Industrial control system for a back-to-back multilevel NPC converter based on DSP and FPGA

New energy concepts such as Distributed Power Generation are changing the face of electric distribution and transmission. Power electronics researchers try to apply new electronic controller solutions enabling the implementation of new and more complex control algorithms. This paper presents the design, implementation and test of the Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) tasks of a novel real-time controller for a NPC (Neutral Point Clamped) (three-level) multilevel converter. The controller is based on a floating-point Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and a FPGA, by operating in a cooperative way. The proposed system is instantiated to the next system: a 150 kVA back-to-back three-level NPC VSC (Voltage Source Converter) for wind turbine applications.