scholarly journals Analysis of Resolution in Feedback Signals for Hardware-in-the-Loop Models of Power Converters

Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1527
Author(s):  
María Sofía Martínez-García ◽  
Angel de Castro ◽  
Alberto Sanchez ◽  
Javier Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Power Converters ◽  
Design Criterion ◽  
Feedback Signal ◽  
Hardware In The Loop ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Gate Arrays ◽  
State Variable ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
Programmable Gate Arrays ◽  
Optimum Width

One of the main techniques for debugging power converters is hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), which is used for real-time emulation. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are the most common design platforms due to their acceleration capability. In this case, the widths of the signals have to be carefully chosen to optimize the area and speed. For this purpose, fixed-point arithmetic is one of the best options because although the design time is high, it allows the personalization of the number of bits in every signal. The representation of state variables in power converters has been previously studied, however other signals, such as feedback signals, can also have a big influence because they transmit the value of one state variable to the rest, and vice versa. This paper presents an analysis of the number of bits in the feedback signals of a boost converter, but the conclusions can be extended to other power converters. The purpose of this work is to study how many bits are necessary in order to avoid the loss of information, but also without wasting bits. Errors of the state variables are obtained with different sizes of feedback signals. These show that the errors in each state variable have similar patterns. When the number of bits increases, the error decreases down to a certain number of bits, where an almost constant error appears. However, when the bits decrease, the error increases linearly. Furthermore, the results show that there is a direct relation between the number of bits in feedback signals and the inputs of the converter in the global error. Finally, a design criterion is given to choose the optimum width for each feedback signal, without wasting bits.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Different Numerical Formats for HIL Models of Power Converters after the Adoption of VHDL-2008 by Xilinx

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 1952
Author(s):  
Eva M. Cirugeda-Roldán ◽  
María Sofía Martínez-García ◽  
Alberto Sanchez ◽  
Angel de Castro
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Power Converters ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Hardware In The Loop ◽  
Main Design ◽  
Gate Arrays ◽  
The World ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
Programmable Gate Arrays ◽  
Area Optimization

Hardware in the loop is a widely used technique in power electronics, allowing to test and debug in real time (RT) at a low cost. In this context, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) play an important role due to the high-speed requirements of RT simulations, in which area optimization is also crucial. Both characteristics, area and speed, are affected by the numerical formats (NFs) and their rounding modes. Regarding FPGAs, Xilinx is one of the largest manufacturers in the world, offering Vivado as its main design suite, but it was not until the release of Vivado 2020.2 that support for the IEEE NF libraries of VHDL-2008 was included. This work presents an exhaustive evaluation of the performance of Vivado 2020.2 in terms of area and speed using the native IEEE libraries of VHDL-2008 regarding NF. Results show that even though fixed-point NFs optimize area and speed, if a user prefers the use of floating-point NFs, with this new release, it can be synthesized—which could not be done in previous versions of Vivado. Although support for the native IEEE libraries of VHDL-2008 was included in Vivado 2020.2, it still lacks some issues regarding NF conversion during synthesis while support for simulation is not yet included.

scholarly journals Comparison of Different Design Alternatives for Hardware-in-the-Loop of Power Converters

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 926
Author(s):  
Elyas Zamiri ◽  
Alberto Sanchez ◽  
Marina Yushkova ◽  
Maria Sofia Martínez-García ◽  
Angel de Castro
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Power Converters ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Hardware In The Loop ◽  
Gate Arrays ◽  
Design Alternatives ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
Programmable Gate Arrays ◽  
Hardware Description ◽  
High Level

This paper aims to compare different design alternatives of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) for emulating power converters in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). It proposes various numerical formats (fixed and floating-point) and different approaches (pure VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL), Intellectual Properties (IPs), automated MATLAB HDL code, and High-Level Synthesis (HLS)) to design power converters. Although the proposed models are simple power electronics HIL systems, the idea can be extended to any HIL system. This study compares the design effort of different coding methods and numerical formats considering possible synthesis tools (Precision and Vivado), and it comprises an analytical discussion in terms of area and speed. The different models are synthesized as ad-hoc modules in general-purpose FPGAs, but also using the NI myRIO device as an example of a commercial tool capable of implementing HIL models. The comparison confirms that the optimum design alternative must be chosen based on the application (complexity, frequency, etc.) and designers’ constraints, such as available area, coding expertise, and design effort.

scholarly journals Exploring the Limits of Floating-Point Resolution for Hardware-In-the-Loop Implemented with FPGAs

