System Level Real-Time Simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of MMCs

Energies, vol. 14, pp. 3046

Abstract

In this paper we present an approach for real-time simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing of Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs) that rely on switching models while supporting system level analysis. Using the Latency Based Linear Multistep Compound (LB-LMC) approach, we achieved a 50 ns simulation time step for systems composed of several MMC converters and for converters of various complexity. To facilitate system level testing, we introduce the use of a serial communication-based (Aurora) interface for HIL testing of MMC converters and we analyzed the effect that communication latency has on the accuracy of the HIL test. The simulation and HIL results are validated against an MMC laboratory prototype.

Authors 5

1. Michele Difronzo

   University of South Carolina

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, 301 Main St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA

2. Md Multan Biswas

   University of South Carolina

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, 301 Main St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA

3. Matthew Milton

   University of South Carolina

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, 301 Main St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA

4. Herbert L. Ginn

   University of South Carolina

   Affiliation as printed

   College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, 301 Main St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA

5. Andrea Benigni corresponding Aachen Chair of Methods for Simulating Energy Systems

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Chair of Methods for Simulating Energy Systems, RWTH-Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Energy and Climate Research: Energy Systems Engineering (IEK-10), Forschungszentrum Juelich, 52428 Juelich, Germany