FPGA-Assisted Distribution Grid Simulator

Abstract

The inclusion of multiple Distributed Energy Resources in the modern distribution grid, which are integrated in the grid via high frequency power electronic components, imposes the need to incorporate the transient behavior of those components in the traditional node based simulation of distribution grid. The different simulation time steps associated with this interaction is addressed by incorporating hardware assisted (FPGA) co-simulation platforms. This co-simulation platform can capture simultaneously time-steps of tenths of μs and less than one μs. This is achieved by exploiting the inherent parallelism of FPGAs in combination with customized modeling of power electronic components so as to accurately simulate them. Those simulation models are fed to the node based grid simulation running in the general purpose machine, enabling the capture of all transient phenomena for ensuring operational integrity, monitoring and control of the grid. As proof of concept of our work in progress, the implementation of a one phase PWM full bridge inverter is demonstrated, and results obtained by Matlab/Simulink and FPGA prove the models’ validity.