IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO.

9, SEPTEMBER 2011 2457

Control and Design of a Modular Multilevel Cascade

BTB System Using Bidirectional Isolated
DC/DC Converters
Hirofumi Akagi, Fellow, IEEE, and Ryohei Kitada

Abstract—This paper discusses the control and design of the

6.6-kV back-to-back (BTB) system combining bidirectional iso-
lated dc/dc converters and modular multilevel cascade pulsewidth
modulation (PWM) converters. The system consists of multiple
converter cells connected in cascade per phase at both front ends.
Each converter cell consists of a bidirectional isolated medium-
frequency dc/dc converter and two voltage-source H-bridge (single-
phase full-bridge) PWM converters. Extremely low-voltage steps
bring a significant reduction in harmonics and electromagnetic
interference emissions to the BTB system. This paper designs, con-
structs, and tests a single-phase downscaled BTB system rated at Fig. 1. 6.6-kV power distribution system consisting of two radial feeders.
120 V and 3.3 kW to verify the viability and effectiveness, leading
to the actual system.
Index Terms—Back-to-back (BTB) systems, bidirectional
isolated dc/dc converters, multilevel converters.

I. INTRODUCTION
APAN has a challenging plan to install solar generators
J with a total capacity of 28 GW by 2020, and 53 GW by
2030, intended for reducing CO2 emissions from existing power
plants. The installation capacity of 53 GW in 2030 corresponds
to 29% of a peak power demand of 180 GW in 2009.
Fig. 1 shows a simplified utility power distribution system Fig. 2. 6.6-kV modular multilevel cascade BTB system.
consisting of two radial feeders: feeder 1 has no distributed
power generators, whereas feeder 2 has many distributed power
generators. As a result, the so-called back feed may occur sistors (IGBTs) connected in series. However, this trans-
through feeder 2, so that the terminal voltage at the load end formerless system may have a zero-sequence current circulat-
of feeder 2 will increase while that of feeder 1 will decrease. ing between the feeders because the 6.6-kV utility distribu-
This would make it difficult for both feeders to comply with the tion system in Japan is based on a three-phase ungrounded
Japanese utility voltage code, in which the single-phase 100-V, system. The zero-sequence current should be smaller than
50/60-Hz system must range from 95 to 107 V. The reason is 0.2 A to avoid malfunction of grounding-detection relays [1].
that existing devices and techniques such as tap changing of the The authors of [2]–[4] describe a 6.6-kV modular multilevel
primary distribution transformer are no longer useful. cascade BTB system characterized by the use of multiple bidi-
To solve the problem, the authors of [1] have discussed rectional isolated dc/dc converters. Fig. 2 depicts the simplified
the possibility to install a 6.6-kV transformerless back-to- circuit configuration of the BTB system. Two sets of modu-
back (BTB) system using three-phase two-level voltage-source lar multilevel cascade PWM converters with low-voltage steps
pulse-width modulation (PWM) converters. Each arm con- make a significant contribution to mitigating supply (line) har-
sists of a string of eight 3.3-kV insulated-gate bipolar tran- monic currents and electromagnetic interference (EMI) emis-
sions. Moreover, compact and light medium-frequency trans-
formers in the dc/dc converters perform galvanic isolation be-
Manuscript received October 5, 2010; revised December 25, 2010; accepted tween the two feeders, thus, resulting in no circulating zero-
January 8, 2010. Date of current version September 16, 2011. Recommended sequence current.
for publication by Associate Editor P. C. Loh.
H. Akagi is with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engi- In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the electrical railways
neering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan (e-mail: are fed by the single-phase 15-kV, 16 2/3-Hz power lines. This
[email protected]). results in bulky and heavy low-frequency transformers on loco-
R. Kitada is with the Iida Power Center, Chubu Electric Power Company,
Nagoya 461-8680, Japan (e-mail: [email protected]). motives. Many research scientists and engineers in Europe have
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPEL.2011.2107752 been tackling this issues, and have proposed several different
0885-8993/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE

