Co-simulation for Threelevel Adjustable Speed Drive Systems

PSIM

and

SIMULINK

Zhang Yongchang, Zhao Zhengming, Baihua, Yuan Liqiang, Zhang Haitao

State Key Laboratory of Control and Simulation of Power System and Generation Equipment
Department of Electrical engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China

zhangyongchangO4gmails.tsinghua.edu.cn
Abstract-Applying co-simulation technology is a very
important trend in power electronics simulation, which can
make full use of the merits of different software to improve
the efficiency of building up a system. In this paper, a
simulation platform for three-level adjustable speed drive
(ASD) based on co-simulation of PSIM and SIMULINK is
presented, which includes the interface between PSIM and
SIMULINK, main circuit in PSIM, space vector pulse width
modulation (SVPWM), dead time and minimum pulse
width, view of output voltage and its Fourier analysis in
SIMULINK. Based on this platform, the cause of large
current when motor starts is studied. Simulation and
experimental results show that the minimum pulse width
contributes a lot for the large starting current of the ASD.
In conclusion, applying the simulation platform introduced
in this paper, the dynamic behavior of the three-level ASD
can be easily studied, which reduces the cost and improves
efficiency at the same time compared to hardware
investments, and may help to realize the optimal design of
the ASD in practice.

Keywords: Simulation; SVPWM; Adjustable Speed Drive

(ASD); Three-level inverter; Minimum pulse width

INTRODUCTION
Compared to conventional two-level inverter, the
I.

neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter provides significant

advantages for high power applications, which can
decrease the capacity of switch devices to get the same
output voltage, and reduce the harmonic component of
output waves, thus make the size of a filter smaller[1-3].
However, there are many factors to be considered when
designing an ASD. In this condition, using computer
simulation and CAD may help to simplify the analysis
process and improve design quality while shortening the
developing cycle. Computer simulation and CAD has
been widely used in most research institutes and
international companies such as ABB [4-5], and there are
a variety of software packages available now for power
electronics simulation [6], such as PSPICE, SABER,
PSIM and MATLAB/SIMULINK, and so on. Each of
them has its own merits and shortcomings. For example,
PSPICE was originally developed for integrated
electronics simulation, and the model of switch devices in

1-4244-0449-5/06/$20.00 02006 IEEE

PSPICE are not perfect, besides there is a convergence

problem for simulation. SABER is developed for mixed
signal simulation and this makes it is very suitable to
apply in power electronics simulation, but the high cost
restricts its application. PSIM is suitable for power
electronics circuit simulation, but it is not very convenient
to build up a control circuit. MATLAB/SIMULINK is
very popular in control simulation and CAD, but its power
circuit simulation is far from perfect. In all, none of them
can meet all needs in various fields. The recommended
method is to try to develop interfacing technology
between the existing software, so that we could make full
use of the merits of different software [7]. In this paper,
PSIM and SIMULINK are used to build the simulation
platform and the starting characteristic of three-level ASD
is studied. Simulation and experimental results are given
to verify the validity of this simulation platform.
CO-SIMULATION OF PSIM AND SIMULINK
PSIM is developed especially for power electronics and
motor control. With fast simulation, friendly user interface
and powerful waveform processing, PSIM has been
widely used in many areas [8-9]. M\ATLAB is one of the
most popular software in control fields, and its graphical
simulation environment SIMULINK is very suitable for
dynamic system simulation because there are plenty of
II.

toolboxes and modules. However, it is awkward and

cumbersome to simulate power electronic circuits in
SIMULINK. Using SimCoupler, the main circuit can be
implemented and simulated in PSIM, and the control part
in MATLAB/SIMULINK, thus greatly shortening the
time to set up a system which includes power electronic
circuit and motor drives. In this part a condense
introduction of SimCoupler will be given.
SimCoupler is an add-on module to the PSIM software,
which provides interface between PSIM and SIMULINK
for co-simulation. It has such key features: easy to use;
minimum user input; fast simulation and waveform
display in both PSIM and SIMULINK. There are three
modules which can be seen in Fig. 1. In PSIM, SLINK lIN
receives signal from SIMULINK and SLINK OUT
output signal to SIMULINK; in SIMULINK, SimCoupler
model block, which represents the main circuit defined in
IPEMC 2006

Figure 1. SimCoupler block

The pulse block is the core block in the system, and it is

realized by a system function, which contains the
SVPWM algorithm for the three-level inverter, curve of
voltage vs. frequency, pre-excitation, minimum pulse and
dead time, etc. Double click this block, and a dialog will
appear from which all parameters of ASD can be set.
Fig.4 shows the dialog and Fig. 5 shows the diagram of
realization.

