Multi-node Communication Solution for Synchronous Control of Distributed Power Electronic Devices

Abstract

The development of power electronic devices and advances in control engineering made the application of sophisticated control algorithms possible. The state of the art solution assumes that each device has an integrated controller that closes a local control loop. Remote control is achieved by receiving commands and reference values from the central unit through the same communication channel. The update rate is usually a few times slower than the computational step of the algorithm implemented locally. However, this approach brings some problems to synchronization of switching times of low level power electronics components. Such problem arises for applications using larger number of switches or when parallel operation of converters is a requirement. This article presents a solution to synchronize common clock over multiple nodes connected in a daisy-chain topology. Thus, it gives an opportunity to synchronize transmitted data to the respect of a single bit. In the end it is possible to achieve nanosecond resolution of the switching times for a multi-node network that could be highly distributed.