Comparison of high voltage modular AC/DC converters

In this paper, AC/DC converters for high voltage and high power applications are compared. Particularly Flying Capacitor Multicell and Modular Multilevel topologies are under consideration. The study is achieved in terms of power losses and total energy stored in the capacitors. A brief description of the topologies is given, and the main sizing criteria such as DC voltage, AC current and capacitor voltage ripple are presented. The Methodology for the analytical calculation of the losses in the devices is described for each topology. By considering a typical high power case study, simulation results are used to validate the analytical calculation. Finally, the calculation of the energy stored in the capacitors completes the comparative study.