Design of a real-time digital simulator for a D-STATCOM system

Real-time digital simulation of power electronic systems requires significant computational resources due to increasingly complex system configurations, control algorithms, and higher switching frequency. Consequently, it is prudent to exploit various computer resources for optimizing the design of simulators/controllers for such systems. This paper presents the design and implementation details of a real-time digital simulator for a Voltage-Source-Converter-based Distribution STATic COMpensator (D-STATCOM) power system. The design process adopts a modular approach utilizing distributed digital signal processor/field-programmable gate array resources of a digital processing platform. The design has been validated by using an experimental setup of a 5-kVA D-STATCOM system.