Using a fully digital rapid prototype platform in grid-coupled power electronics applications

This paper describes a rapid development system that was used to speed up implementation and testing of a number of grid-coupled power electronic systems. The system uses a fully software reconfigurable processing core based on a powerful DSP and FPGA and a limited set of well-specified functional hardware blocks. Three examples using the same hardware in diverse areas of power electronic control demonstrate that this technique allows the implementation of demanding state-of-the-art power electronics systems, with the important benefit of a much reduced development time and increased reliability. It also proves to be an excellent tool in power electronics courses.