A fully automated reconfigurable calculation engine dedicated to the real-time simulation of high switching frequency power electronic circuits

T. Ould Bachir, C. Dufour, J. Bélanger, J. Mahseredjian and J.P. David

Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), 2013, vol. 91, issue C, 167-177

Abstract: Real-time simulation allows rapid deployment and thorough testing of prototyped hardware in the automotive and aerospace industries. However, the simulation of power electronic circuits (PECs) in the context of PC-based simulations is challenging for several reasons, and imposes a limit in the 1–5kHz range to the achievable switching frequencies. As FPGA devices gain computing power, conducting the real-time simulation of PECs on chip becomes an attractive alternative. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of high-performance floating-point calculation engines aimed for the real-time simulation of PECs on high-end and low-cost FPGAs as well. The paper discusses emerging paradigms for reconfigurable floating-point computing that favor optimal performance and offer near double precision arithmetic at a minimal hardware cost. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated by considering three different circuit topologies and simulating their high-frequency stimulation (20kHz) using the same automated calculation engine. The considered circuits are a boost converter, a two-level three-phase bridge, and a two-level-three-phase bridge driven by a boost converter.

Keywords: Real-time simulation; Power electronics; Boost converter; Two-level bridge; Motor drive; FPGA; Floating-point arithmetic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:matcom:v:91:y:2013:i:c:p:167-177

DOI: 10.1016/j.matcom.2012.07.021

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