Embedded real-time simulators for electromechanical and power electronic systems using system-on-chip devices

Abstract

[EN] This paper studies the suitability of System-on-Chip (SoC) devices to perform Embedded Real-Time Simulators (eRTS) of electrical systems. These new devices combine powerful ARM processors, a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and other peripherals which make them very convenient for controlling, monitoring and emulating a complete electrical system. There are two main categories of elements with their own respective characteristics and constraints: electromechanical/electromagnetic systems, and switching elements. Accordingly, the proposed investigation will focus on a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) on one hand, and on a Modular Multi-level Converter (MMC) on the other hand. In addition to Real-Time (RT) simulation results, SoC time/resources evaluations will be presented for different implementation strategies: full-software, full-hardware based on High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools, and using 64/32-bit floating- and fixed-point formats. The validity of the MMC implementation will be tested experimentally.