A Design Methodology for Hardware Prototyping of Integrated AC Drive Control: Application to Direct Torque Control of an Induction Machine

This paper presents a Top-down methodology for hardware rapid prototyping of integrated Alternating Current (AC) drive control, based on Hardware Description Languages (HDL’s). This methodology is a set of procedures and Computer Aided Design tools to optimize development time, final product cost and reusability of the digital electronic system design. The use of HDL’s provides continuous checking of functional validation of the control and makes the digital design independent of the target technology. More, HDL’s are common languages throughout all design stages. The three stages of the methodology are discussed. The behavioral stage defines control functionality at system level and allows the study of Integrated Circuit digital properties. In the structural stage, the design is defined as a set of components and interconnections. Finally, in the physical stage, two implementation technologies, FPGA and CMOS-ASIC, are considered. The second part of this paper presents an application of the methodology to the integration of Direct Torque Control (DTC) of an induction machine. First of all, the DTC principle is described. Then, step by step, the behavioral, structural and physical stages of digital control representation are discussed and results are validated in DTC case.