LAUSR

A seven-level modified packed U-cell (MPUC7) based static synchronous compensator (MPUC7-STATCOM) with an autotuned finite control-set model predictive control (AFCS-MPC) is introduced in this article. MPUC7-STATCOM is a compact four-quadrant cascaded topology that comprises merely six switches and two isolated dc capacitors. Thus, in comparison with a seven-level cascaded H-bridge (CHB) based STATCOM, not only the proposed configuration has exceptionally reduced active/passive component count, but also MPUC7-STATCOM designed AFCS-MPC control method complexity is attenuated meaningfully. Boost-mode operation and low voltage rating of the components can be also mentioned as the merits of the MPUC7-STATCOM. Using the proposed AFCS-MPC, nonlinearities of the MPUC7 converter have been considered and both capacitors’ voltages are directly regulatable at different desired amounts accurately. Moreover, the weighting factors of the proposed AFCS-MPC are tunable automatically in real-time. Consequently, MPUC7-STATCOM has a desirable dynamic operation and its capacitors’ values are reduced. Provided simulation and experimental results validate the viability of the MPUC7-STATCOM topology and robustness of the designed AFCS-MPC method as well as its steady-state and dynamic operation.