A Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (P-HIL) Test Bench Using Two Modular Multilevel DSCC Converters for a Synchronous Motor Drive

This paper provides an analytical and experimental discussion on a power hardware-in-the-loop (P-HIL) test bench for a medium-voltage high-power high-speed synchronous motor drive. This test bench consists of two modular multilevel double-star chopper-cell (DSCC) converters connected front-to-front without a transformer. An experimental downscaled P-HIL test bench is designed, constructed, and tested to confirm its operating performance. The three-phase 400-Vdc 10-kW DSCC inverter with eight chopper cells per arm is used as a “real” inverter under test. The other DSCC rectifier is used as a set of a “virtual” three-phase 200-V 10-kW 300-Hz four-pole 9000-r/min synchronous motor and a “virtual” high-speed centrifugal compressor with a quadratic torque-to-speed load characteristic.