High performance DSP/FPGA controller for implementation of computationally intensive algorithms

Increasingly complex power electronic control algorithms are continually being developed and refined. Most of these algorithms are only proven through simulation, because of the lack of easy-to-use high performance controllers. The design of such a controller involves specialised knowledge of high-speed digital engineering, to which a lot of power electronic engineers do not have access. This leads to the current situation where these algorithms are not as widely used, as their performance would suggest. This paper discusses the evaluation of digital controllers and presents a high performance, easy-to-use DSP/FPGA controller. The controller's performance is illustrated by the implementation of a real time, predictive, inner loop current controller, for a single-phase full-bridge IGBT converter.