HDL Co-Simulation of Single Phase Z-Source Inverter

Akhilesh K. Gupta, Akbar Ahmad, Paulson Samuel

Abstract This paper discusses HDL co-simulation of Zsource inverter by interfacing MATLAB/Simulink and ModelSim. An inverter is a power electronic circuit that converts dc power into ac power at desired output voltage and frequency. Z-Source inverter which comprises of a LC network in dc link and a small value capacitor on the ac side. By controlling the switching pattern generation, the Z-source can provide any desired output ac voltage. MATLAB minimizes the effort of the system developers and researchers in modeling and designing systems. As system developers and researchers work on same platform it reduces required time required in translating the technical specifications into functional specifications. ModelSim works as HDL (Hardware Description Language) simulator. The most common method of creating hardware design is by using HDL such as VHDL or Verilog.

Index Terms HDL Co-Simulation, MATLAB, ModelSim, Z source inverter I. INTRODUCTION Demand for better power control and rapid inventions in field of power electronics have created many topologies and control methods in the field of power electronics converters. Thats why a better result is always there in power electronics converters. Z source inverter (ZSI) is one kind of those inventions. An inverter is a power electronic circuit that converts dc power into ac power at desired output voltage and frequency. In a conventional two leg voltage source inverter (VSI) shown in Fig. 1 the two switches on the same leg can never be on for same duration to avoid a short circuit which can destroy the switching devices and thus the inverter. Another limitation of a conventional VSI is that the amplitude of inverter output voltage can never be greater than the dc input voltage. An output LC filter is also needed to provide a sinusoidal voltage which causes an additional power loss [1], [5]. The conventional single phase current source inverter (CSI) is shown in Fig. 2. The CSI has the following limitations: The dc voltage should always be smaller than ac voltage. At least one of the upper leg device and one of the lower leg devices should be gated on at any time.
Authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad-211004, India (e-mail:akhileshgupta08@gmail.com,akbarahmad@ieee.org, paulson.samuel@ieee.org)

Fig. 1 Single Phase VSI

Fig. 2 Single Phase CSI

These limitations can be overcome by using a Z source inverter as shown in Fig. 3. A Z-source inverter comprises of an impedance network to replace the dc link in the conventional VSI. The Z source inverter has special features unlike conventional VSI which are as follows [2]: It acts as a boost converter for dc to ac conversion so a greater ac voltage can be obtained. Dead time consideration is not an issue with ZSI. It is more effective in suppressing voltage ripples because of the second order LC filter used.

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In shoot through state the load terminals are shorted in both the upper and lower switching devices of same phase legs. The equivalent circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 5 [6][8].

Fig. 3 Single phase Z-Source inverter

This paper is divided into seven sections. Section II explains the basic operation of Z-source inverter. Section III explains the MATLAB based design part. Section IV is related to ModelSim based design part. Section V explains HDL cosimulation. Section VI considers simulation results and the last section, section VII gives the conclusions.

Fig. 5 Z-Source inverter in shoot through mode

The peak of dc link voltage which acts as dc input voltage of inverter can be expressed as [2].

II. Z-SOURCE INVERTER Basically a Z-source inverter is an impedance source or impedance fed power converter. The Z-source inverter consists of a split pair of inductors L1 and L2 and a pair of capacitor C1 and C2 connected in cross (X) shape. It is used to provide the impedance source coupling of the inverter to dc source or load. Switches used in Z-source inverter are same as switches used in conventional VSI, i.e., a combination of IGBT with an anti-parallel diode. The unique feature of Zsource inverter is that its ac output voltage can have any value from zero to infinity regardless of dc voltage [1]. The three phase Z-source inverter has nine permissible switching states whereas conventional VSI has only eight switching states. The ZSI has two operating modes [2][3]: 1. Non-shoot through mode 2. Shoot through mode In non-shoot through mode the ZSI has six active vectors and two zero vectors. Active vectors come into role when the dc voltage is impressed across 3-phase load and zero vectors play their role when the load terminals are shorted through either the lower or upper three devices respectively [6][10]. The equivalent circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 4.

Vi =

1 Vdc 1 2Tpu

(1)

Where Tpu is shoot through time duty ratio and Vdc is the input dc link voltage.

Fig. 6 Simple boost switching pattern for ZSI Fig. 4 Z-Source inverter in non-shoot through mode

Fig. 6 shows the simple boost modulation method for Z-source inverter [4]. In this modulation method two sinusoidal