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2458 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

solutions to date. Among them, the tractions systems in [5]–[7]

are similar to the system in [2]–[4] although they are different in
applications, voltage levels, and dc/dc converters. However, few
experimental results have been reported yet about the traction
system. The author of [8] has designed, constructed, and tested
a 3-kV, 350-kVA, 10-kHz transformer having an insulation ca-
pability of 35 kV, which has been intended to be used in the
Fig. 3. Bidirectional isolated dc/dc converter.
traction system [6].
Recently, the authors of [9]–[11] have presented experimental
results obtained from a prototype of a three-port modular mul- Here, ω (=2πf ) is the angular frequency of the medium fre-
tilevel cascade BTB system using bidirectional isolated dc/dc quency f , La is the total inductance of the two external induc-
converters for universal and flexible power management. The tors, and Ltrans is the total leakage inductance of the primary
authors of [11] include simple control block diagrams. How- and secondary sides of the transformer. A capacitor connected
ever, it makes no detailed description of the control method, between the collector and emitter of each IGBT plays an impor-
particularly how to achieve voltage balancing of multiple dc- tant role in performing zero-voltage switching, thus resulting in
link capacitors of the two sets of multilevel cascade H-bridge high conversion efficiency. The authors of [4] estimate that the
PWM converters at both front ends. efficiency from the dc input to output terminals reaches 99%
This paper following the previous papers [2]–[4] discusses a when SiC devices are used.
modular multilevel cascade BTB system with focus on control,
design, and performance. A single-phase downscaled BTB sys- B. Converter Cell
tem rated at 120 V and 3.3 kW is designed, constructed, and
Each converter cell consists of the bidirectional isolated
tested as a first step to a three-phase BTB system, consider-
dc/dc converter and two identical H-bridge PWM converters.
ing a slight difference in control between the single-phase and
As shown in Fig. 2, the cascade connection of N H-bridge
three-phase systems. Experimental results verify the viability
PWM converters per phase forms a cluster in a phase. Three
and effectiveness of the BTB system.
star-connected clusters constitute the three-phase cascade PWM
converter based on the so-called phase-shifted unipolar sinu-
II. OVERVIEW OF THE 6.6-KV BTB SYSTEM soidal PWM at both front ends of Fig. 2. A phase shift of π/N
[rad] is executed for N triangle-carrier signals [13] with each
Fig. 2 shows the system configuration of the 6.6-kV multilevel other. This results in bringing 2N + 1 levels to the line-to-
cascade BTB system [2]–[4]. It consists of multiple converter neutral voltage, and 4N + 1 levels to the line-to-line voltage.
cells per phase, which are connected in cascade at both front Moreover, the equivalent carrier frequency of the cascade PWM
ends. Each converter cell consists of a bidirectional isolated converter is 2N times as high as each PWM carrier frequency.
dc/dc converter at the center and two identical voltage-source
H-bridge converters at both front ends. Thus, the converter cell
C. Universal Power Conditioner
forms a symmetry circuit when it is seen from the medium-
frequency transformer of the dc/dc converter to the two H-bridge It was verified by experiments using downscaled models that
converters. Extremely low-voltage steps bring a significant har- the multilevel cascade PWM converter with star configuration
monic and EMI reduction to the BTB system. Moreover, the is applicable to a transformerless STATCOM [14] and a battery
medium-frequency transformer in each dc/dc converter achieves energy storage system [15]–[18]. Although the BTB system
galvanic isolation between the two H-bridge PWM converters shown in Fig. 2 is intended for active-power control between
at both ends. the two radial feeders, it can act as a STATCOM for reactive-
power control at both front ends. Moreover, it can act as a battery
energy storage system at both front ends when a battery module
A. Bidirectional Isolated DC/DC Converter is installed at either or both dc link(s) in each converter cell.
Fig. 3 shows the detailed circuit configuration of the bidi-
rectional isolated dc/dc converter sitting at the center of each III. EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
converter cell. It consists of two identical single-phase voltage- A. Circuit Configuration
source converters, a medium-frequency transformer, and two
external inductors. The two converters produce 180◦ -conducting Fig. 4 shows the circuit configuration of the single-phase
rectangular voltages vA and vB at their ac terminals. The de- 120-V 3.3-kW downscaled BTB system used in the following
livered active power p is given by a phase difference δ [rad] as experiments. Tables I and II summarize the circuit constants of
follows [12]: the cascade PWM converters, and those of the bidirectional iso-
lated dc/dc converters. The star connection of the three identical
  downscaled systems makes it possible to form the three-phase
vDCA vDCB |δ|
p= δ 1− downscaled BTB system rated at 200 V and 10 kW. A set of
ωL π the three cascade H-bridge PWM converters is equipped with
L = La + Ltrans. (1) an ac-link inductor LAC (7.3%) in each phase at the front end

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AKAGI AND KITADA: CONTROL AND DESIGN OF A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE BTB SYSTEM 2459

Fig. 4. Single-phase downscaled BTB system rated at 120 V and 3.3 kW.

