High-speed hardware-in-the loop platform for rapid prototyping of power electronics systems

A hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform for power electronics is presented, which is based on a real-time circuit simulation algorithm and a high-throughput, low-latency processor architecture implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). By using a simulation sampling time of 1 µs, including input/output latency, the platform enables the high-fidelity, real-time simulation of power electronics systems. In addition, to realize real-time digital simulation of power electronics systems the HIL platform uses a flexible modeling environment and novel circuit compiler algorithms. The efficacy of the real-time HIL platform is demonstrated via a simulation of a variable speed induction motor drive. The results are compared with those from a real variable speed drive system under steady state operating conditions. The results demonstrate the feasibility of HIL simulation for power electronics energy conversion systems.