Electronics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Sanchez ◽  
Elías Todorovich ◽  
Angel de Castro
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Floating Point ◽  
Hardware In The Loop ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Numerical Resolution ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
State Variable ◽  
Simulation Step ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
The Difference

As the performance of digital devices is improving, Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) techniques are being increasingly used. HIL systems are frequently implemented using FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) as they allow faster calculations and therefore smaller simulation steps. As the simulation step is reduced, the incremental values for the state variables are reduced proportionally, increasing the difference between the current value of the state variable and its increments. This difference can lead to numerical resolution issues when both magnitudes cannot be stored simultaneously in the state variable. FPGA-based HIL systems generally use 32-bit floating-point due to hardware and timing restrictions but they may suffer from these resolution problems. This paper explores the limits of 32-bit floating-point arithmetics in the context of hardware-in-the-loop systems, and how a larger format can be used to avoid resolution problems. The consequences in terms of hardware resources and running frequency are also explored. Although the conclusions reached in this work can be applied to any digital device, they can be directly used in the field of FPGAs, where the designer can easily use custom floating-point arithmetics.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Filtering Approaches Using Low-Speed DACs for Hardware-in-the-Loop Implemented in FPGAs

Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yushkova ◽  
Sanchez ◽  
de Castro ◽  
Martínez-García
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Hardware In The Loop ◽  
Low Speed ◽  
Digital To Analog Converters ◽  
Gate Arrays ◽  
Simulation Techniques ◽  
Input Signals ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
Programmable Gate Arrays ◽  
Input Waveform

The use of Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) systems implemented in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) is constantly increasing because of its advantages compared to traditional simulation techniques. This increase in usage has caused new challenges related to the improvement of their performance and features like the number of output channels, while the price of HIL systems is diminishing. At present, the use of low-speed Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs) is starting to be a commercial possibility because of two reasons. One is their lower price and the other is their lower pin count, which determines the number and price of the FPGAs that are necessary to handle those DACs. This paper compares four filtering approaches for providing suitable data to low-speed DACs, which help to filter high-speed input signals, discarding the need of using expensive high-speed DACS, and therefore decreasing the total cost of HIL implementations. Results show that the selection of the appropriate filter should be based on the type of the input waveform and the relative importance of the dynamics versus the area.

scholarly journals FPGA-Based Controller for a Hybrid Grid-Connected PV/Wind/Battery Power System with AC Load

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2108
Author(s):  
Mohamed Yassine Allani ◽  
Jamel Riahi ◽  
Silvano Vergura ◽  
Abdelkader Mami
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Hybrid System ◽  
High Voltage ◽  
Field Programmable Gate Arrays ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Maximum Power ◽  
Hybrid Energy ◽  
Gate Arrays ◽  
Field Programmable ◽  
Programmable Gate Arrays

The development and optimization of a hybrid system composed of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, converters, and batteries connected to the grid, is first presented. To generate the maximum power, two maximum power point tracker controllers based on fuzzy logic are required and a battery controller is used for the regulation of the DC voltage. When the power source varies, a high-voltage supply is incorporated (high gain DC-DC converter controlled by fuzzy logic) to boost the 24 V provided by the DC bus to the inverter voltage of about 400 V and to reduce energy losses to maximize the system performance. The inverter and the LCL filter allow for the integration of this hybrid system with AC loads and the grid. Moreover, a hardware solution for the field programmable gate arrays-based implementation of the controllers is proposed. The combination of these controllers was synthesized using the Integrated Synthesis Environment Design Suite software (Version: 14.7, City: Tunis, Country: Tunisia) and was successfully implemented on Field Programmable Gate Arrays Spartan 3E. The innovative design provides a suitable architecture based on power converters and control strategies that are dedicated to the proposed hybrid system to ensure system reliability. This implementation can provide a high level of flexibility that can facilitate the upgrade of a control system by simply updating or modifying the proposed algorithm running on the field programmable gate arrays board. The simulation results, using Matlab/Simulink (Version: 2016b, City: Tunis, Country: Tunisia, verify the efficiency of the proposed solution when the environmental conditions change. This study focused on the development and optimization of an electrical system control strategy to manage the produced energy and to coordinate the performance of the hybrid energy system. The paper proposes a combined photovoltaic and wind energy system, supported by a battery acting as an energy storage system. In addition, a bi-directional converter charges/discharges the battery, while a high-voltage gain converter connects them to the DC bus. The use of a battery is useful to compensate for the mismatch between the power demanded by the load and the power generated by the hybrid energy systems. The proposed field programmable gate arrays (FPGA)-based controllers ensure a fast time response by making control executable in real time.

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