voltages A and B are compared with a triangular carrier signal and it works as traditional PWM based voltage source inverter [7], [11], [12]. Two constant voltages Vp and Vn are used to generate the shoot through zero state. These shoot through states are inserted into conventional PWM. When the carrier is higher than the upper constant voltage Vp phase leg A goes into shoot through mode and when the lower constant voltage Vn goes higher than the carrier then phase leg B goes to shoot through mode. This shoot through zero states gives a unique feature of buck-boost nature to this inverter which makes it distinct from a conventional VSI or CSI. The other controlling methods are maximum boost control method and simple boost control method with independent relationship between modulation index and shoot through duty ratio [3]. III. MATLAB BASED DESIGN MATLAB provides easy and interactive tools for simulation. There are a lot of tools defined in MATLAB which make it very fast in comparison with other simulators. The accuracy and simulation speed provided in MATLAB is much more in comparison with any other analog simulator tools. MATLAB is an interpreted language for numerical computation. It allows one to perform ones numerical calculations, and visualize the results without any need for complicated and time consuming programming. MATLAB allows the users to get accurate solutions of their problems within very little time, produce graphic outputs easily and produce code efficiently. IV. MODELSIM BASED DESIGN ModelSim is a verification and simulation tool for HDL languages such as VHDL, Verilog, System Verilog and for mixed language designs. From the design methodology point of view, one of the key points is the simulation of the overall system. Digital controller of the Z source inverter can be designed by means of a hardware description language (HDL) such as VHDL or Verilog, with the analog to digital A/D converter acting as an interface between the power circuit (analog part) and the digital controller. There are separate simulators for analog power stage simulations (MATLAB, PSPICE, PSIM, PSCAD etc) and specific simulators for HDL simulations (ModelSim, etc). V. HDL CO-SIMULATION The link that is used for ModelSim is a co-simulation interface block in Simulink that integrates Electronic Design Automation (EDA) workflow for field programmable gate array (FPGA) and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This interface provides bidirectional link between hardware description language simulator such as ModelSim with MATLAB/SIMULINK software for direct hardware design verification and co-simulation for design. The MATLAB/Simulink function block and ModelSim commands are useful to provide the link for ModelSim interface.

When ModelSim receives a simulation request from the cosimulation blocks of Simulink it responds. Thus a connection comes into existence between ModelSim and Simulink. Once a session is started, one can use Simulink and ModelSim to keep an eye on simulation progress and results. Similar to other types of project design in Simulink, a base project is written to MATLAB/Simulink environment. This project takes the Simulink toolboxes and a block that provides a connection between Simulink and ModelSim. In this block the input and output are the HDL code such as VHDL or Verilog which can be used in the required simulation. The output of this block is given as the control input for Simulink toolboxes block. The co-simulation is explained by the block diagram as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig.7 Simulink and ModelSim Co-simulation

In the HDL co-simulation, hardware runs under the control of Simulink, bringing the power of MATLAB and Simulink to analyse and visualize the data. For HDL co-simulation, a bit stream is generated in ModelSim and associated to a block. VI. SIMULATION AND RESULT The simulation diagram of Z-source inverter using Simulink is shown in Fig. 8 and the generated switching pattern by simple boost generation method is shown in Fig. 9. The output voltage and current waveforms are shown in fig. 10. Input voltage Vdc is 50V and corresponding boosted output voltage achieved is 75V. The co-simulation diagram of ZSI in Simulink is shown in Fig. 11 and its generated switching pattern by ModelSim block is shown in Fig. 12. In this diagram ModelSim block is Simulink block which provides a communication link between HDL simulator ModelSim and software MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation code for ModelSim block is written in hardware description language VHDL. The switching pattern is generated by VHDL code is in digital form which is used to control the switches such as MOSFET/IGBT used in Simulink simulator. According to different states switching pulses are generated by ModelSim to control the MOSFET/IGBT

switches. Some of those switching patterns for different states are shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 11 Co-simulation of Z-Source inverter Fig. 8 Simulation diagram of ZSI

(a)
Fig. 9 switching pattern of single phase ZSI

(b)
Fig. 10 Output Voltage and Current waveform of ZSI

(c)
Fig. 12 (a), (b), (c) Switching pattern for controlling of switches by giving constant input using ModelSim

[10] R.Bharanikumar, R.Senthilkumar, A. C. Yazhini, and A. Nirmal Kumar, FPGA Controller Based Z-Source Inverter for Wind Turbine Driven Permanent Magnet Generator, Joint International Conference on Power System Technology and IEEE Power India Conference, Powercon, 2008 [11] Miaosen Shen, Jin Wang, Alan Joseph, Fang Zheng Peng, Leon M. Tolbert and Donald J. Adams, Constant Boost Control of the Z-Source Inverter to Minimize Current Ripple and Voltage Stress, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 42, no. 3, May/June 2006 [12] P. C. Loh, D. M. Vilathgamuwa, Y. S. Lai, G. T. Chua, and Y. Li, Pulsewidth modulation of Z-source inverters, IEEE Trans. Power Electron.,vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 13461355, Nov. 2005 [13] J. Holtz, Pulse Width Modulation- a survey, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 39, pp. 410-420, Dec. 1992 [14] F. Z. Peng, A. Joseph, J. Wang, M. Shen, L. Chen, Z. Pan, E. O. Rivera, and Y. Huang, Z-source inverter for motor drives, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 857--863, Jul. 2005. [15] Ned Mohan, tore M. Undeland, and William P. Robbins, Power Electronics Converter, Applications and Design, Wiley India, 3rd edition 2009. [16] Douglas L.Perry,VHDL programming by exampleTata McGraw-Hill, 4th edition 2002. [17] MATLAB Users Guide

VII. CONCLUSION Simulation is a mandatory step in the design process of a power converter. When a controller is digitally implemented by means of FPGA or ASICs, hardware description languages are normally used, such as VHDL or Verilog. This work presents the simulation of a Z-source inverter. The MATLAB/Simulink platform allows the analysis and visualization of the dynamics of the system while the ModelSim runs a program written in HDL language VHDL which emulates the digital controller. The kind of simulation done in this paper allows rapid product development and makes the development phase very flexible. VIII. REFERENCES
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