Power Electronics Development Center
Brief Introduction to Real-Time HIL Simulation of Power Converters
A ten minute crash course on the real-time HIL simulation of power converters covering the following topics:
- What is real-time HIL simulation all about?
- What are the challenges for real-time simulation of power electronics?
- What types of switched mode power supply (SMPS) systems can we simulate?
- Why are real-time HIL simulations needed for testing and validating?
- Why is it necessary to execute the simulations on FPGA hardware?
- How fast do the real-time simulations need to be, relative to the PWM frequency of the inverter?
- How to execute state-space and FEA-based simulations in FPGA hardware?
- What simulation timesteps can be achieved in FPGA hardware?
- How do you develop and test your fixed point state-space simulation models by benchmarking against a "gold standard" Multisim model?
- Why is it necessary to have a piecewise set of state-space models to represent an SMPS?
Finally, see a demonstration of a real-time state-space simulation of a 3-phase inverter executing at MHz speeds in FPGA hardware.
(View full screen high definition video.)
Recommended Next Steps After Viewing the Tutorial:
- Download the Power Electronics Platform Guide (includes more in depth slides on these topics):
- Download the LabVIEW code you saw demonstrated in the video (and watch in-depth tutorial videos explaining the code):
- View the entire IEEE Spectrum webcast on power converter control design featuring four additional speakers covering related topics (including a brief introduction to analog grid simulation using mini-scale systems by Dr. Kalyan K. Sen)
spectrum.ieee.org/webinar/2118882
- See a presentation on new 7.5 MW and 15 MW digital dynomometers in development that will enable full power real-time HIL testing of grid connected equipment by simulating either the power grid (for motor/generator/inverter testing or any other grid connected system), the motor/generator, solar array, etc. (for inverter testing), or the inverter (for motor/generator testing, solar array testing, grid storage testing, etc.). The digital dynomometers are advanced bidirectional, multilevel, megawatt size inverters operating at 4160 V controlled by NI Single-Board RIO and LabVIEW FPGA, as shown in the screenshots below from this slide deck.
HIL at Savannah River National Laboratory and the Clemson Drive Train Test Facility
