Abstract: A control device and method for large power converters having a high number of power cells may contain power semiconductor switching elements, receive commands from a central control unit, and send information to the central control unit. The control device comprises multiplexer/demultiplexer device(s), which comprises an uplink port for connection to the central control unit, a plurality of downlink ports for direct connection to a communications interface of an associated power cell, and a communications control and management module. The communications control and management module may extract information from a transmit frame received from the central control unit via the uplink port, may feed this information to the corresponding downlink port for the relevant power cell , may insert response information received from particular power cells into a receive frame, and may send this via the uplink port to the central control unit.

Abstract: A control device and method for large power converters having a high number of power cells may contain power semiconductor switching elements, receive commands from a central control unit, and send information to the central control unit. The control device comprises multiplexer/demultiplexer device(s), which comprises an uplink port for connection to the central control unit, a plurality of downlink ports for direct connection to a communications interface of an associated power cell, and a communications control and management module. The communications control and management module may extract information from a transmit frame received from the central control unit via the uplink port, may feed this information to the corresponding downlink port for the relevant power cell , may insert response information received from particular power cells into a receive frame, and may send this via the uplink port to the central control unit.