PLECS RT BOX and NI MyRIO based educational power electronics Hardware In the Loop setup

In this paper, a novel Hardware in the Loop (HIL) simulation setup for educational purposes will be presented based on PLECS RT BOX CE and National Instruments MyRIO 1900 Embedded Controller. The actual setup can be used for studying the implementation process of the power electronics control algorithm based on the "virtual hardware model" of the desired electronic power stage topology. PLECS RT BOX I HIL simulator uses the PLECS software as test, modeling, programming and HIL management environment. PLECS is also powerful power off-line electronics dedicated simulation environment. The NI MyRIO 1900 is an educational embedded development platform based on a reconfigurable logic core (FPGA) and a Real – Time dedicated ARM processor. This kind of approach allows the end user not only to re-program the CPU, but also to re-configure the peripherals of the embedded controller. The NI MyRIO 1900 can be both programmed and re-configured from NI LabVIEW and the FPGA extension of LabVIEW. The embedded controller within this setup can be considered as part of the RCP (Rapid Control Prototyping) process chain. The software suite used for testing and programming the RCP embedded unit consists of NI LabVIEW FPGA, NI VeriStand and MathWorks Matlab – Simulink. NI VeriStand is used as RCP platform unit management software. The actual learning solution is addressed to fourth year of study at Electrical Engineering – Embedded Systems and Automated Control + Power Electronics and electrical drives. With 8 similar work stands composed of MyRIO, PLECS RT BOX + accessories and personal computers, a total of 16 students can be served within the teaching process. This kind of approach is suitable for proving fast-switching processes within power electronics. The working principles and basic theory behind power electronics and embedded systems presented at the course meeting can be easily validated „on the go" using this approach. The small form factor of the HIL setup facilitates the portability of the actual setup.