Power electronic control system development environment on a multi-core platform

Digital controller platforms for power electronic converters have typically been based on a single high performance digital processor, often coupled with a programmable logic gate array. The digital processor is usually a digital signal processor (DSP). Often, a highly optimized real-time operating system provides multitasking features for the controller code execution on a single processor core. However, the recent availability of multi-core microprocessors has opened up the possibility of implementing power electronic control systems that execute their code in parallel threads on multiple cores. This has been further facilitated by the availability of multiprocessor real-time operating systems that permit the organization of the controller code in multiple threads. This paper presents the structure of an environment in which control system code for power electronic converters can be easily designed and laid out in multiple threads for parallel execution. The structure makes use of the Function Block (FB) model as defined in IEC Standard 61499. The FB model provides a modular framework that facilitates the easy implementation of advanced power electronic control strategies. As an experimental example, this paper presents the controller for a four-leg shunt active power filter. The controller is implemented on a desktop computer with a 4-core 2.4 GHz microprocessor, running a real-time multiprocessor operating system. The gate pulses to the power electronic converter, and current and voltage feedback from the converter, are handled by a standard input/output card placed inside the computer.