ADVANCED POWER ELECTRONICS

Power Electronics can be defined as the application of solid-state electronics for the control and conversion of electrical power. The technological development in solid-state electronics and its integration with microcontroller technology has transformed power electronics from a static conversion technology to an essential element embedded in most of our electrical and electronic systems powering most of our every-day applications. The DCA laboratory has been developed as a comprehensive hands-on training solution to study all the main devices and the power conversion techniques commonly used in the industry. It is divided in 5 main sections: AC to DC (rectifiers), AC to AC, DC to DC, DC to AC (inverters) and motor drives. The digital control signals are generated using state of the art FPGA technology. Thanks to its high performance, a single reprogrammable data acquisition and control module gives great flexibility and reliability to reconfigure the laboratory according to the type of converter under study.

Main characteristics:

• Modularity: Each trainer is composed of a set of modules that integrate industrial grade devices which are protected, isolated and include their dedicated driver circuit to provide a safe learning and experimentation environment.
• FPGA Based control and data acquisition: The full system is controlled by a user-reconfigurable FPGA based data acquisition and control module that integrates a processor running NI Linux Real‑Time with isolated I/Os, giving great flexibility and reliability to implement digitally controlled power converters.
• Didactic approach: Though the PC user interface, the student can reconfigure the system to generate the control signals suitable for the converter under study, control its main parameters, and acquire and process the characteristic waveforms using the powerful embedded mathematical tools.
• Skills development: The main controller SW is programmed using Labview, a language widely used in the industry and academy. The didactic experience allows the student to study and simulate different real-life scenarios to acquire analytical and troubleshooting skills through practical hands-on training.