the communication interrupted SM (CI-SM). The CI-SM capacitor voltage prediction can be used to determine the MMC safe operation period after CI occurs. During the safe operation period, the CI-SM power balance is sustained by utilizing pre-stored phase signals to generate a sinusoidal insertion index according to its capacitor voltage tracking error. Two operation modes are proposed and analyzed to ensure the MMC stable operation under various conditions. The system protection is sensibly used only if the CI duration exceeds a safe operation period, which avoids frequent SM cut-off. Good agreement of the CI-SM capacitor voltage is achieved between the theoretical and simulation results. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed MMC resilient operation are experimentally confirmed.

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“…In case of an LC failure, the adjacent controller takes care of the faulty controller's SM to sustain the MMC operation. The controller is built based on a two-dimensional redundant architecture [28], so each local (slave) controller has a one-dimensional array synchronized with the master controller. As seen in Figure 5, the controller has one master and twelve LCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of a Modular Distributed Fault-Tolerant Controller for MMC Applications

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Centralized control algorithm limits the hardware flexibility of a modular multilevel converter (MMC). Therefore, distributed control structure has recently started to be seen in the industry application. Even though distributed controller reduces a single point of failure risk compared to the centralized controller, the failure risk of the entire control systems increases due to the number of local controllers. However, the distributed controller can be programmed in such a way as to replace the faulty local controller and sustain the MMC operation. In this paper, the distributed modular fault-tolerant controller is implemented in a laboratory-scale MMC prototype. The controller is built to control four SMs per phase for the proof-of-concept. Therefore, the MMC prototype is also built by two SMs per arm. The controller capability is validated with experimental and the Opal-RT result-time simulator results in a control-hardware-in-loop (CHIL) environment.

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Resilient two dimensional redundancy based fault-tolerant controller array for modular multi-level converters

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Implementation of a Modular Distributed Fault-tolerant Controller for MMC Applications

Implementation of a Modular Distributed Fault-tolerant Controller for MMC Applications

Resilient Operation of an MMC With Communication Interruption in a Distributed Control Architecture

Implementation of a Modular Distributed Fault-Tolerant Controller for MMC Applications

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