Flexible Control System for Modular One-Phase Interleaved GaN-based Totem Pole PFC using Real-Time Hardware

Abstract:
A flexible control system and modular GaN-based totem pole PFC setup is developed which is suitable to be applied in research and lab courses to attract students to power electronics. To implement the interleaved mode and the ability to quickly change the control strategy, the rapid control prototyping approach is used using dSPACE MicroLabBox. The developed modular 2.4 kW, 500 kHz GaN-based totem pole PFC setup is used as the power stage, which allows us to explore the characteristics of various GaN semiconductors during PFC system operation. The control system is implemented at CPU and FPGA levels using multirate sample time. The control system is also supplemented by a fault diagnostic system, a subsystem of time-triggered (background) tasks, and an efficiency calculation subsystem. A SCADA interface is developed for interactive management of the testing process and monitoring. The phase error between AC current and voltage in developed PFC system is less than 4.8%, power factor is 0.998, THD is less than 5.5%, which, taking into account the modularity of the developed system and the basic software, shows the possible hardware and software potential of the system to improve the PFC performance.