SHIL and DHIL Simulations of Nonlinear Control Methods Applied for Power Converters Using Embedded Systems

Abstract

In this work, a new real-time Simulation method is designed for nonlinear control techniques applied to power converters. We propose two different implementations: in the first one (Single Hardware in The Loop: SHIL), both model and control laws are inserted in the same Digital Signal Processor (DSP), and in the second approach (Double Hardware in The Loop: DHIL), the equations are loaded in different embedded systems. With this methodology, linear and nonlinear control techniques can be designed and compared in a quick and cheap real-time realization of the proposed systems, ideal for both students and engineers who are interested in learning and validating converters performance. The methodology can be applied to buck, boost, buck-boost, flyback, SEPIC and 3-phase AC-DC boost converters showing that the new and high performance embedded systems can evaluate distinct nonlinear controllers. The approach is done using matlab-simulink over commodity Texas Instruments Digital Signal Processors (TI-DSPs). The main purpose is to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed real-time implementations without using expensive HIL systems such as Opal-RT and Typhoon-HL.