TABLE I
RATINGS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF THE CASCADE PWM CONVERTERS

TABLE II
RATINGS AND SPECIFICATIONS OF THE BIDIRECTIONAL
ISOLATED DC/DC CONVERTERS
Fig. 5. Digital control system configuration.

B. Control System Configuration

Fig. 5 shows the digital control system configuration of the
downscaled BTB system. It is based on a specially designed
digital controller combining a digital signal processor (DSP)
(TI TMS320C31) and an field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
to support an instantaneous-voltage difference between vS and (Altera Cyclone II EP2C70), which can provide 96 logic signals
vPW M . A single-phase line-frequency transformer is used for to the gate-drive circuits of 96 MOSFETs. The software-based
voltage matching between the 200-V ac mains and the 120-V digital phase-locked loop for grid connection is integrated into
downscaled BTB system. Since the cascade number N is equal the DSP. Sampling in this digital controller is carried out at both
to 3, the waveform of vPW M has seven-level voltage steps. The top and bottom of three triangle carrier signals with a phase-
triangle-carrier frequency of each H-bridge PWM converter is shifted angle of 2π/3 each other. As a result, the sampling time
2 kHz, so the equivalent switching frequency is 12 kHz. The is 83.3 μs or one-sixth of 500 μs that is a period of each triangle
medium frequency of each dc/dc converter is 20 kHz. Each carrier signal. The renewal of control references for achieving
20-kHz transformer uses the so-called Finemet ring cores based the so-called phase-shifted unipolar sinusoidal PWM is executed
on a nanocrystalline soft-magnetic material, while that of the at both top and bottom of each triangle carrier signal, so that the
external inductor uses the so-called ferrite. period of the renewal is 250 μs.

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2460 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

Fig. 7. Control block diagram of cascade PWM converters.

Fig. 6. Comparions in p-versus-δ curves between experiment and theory.

IV. CONTROL OF THE DC/DC CONVERTERS

Each converter cell in the BTB system has functions to con-
trol two sets of cascade H-bridge converters at both sides and Fig. 8. Overall control of dc-link voltages.
the bidirectional isolated dc/dc converter at the center. For ex-
ample, the A-side H-bridge converter in the converter cell num-
bered n devotes itself for regulating the mean dc voltage of given as
vDCAn (n = 1, 2, 3) at its reference voltage, while the dc/dc 1
converter devotes itself for adjusting an amount of delivered v̄DC = (v̄DC1 + v̄DC2 + v̄DC3 ) . (4)
3
power from A side to B side, and vice versa.
The delivered power of a converter cell can be determined
by a phase difference δn (n = 1, 2, 3) that is provided to the
corresponding dc/dc converter. The overall delivered power of A. Overall Control of DC-Link Voltages
the BTB system is equal to the sum of the individual delivered Fig. 8 shows the overall control based mainly on voltage feed-
powers of the three converter cells under an ideal condition that back control. The detected and calculated dc voltage v̄DC , given
excludes power loss from the BTB system ∗
by (4), follows its reference vDC . Moreover, the feedforward
 3   current signal coming from feedforward control is added, or
vDCAn vDCBn |δn | subtracted from,1 to the output signal coming from the feed-
p= δn 1 − . (2)
n =1
ωL π back control. The current signal corresponds to the delivered
power p that can be adjusted by the phase difference δ. In the
Since a normal operation provides the same phase difference
following experiments, the p-versus-δ curve uses the broken line
δ (=δ1 = δ2 = δ3 ) to the three dc/dc converters, the overall de-
approximated from the experimental results of Fig. 6.
livered power p is given by
  If the overall control excluded the feedforward control, it
3vDC 2 |δ| could consider the total delivered power as a significant un-
p= δ 1− . (3) known disturbance. This results in deteriorating the operating
ωL π
performance of the overall control. On the other hand, when
Fig. 6 shows comparisons in the same phase difference δ (=δ1 = the overall control includes the feedforward control, it consid-
δ2 = δ3 ) and the total delivered power p between the experiment ers the total power loss as a small unknown disturbance. As a
and the theory based on (1). Some errors existed between them result, the feedforward control makes a significant contribution
because the theory assumes the ideal condition. The p-versus-δ to improving the operating performance of the overall control.
curve drawn by the broken line is used to produce a feedforward
signal in the overall control of the dc-link voltages that will be
B. Individual Balancing Control
described in the next section.
Fig. 9 shows the control block diagram of the individual
V. CONTROL OF DC-LINK MEAN VOLTAGES balancing control. The average of the three dc-link voltages
v̄DC is compared with each dc-link voltage v̄DCn . When v̄DCn
Fig. 7 shows the control block diagram of the two identical
is lower than v̄DC , the controller produces the compensating
cascade PWM converters, which are controlled independently. ∗
voltage vIBn that is in phase with the supply current iS so as
This controller consists mainly of the overall control and the
to absorb an active power from the grid. When v̄DCn is higher
individual balancing control of three dc-link voltages in either ∗
than v̄DC , it produces the compensating voltage vIBn that is out
cascade PWM converter. A low-pass filter (LPF) with a cutoff ◦
of phase by 180 with iS so as to release an active power to the
frequency of 16 Hz attenuates the 100-Hz component contained
in vDCn . For example, v̄DC1 denotes the dc-link voltage of the
converter cell numbered 1 after vDC1 passed through the low- 1 Forward power flow takes “addition” whereas reverse power flow takes
pass filter. The average of the three dc-link voltages, v̄DC is “subtraction.”

