A digital platform for real-time simulation of power converters with high switching frequency

In this paper, we propose a new implementation method for the rapid prototyping of power converters. A Field-Programmable Gate Array emulates the temporal equations of the device while analog interfaces allow to use the platform to test control and protection systems in a nearly seamless way. A description of the converter based on an ideal on-off model for the power switches is used in order to obtain multiple topologies for the same device. Each on these topologies is described by its own equations and corresponds to a specific set of states of the switches. A topology selector based on the control signals and the internal currents and voltages allows to find the correct equations in less than 10ns and a mid-point linear solver calculates the outputs in a few hundreds of nanoseconds. The solver also takes care of the passive switches (i.e. diodes) to ensure that they don't go outside their current/voltage limit values. The whole process is described with a boost converter, and results show the great accuracy of our method even for high (≥ 100kHz) switching frequencies and sampling periods of less than 1μs.

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