An Overview of Current Source Converters: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends

Current source converter (CSC) has gained wide research interest in the last decade because CSC complements voltage-source converters and enjoys the advantages like directly controlling the output current, inherent short-circuit protection ability, high reliability, voltage boosting as inverter, voltage bucking as rectifier, etc. With the anticipated commercialization of CSC, many key technical problems arise with respect to industrial applications, which has drawn increasing attention in the existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to group and review these latest contributions, underscore the current status and project the possible trends of research. In this overview, the research and applications of CSC across various fields are outlined. Then, various two-level and multilevel CSCs are thoroughly discussed. The concepts of AC-link multilevel and DC-link multilevel are firstly coined for CSC research domain and some are got further generalized through the duality and graph isomorphism. Furthermore, typical modulation and control strategies of CSC are reviewed, elucidating four pivotal issues encountered in practical CSC applications. The latest research and methods to solve or optimize these problems are summarized and discussed. Finally, future trends and challenges within the field of CSC are discussed, aiming to inspire subsequent contributions and novel possibilities.