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AKAGI AND KITADA: CONTROL AND DESIGN OF A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE BTB SYSTEM 2461

Fig. 9. Individual balancing control between the three converter cells.

grid. Note that the following equation exists:

∗ ∗ ∗
vIB1 + vIB2 + vIB3 = 0. (5)
This means that neither interference nor coupling occurs be-
tween the individual balancing control and the overall control.
However, when iS = 0, the balancing control no longer works
because there is no active power. In the experimental system,
the balancing control is disabled when the absolute value of i∗S
is less than 1 A (3.6%).

C. Expansion Into the Three-Phase Cascade BTB System

It is easy to expand the single-phase BTB system shown in
Fig. 4 into the three-phase BTB system. What should be done is
only to add the cluster balancing control proposed in [14]–[18]
to the overall control and the individual balancing control. In
these papers, the term “cluster” means a set of three cascade
H-bridge PWM converters in a phase. The cluster balancing
control is based on injection of a fundamental-frequency zero-
sequence voltage into the line-to-neutral voltage at the ac side
of each cluster. The zero-sequence voltage is adjusted so as to
balance the dc-link mean voltages among the three clusters as if
N = 1. Injection of the zero-sequence voltage produces no ef-
fect on the three-phase line-to-line voltages at the ac side of the
three clusters. Therefore, it does not affect the three-phase sup-
ply currents iS , and does not interfere with both overall control
and individual balancing control. The effectiveness and viability Fig. 10. Experimental waveforms when an active power of 3.3 kW (rated
of the cluster balancing control has been verified experimentally power) flowed from A side to B side. (a) Cascade PWM converters. (b) DC/DC
by the three-phase STATCOM [14] and the three-phase energy converters.
storage systems [15]–[18]. Thus, the cluster balancing control is
applicable to the three-phase cascade BTB system. However, the B side with no reactive power at both front ends. The total
following experiments are confined to the single-phase system harmonic distortion (THD) was 1.5% in iSA and iSB . The mean
that does not require the cluster balancing control. Experiments dc voltages of vDCAn and vDCBn were well regulated at 65 V,
of the three-phase system equipped with the cluster balancing and the 100-Hz ripple components were 4 V in peak-to-peak
control should be carried out in the near future. (=6%). These ripple components produced no bad effect on the
operation of the three dc/dc converters.
VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Fig. 11 shows experimental waveforms under 50%-power
This section provides and discusses experimental waveforms (1.65 kW) delivered operation with a phase difference of δ =
of voltage and current, which are obtained from Fig. 4. Note 11.7◦ (1.62 μs). Like Fig. 10, no reactive power existed at both
that the phase differences of the three dc/dc converters, δ1 , δ2 , front ends. The THD was 2.5% in iSA and iSB . The 100-Hz
and δ3 are set to be the same as δ. ripple components were 2 V in peak-to-peak (=3%).
Fig. 10 shows experimental waveforms under the full-power Fig. 12 shows transient waveforms in which a phase differ-
(3.3 kW) delivered operation with a phase difference of δ = ence δ was adjusted in such a way as to control the total delivered
25.9◦ (3.6 μs). The waveform of iSA was in phase with that of power from −3.3 to 3.3 kW in a time interval of 500 ms. The
vS , whereas that of iSB was out of phase by 180◦ . This indicates waveform of pLPFA in Fig. 12 was observed as a product of vS
that an active power of 3.3 kW was delivered from A side to and iSA through a first-order LPF with a cutoff frequency of