PSIM, interconnects with other part through input and

output port.
In all, with the SimCoupler module, one can make full
use of PSIM's capability in power simulation and
SIMULINK's capability in control simulation in a
complementary way.
III.

MAIN CIRCUIT

Fig. 2 shows the main circuit for a three-level ASD,

which employs AC-DC-AC topology. The main circuit
consists of five parts: YYD step-down transformer, 12pulse rectifier, IGCT clamping snubber circuit, NPC
three-level inverter and integrated LC filter and step-up
transformer. The 12-pulse rectifier provides more even
DC link voltage and reduces the harmonics of the input
side. The snubber circuit is introduced to suppress the
di/dt of the system. The part of the inverter consists of
twelve 4500V/630A IGCTs and six clamped diodes. In
this system, the LC filter makes use of the leakage
inductance of step-up transformer, which reduces the size
of filter. In all, in PSIM one can build up a system just as
the original form of circuit in practice, which is very easy
and illustrative.
There are some points to be noted in practical
simulation. Firstly, Because IGCT is developed recently,
there is no corresponding model in PSIM, and in practice
GTO is used in stead. One can build up a more precise
model by using the ideal components in PSIM[10];
Secondly, the gating pulse is produced in SIMULINK,
and it requires the interface SLINK IN and SLINK-OUT
be well defined; finally, make sure the simulation time
step in PSIM should be made the same as that in
SIMULINK to obtain high accuracy.
IV.

Step-down
transformer

12-pulse
rectifer

Snubber
circuit

Three-level
NPC inverter

Integrated filter

and transformer

Figure 2. The main circuit of 3-level ASD

Dir,crete,

Pti-,j-d

Ts 8.333e,-O 06

Figure 3. Three-level adjustable speed drive (ASD)

CONTROL SYSTEM

A. The whole diagram

The main circuit built in PSIM works as a sub-circuit in
SIMULINK, and it is SIMULINK that controls the start
and stop of simulation. Fig. 3 shows the whole diagram of
three-level ASD in SIMULINK. It includes mainly three
parts: pulse block which produces the gating signals for
IGCTs; SimCoupler block which receives the gating
signals from pulse block and call a program called
psim.dll to simulate the main circuit, and then sends the
signals from PSIM to SIMULINK; measurement block
which measure the output signals for view and analysis.

Figure 4. Parameter setting of pulse block

d,+~ ~fl ~. , .oL-wYi

~4
fJ",
XA4
iY Y.Y ..........

depends on the characteristic of switching devices and the

snubber circuit. Here the minimum pulse width is limited
to 50us. The restriction of minimum pulse width is
realized in the pulse block by system function.
To avoid the upper and lower devices of the same leg to
switch at the same time, a dead band time is needed to
insert in between them. For three-level inverter, there are
twelve gating signals. Here the gating signals for upper
two devices of each phase are produced, and after the
disposal of dead-time block, they are sent to IGCTs. Fig. 8
shows the diagram of dead time block and the dead band
time is 30 us.

g~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . . . .

Figure 5. The diagram of pulse block

B. SVPWM algorithm
E:l
'
Ti of the three-level
theKspace
vector =diagram
Fig. 6 shows
inverter. It can be divided into 6 sectors and each sector is
also divided into 6 regions. Fig. 7 shows the vector
diagram of the first sector. When the reference vector falls
to a certain region such as region 2, the duration of ta, tb
and tc corresponding to space vectors Va, Vb and Vc can
be calculated from the following equations [11]l:

[a+[tb+[tc

-T(1

Vlta + V>7b + VjtC

VJ

D. View of output wave and its Fourier analysis

The output wave can be viewed in both PSIM and
SIMULINK. In the power system toolbox of SIMULINK,
there is a very useful block called powergui, which
provides excellent performance to simplify the analysis of
output wave. In the simulation platform, it is used to
discretize the system to improve the simulation speed, and
to give Fourier analysis of the output wave. Fig. 9 shows
the steady state line voltage at 50Hz and its corresponding
frequency spectrum. The user only needs to select the
wave to be analyzed and set the displaying format, and the
results will be shown in the figure.

