Control system communication architecture for power electronic building blocks

Recent developments in SiC power devices have enabled the development of Power Electronic Building Blocks (PEBBs) having greater switching frequencies than Si-based devices such as IGBTs, but also require shorter time scales in their corresponding control systems. At the same time, system designers are scaling up modularized converter systems, such as the Modular Multilevel Converter, which can now comprise hundreds of PEBBs. Both of those trends present the need to evaluate architectural tradeoffs and communication requirements for hardware realizations of the Universal Controller Architecture. The control network should be designed to have minimal round-trip latency and maximal scalability. In this paper we present the results of a study to determine the most appropriate communication architecture and routing for networked PEBB control systems.