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2462 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS, VOL. 26, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2011

Fig. 12. Experimental waveforms when δ (=δ1 , δ2 , and δ3 ) was adjusted to

control the total active power from −3.3 to 3.3 kW in 500 ms.

Fig. 11. Experimental waveforms when an active power of 1.65 kW was

delivered from A side to B side. (a) Cascade PWM converters. (b) DC/DC
converters.

5 Hz. The function of the dc voltage regulation in the control

Fig. 13. Experimental waveforms confirming the effectiveness of the individ-
system makes a significant contribution for reducing fluctua- ual voltage-balancing control at the full-power operation of p = 3.3 kW.
tions in the mean dc voltages of vDCAn and vDCBn within 2 V
(= 3%), and for averaging them at 65 V throughout the transient
time interval.
Fig. 13 shows experimental waveforms of voltage and cur- VII. EFFECT OF COMPONENT TOLERANCES ON SYSTEM
STABILITY AND PERFORMANCE
rent before and after the individual balancing control was dis-
abled during the full-power (3.3 kW) delivering operation. The Component tolerances may cause disagreements of circuit
operation with no individual balancing control started causing and control parameters among the three converter cells. This
imbalance among the mean dc voltages of vDCAn and vDCBn . section has an experimental discussion on what effect the dis-
Finally, the activation of the overvoltage protection circuit of agreements produce on system stability and performance. Un-
vDCBn automatically shuts down the experimental system in equal phase differences were given intentionally to the three
400 ms. This result verifies the effectiveness of the individual converter cells to produce different delivered powers in the fol-
balancing control. lowing experiments.

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AKAGI AND KITADA: CONTROL AND DESIGN OF A MODULAR MULTILEVEL CASCADE BTB SYSTEM 2463

