High-speed Sampled-data Control of Digital Grid Routers using LabVIEW FPGA Program

FPGA has gradually become more accessible in control engineering fields in recent years. This technology brings also digitalized control methods to power industry. However, the specific knowledge of hardware description languages is indispensable to developers for controlling FPGA. Among the tools converting programming languages, such as C and C Sharp, to hardware description languages, LabVIEW FPGA module takes the advantage of the conversion method and keeps the intuitiveness equivalent to NI LabVIEW graphical programming language. This paper presents NI LabVIEW FPGA program for high speed ADC sampling and lab experiments of a power flow control device called Digital Grid Router. The Digital Grid Routers, computer controlled multi-leg AC/DC/AC converter with internet communications, are controlled by FPGA-based programming and achieve 4 MHz sampling of current and voltage sensors. The intuitive FPGA programming tool, NI LabVIEW FPGA module, enables us, control design engineers, to develop the FPGA-based controller efficiently in short time without any specific knowledge of hardware description languages.