Modeling and simulation of power converter systems using SystemC system-level description language

Power electronics converters have experienced a significant advance in recent years. One of the keystones in the advance has been the development of new control techniques, many of them based on digital control. However, this has also implied an increment in the complexity of control architectures and their development. The aim of this paper is to propose a simulation test-bench for power converters including its control architecture that allows the designer to trace digital, analog signals along with the software running in the system. This proposal is based in the SystemC system description language, and a design flow valid for any generic power converter is given. The proposed design-flow is applied to a resonant converter for induction heating featuring a FPGA-based control architecture. The results obtained show an increased system debug capability with an enhanced simulation time.