TABLE III
DESIGN OF THE 6.6-KV 600-KW BTB SYSTEM USING 1.2-KV IGBTS

VIII. DESIGN OF THE 6.6-KV 600-KW BTB SYSTEM

Table III summarizes a design example of the three-phase 6.6-
kV 600-kW BTB system using the latest 1.2-kV IGBTs that are
Fig. 14. Experimental waveforms when the converter cell numbered 3 was available from the market at reasonable cost. Note that a cascade
different by a 10% reduction in active power from the other converter cells. number N depends on the grid voltage (6.6 kV in Japan) and
the blocking voltage of the IGBTs used. The cascade number
would be assigned as N = 10 when the dc-link voltage of each
converter cell was designed as 700 V. The medium frequency
of each dc/dc converter would be selected as 20 kHz to prevent
the transformer and external inductors from generating acous-
tic noise. The core material would use the high-performance
nanocrystalline soft-magnetic material named as “Finemet” on
the market. On the other hand, the carrier frequency of the
H-bridge converters can be selected as 1 kHz, so that the equiv-
alent carrier frequency gets 20 kHz. This also results in elimi-
nating acoustic noise from the ac-link inductors. The waveform
of the line-to-line voltage of the ac side of the cascade PWM
converter at both front ends results in 41 levels with a voltage
step of 700 V. As a result, no switching-ripple filter would be
required to the BTB system.
The ac-to-ac power conversion efficiency η would be esti-
mated as 94% when the latest 1.2-kV IGBTs are used. How-
ever, it would be improved to more than 98% if 1.2-kV SiC-
Fig. 15. Experimental waveforms when the delivered powers of the converter MOSFETs or SiC-JFETs were available in near future.
cells numbered 2 and 3 were reduced from 1.1 kW to 0.99 kW and 0.88 kW,
respectively.
IX. CONCLUSION
This paper has made a detailed description of a modular mul-
Fig. 14 shows experimental waveforms under a total delivered tilevel cascade PWM BTB system using bidirectional isolated
power of 3.19 kW. Here, the converter cells numbered 1 and 2 dc/dc converters. It is intended for installation on the 6.6-kV
had the same delivered power as 1.1 kW, while the converter power distribution systems in which the BTB system ranges
cell numbered 3 had a delivered power of 0.99 kW. Note that the from 500 to 1,000 kW. A single-phase downscaled BTB sys-
integral control in the individual balancing control was enabled tem has exclusively been designed, constructed, and tested to
at the time of t = 50 ms. Before enabling it, the mean dc voltages verify the effectiveness and viability. Moreover, this paper has
of vDCA1 and vDCA2 had a slight difference from that of vDCA3 . discussed the control system, along with how to expand the
After enabling it, the difference started decreasing gradually, and single-phase system into a three-phase system. However, the
finally disappeared in 300 ms. experimental verification of the three-phase system shown in
Fig. 15 shows experimental waveforms under a total delivered Fig. 2 will be left in future work.
power of 2.97 kW. Here, the converter cells numbered 1, 2, and
3 had delivered powers of 1.1, 0.99, and 0.88 kW, respectively.
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Rufer, and Y. De Novaes, “Control challenges and solutions for a multi- tems FACTS devices.
cellular converter for use in electricity networks,” EPE J., vol 19, no. 4, Dr. Akagi received three IEEE Industry Applications Society Transactions
pp. 2232–2238, Dec. 2009. Prize Paper Awards in 1991, 2004, and 2009, and two IEEE Power Electronics
[12] R. W. De Doncker, D. M. Divan, and M. H. Kheraluwala, “A three- Society Transactions Prize Paper Awards in 1999 and 2003, as well as nine
phase soft-switched high-power density dc/dc converter for high-power IEEE Industry Applications Society Committee Prize Paper Awards. He is the
applications,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 63–73, Jan./Feb. recipient of the 2001 IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award, the
1991. 2004 IEEE Industry Applications Society Outstanding Achievement Award, and
[13] Y. Liang and C. O. Nwankpa, “A new type of STATCOM based on cascad- the 2008 IEEE Richard H. Kaufmann Technical Field Award. He was the Presi-
ing voltage-source inverters with phase-shifted unipolar SPWM,” IEEE dent of the IEEE Power Electronics Society for 2007–2008, and is currently the
Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 1118–1123, Sep./Oct. 1999. Senior Past President.
[14] H. Akagi, S. Inoue, and T. Yoshii, “Control and performance of a trans-
formerless cascade PWM STATCOM with star configuration,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 1041–1049, Jul./Aug. 2007.
[15] L. Maharjan, T. Yoshii, S. Inoue, and H. Akagi, “A transformerless energy
storage system based on a cascade PWM converter with star configura-
tion,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 1621–1630, Sep./Oct.
2008.
[16] L. Maharjan, S. Inoue, H. Akagi, and J. Asakura, “State-of-charge (SOC)-
balancing control of a battery energy storage system based on a cascade
PWM converter,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 1628– Ryohei Kitada was born in Yokohama, Japan, in
1636, Jun. 2009. 1986. He received the B.E. degree from Kanazawa
[17] L. Maharjan, T. Yamagishi, H. Akagi, and J. Asakura, “Fault-tolerant University, Kanazawa, Japan, in 2008, and the M.S.
operation of a battery energy storage system based on a multilevel cascade degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2010,
PWM converter with star configuration,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., respectively, all in electrical engineering.
vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 2386–2396, Sep. 2010. Since 2010, he has been working for Chubu Elec-
[18] L. Maharjan, T. Yamagishi, and H. Akagi, “Active-power control of in- tric Power Company, Nagoya, Japan.
dividual converter cells for a battery energy storage system based on
a multilevel cascade PWM converter,” to be published in IEEE Trans.
Power Electron. in May/Jun. 2010.

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