Predictive Current Control Strategy for a Multi-Modular Matrix Converter

Matrix converter technology have so far been mainly limited to low power applications. Multi-level voltage source converters are often used for high power applications. In order to combine the good characteristics of both topologies this paper presents the principle of operation of multi-modular matrix converters. Among all the proposed control techniques, predictive control has become a viable and highly versatile option due to its ability to cope with different operating requirements. Therefore this paper also proposes a predictive control technique with a fixed switching frequency applied to the multi-modular matrix converter as well as a comparison of the performance between the proposed control and a variable switching frequency counterpart, showing the advantages and disadvantages between the two strategies.