Abstract
Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHiL) simulation is an emerging testing methodology of real hardware equipment within an emulated virtual environment. The closed loop interfacing between the Hardware under Test (HuT) and the Real Time Simulation (RTS) enables a realistic simulation but can also result in an unstable system. In addition to fundamentals in PHiL simulation and interfacing, this paper therefore provides a consistent and comprehensive study of PHiL stability. An analytic analysis is compared with a simulative approach and is supplemented by practical validations of the stability limits in PHiL simulation. Special focus is given on the differences between a switching and a linear amplifier as power interface (PI). Stability limits and the respective factors of influence (e.g., Feedback Current Filtering) are elaborated with a minimal example circuit with voltage-type Ideal Transformer Model (ITM) PHiL interface algorithm (IA). Finally, the findings are transferred to a real low-voltage grid PHiL application with residential load and photovoltaic system.
Highlights
A drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector requires a fundamental transition of energy supply [1]
A general analysis of Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHiL) stability based on Nyquist stability criterion applied to the transfer function of a simplified circuit has been shown
The findings have been applied to an offline model of an exemplary PHiL simulation case, which was implemented in MATLAB SimulinkTM, to investigate the margin of stable PHiL simulation
Summary
A drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector requires a fundamental transition of energy supply [1]. Experimental validations of PHiL stability criteria with a linear power amplifier as power interface (PI) are shown in [6,10,14] whereas switching inverters are applied in [11,15]. To the knowledge of the author, no work has been done that explicitly applies PHiL stability theory to directly compare linear and switching inverters with the same real-time model and hardware setup. The modeling approach is validated with a real PHiL laboratory setup with both a linear and a switching amplifier in comparison. The findings are transferred to a simulative PHiL model and are experimentally validated in Section 4 with respect to the differences between linear and switching PI.
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