Comparison of insulated gate bipolar transistor models for FPGA-based real-time simulation of electric drives and application guideline

In this study, a comparison of various insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) models for field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based real-time simulation of power electronic devices is presented. System-level behavioural models include ideal, switching function and averaged models, and the detailed device-level model includes both linear behavioural and non-linear look-up table-based models of IGBT. A three-level 12-pulse voltage source converter system driving a squirrel-cage induction motor has been chosen as the test case system. The entire system including the controller and pulse width modulation (PWM) is implemented on a single FPGA using very high-speed description language in real-time at a fixed time-step of 12.5 ns. The Altera Startix III FPGA is the device used for real-time simulation. Results obtained through all five models are compared and as expected, it has been found that the behaviour-mode simulation is fast but comes with a sacrifice of accuracy and details. A guideline is provided for the users with suggestions, so that the right kind of model can be selected for a particular study.