ANN-Aided Data-Driven IGBT Switching Transient Modeling Approach for FPGA-Based Real-Time Simulation of Power Converters

• Published in: IEEE transactions on transportation electrification Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1166 - 1177
• Main Authors: Li, Qian, Bai, Hao, Breaz, Elena, Roche, Robin, Gao, Fei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.03.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Artificial neural networks; Automatic; Coefficients; Computational modeling; Datasets; Electric power; Engineering Sciences; Feedforward neural network (FFNN); FFNN-based device-level model; field programmable gate array (FPGA); Field programmable gate arrays; floating interleaved boost converter (FIBC); Fluid mechanics; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; Integrated circuit modeling; Mathematical models; Mechanics; Modelling; Neural networks; Physics; physics-based insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) model; Power converters; Real time; real-time simulation; Real-time systems; Semiconductor devices; Simulation; Switches; Switching; Thermics; Transient analysis; Waveforms
• ISSN: 2332-7782; 2577-4212; 2332-7782
• DOI: 10.1109/TTE.2022.3201656

This article develops a novel feedforward neural networks (FFNNs)-based device-level model from a physical insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) model dataset by the proposed artificial neural network (ANN)-aided data-driven IGBT switching transient modeling approach, so that the physics-based IGBT models can be indirectly integrated into field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based real-time simulation of power converters. The main concept is to fit the turn-on/turn-off transient waveforms generated from a physics-based IGBT model by using multiple FFNNs with the same structure but different coefficients. Each FFNN is trained by a dataset covering the transient voltage/current values corresponding to all possible operating conditions at a given discrete time point during a transient. All FFNN coefficients are stored on FPGA. By applying the corresponding FFNN coefficients at each simulation time step, the switching transient waveforms can then be accurately reproduced. The proposed FFNN-based device-level model is designed into two intellectual property (IP) cores at 200 MHz with a fully pipelined structure, which allows the model to authentically reproduce transient waveforms with a 5-ns resolution. A four-phase floating interleaved boost converter (FIBC) is selected as a case study and simulated on a NI-PXIe FlexRIO FPGA real-time platform. The FPGA-based experimental results are compared with that from the LTspice offline simulator, which enables the validation of the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach for real-time simulation of power converters.