FPGA Based Real Time Simulation for Electrical Machines

This paper presents a new approach for the real-time simulation of electrical motors based on a single FPGA chip. The study is aimed at not only developing a high performance and flexible platform for testing and rapid prototyping of motor control systems, but also providing a low-cost replacement supplement of large and expensive electrical machines for education purposes. A non-linear model is introduced, which represent a typical motor with a rated power of 70kW. The real time simulation is based on the well-known Runge-Kutta solver, but it is revised and optimised for PFGA implementations. Other implementation issues are also studied, including the conversion from float point to fixed point data processing and development of appropriate processing architecture.