(2)

Where
1
= 2_
V~1 -,Ve2
2
2

1V

--,r/j
~e
2

Vejo

and Ts is the sampling period. From the equations above

the duration can be expressed as below:
ta = (1- 2k sin 0) .T
tb

2ksin O+3 -1]

t= 2ksin 0 - 3 )+l

T,

(3)

Figure 6. Space vectors for level-inverter

-T,

Here k represents the modulation index. To decrease

the harmonic component and avoid the voltage jumping of
output line voltage, the seven-segment output sequence of
vectors is used. For example, the output vector sequence
of region 2 in sector one is 211-210-110-100-110-210-211.
The duration and output vector sequence of other sectors
can be obtained in a similar way.

C. Minimum pulse and dead time

Usually the switching on and off of power electronics
devices need time, especially for GTO and IGCT whose
switching frequency is usually less than 1OOOHz. For
SVPWM, in some regions the reference vector is too near
to a certain vector and the durations of other vectors are
too short, which may cause the problem of minimum
pulse. To ensure the safe operation of switching devices, it
is necessary to limit the minimum pulse width, which

200
222

211

Figure 7. Vector synthesis for sector one

Figure 8. Dead-time block

are done to find the cause of the overflowing. Analysis

shows that the minimum pulse is the key point for
overflowing. When the frequency is low, the influence of
minimum pulse is even more serious. Fig. 10(a) shows the
ideal reference vector at steady state of 5Hz. It is assumed
that the reference space vector should distribute uniformly
in the space, but in fact the amplitude and angle of true
space vector are distorted because of the minimum pulse
and dead time, which can be seen from Fig. 1 O(b).
Fig. 11 shows the simulation results of starting process
for the three-level ASD with 1250kW. Fig. 12 shows the
experimental results of a 3kW motor with 380V. Both
simulation and experimental results prove that after
decreasing the width of minimum pulse, the peak value of
the current is reduced obviously.

Figure 9. Fourier analysis of line voltage using powergui

STUDY OF STARTING FOR THREE-LEVEL ASD

Starting characteristic is one of the most important
indices of ASD. In practice, it is found that for three-level
ASD with 1250kW there is large starting current when the
motor starts. Large starting current may do harm to the
insulation of a motor and the switching devices. To ensure
the safe operation of the system, usually devices with
larger capacity are needed, which increases the cost.
Based on the simulation platform, helpful investigations
V.

I/A

400

(a) Without minimum pulse (b) With minimum pulse

Figure 10. Comparison of ideal and true space vector at 5Hz
200

I/A

100

-200

-100

-400

-200

4000

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

t/s

0.35

UNV

2000 -

4000
+

bf

em i

Hh 0 M

0.05

onn a
iT
-2000-

-4000

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

t/s

-4000

0.05

0.15

A.

UN

-2000 _
0

0.1

Vs

0.05

" MM n

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

a N

0.3

0.35

t/S

(a) Minimum pulse width 70us

(b) Minimum pulse width 40us
Figure 11. Line voltage and current (simulation results)

Uv

11

I-....
]II

'div
1-

xwidth 40us
Figure

12.

Line

voltage

and current

(experimental results)

L.
tIms

VI. CONCLUSIONS
A simulation platform for three-level ASD based on
PSIM and SIMULINK co-simulation has been introduced
in this paper. The co-simulation interface, main circuit
and control circuit are all presented in detail. Applying the
simulation platform, the overflowing of a three-level ASD
with 1250kW/6000V is studied and the influence of
minimum pulse is analyzed. The comparisons between
simulation and experimental results verify the validity of
the simulation platform.
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