A General Interpolated Model of Voltage Source Converters for Real-time Simulation and HIL Test Applications

Abstract

As voltage source converters (VSCs) are widely used in many areas, electrical systems contain more power converters with higher switching frequency than ever before. That brings challenges to system modelling and simulation, especially for real time and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests. Efforts on the matrix pre-calculation methods, system decoupling methods, and converter modelling methods presented in literature contribute to address the challenges but with certain limitation. This paper proposes a general interpolated VSC model, which works for different VSC topologies, integrates the interpolation technique for high switching frequencies, and allows system decoupling to overcome the switch number limit. The model is validated through two test systems with either open-loop or closed-loop controls. Results show the model has fast simulation speed and equal or better accuracy at 50 µs time-step compared to the reference model at 1 µs time step, therefore, is suitable for real time simulation and HIL tests.