Event-Driven Controller Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation for Modular Multilevel Converters

Controller Hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) simulation is an efficient design tool that directly tests control programs and codes for power electronics converters. However, when dealing with widely-used modular multilevel converters (MMCs), completing extensive power circuit simulation calculations within one control cycle can be challenging due to the large number of modules involved. This paper proposes an event-driven CHIL simulation approach for an MMC with 60 submodules. Unlike conventional time-driven simulations, the proposed method utilizes data interaction events between the simulator and the controller to drive simulation and control calculations. The proposed simulation has asynchronous virtual and actual timings, and the switching frequency of the MMCs in the simulator remains unaffected by asynchronous timings. Finally, the proposed event-driven CHIL simulation is validated through both simulation and experimental results on a 10kVA MMC with 60 submodules.