With the large-scale renewable energy development and utilization of desert

gobi

desertification area and offshore wind farms

the demand for low-cost and lightweight modular multilevel converter (MMC) has become more urgent. The three-phase multiplexing arm MMC (TPMA-MMC) provides a new technical solution for the delivery of new energy with its excellent operating characteristics and economy. However

TPMA-MMC faces the narrow operation range and the series connection of devices in the three-phase switching bridge. To address these issues

this article proposes a three-phase multiplexing submodule MMC (TMS-MMC) and introduces an optimization modulation strategy. By constructing a three-phase multiplexing submodule

it realizes multiplexing arm modularization and solves the series connection of devices. Moreover

based on the proposed wide multiplexing period modulation scheme

it extends energy regulation range and further achieves the modulation range to [0

1]. Additionally

theoretical analysis demonstrates that

compared to MMC and TPMA-MMC

TMS-MMC exhibits its outstanding characteristics in terms of submodule quantity

operational losses

and energy storages

et al. Finally

a ±10 kV/1 MW simulation system and a scale-down prototype are developed to validate the proposed topology and modulation principle.