Abstract
For medium and high-powered applications, modular multilevel converters have become the most promising converter application. In this paper, a sliding mode controller based on an RBF neural network is proposed for a modular multilevel converter. The RBF neural network is designed to approximate the uncertainty mathematical model of a modular multilevel converter. The main innovation of the proposed method is that it does not require any model parameters and control parameters during the whole control process. This means that parameter changes caused by the external environment will not influence the controller performances. Finally, by comparing with a conventional PI controller, the simulation proves the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control method. In addition, the experimental results show that the grid-side current can become stable immediately while the active power is stabilized after 20 ms when the set value is changed.