Abstract: A circuit system of the present disclosure comprises a voltage source coupled to a power circuit, wherein the power circuit includes a fault management system having a mechanical switch that is triggered in response to a fault condition; and the power circuit further including a fault current commutation circuit having one or more nonlinear inductors in series with the fault management system, a pre-charged capacitor insertion circuit, and a controller configured to sample a voltage across one of the one or more nonlinear inductors and supply a gating signal to the pre-charged capacitor insertion circuit, wherein the controller causes the gating signal to activate when the sampled voltage rises from a negative value to approximately 0 or drops from a positive value to approximately 0.

Abstract: A controller hardware in the loop (CHIL) interface is disclosed. The CHIL interface comprises software and hardware that redirects a signal flow, including modulation signals and measurements exchanged between controller logic and a power electronics converter (PEC), to a CHIL port. Accordingly, the CHIL port provides access to the controller logic, at a digital level, throughout phases of the controller's lifetime (i.e., design, installation, maintenance, upgrade). Thus, the CHIL interface facilitates the use of PEC simulators for testing. The CHIL interface can detach the actual PEC from the control logic so testing can be performed with or without an operating PEC and can avoid the need for dedicated and error prone signal conditioning circuitry that is external to the controller.

Abstract: A controller hardware in the loop (CHIL) interface is disclosed. The CHIL interface comprises software and hardware that redirects a signal flow, including modulation signals and measurements exchanged between controller logic and a power electronics converter (PEC), to a CHIL port. Accordingly, the CHIL port provides access to the controller logic, at a digital level, throughout phases of the controller's lifetime (i.e., design, installation, maintenance, upgrade). Thus, the CHIL interface facilitates the use of PEC simulators for testing. The CHIL interface can detach the actual PEC from the control logic so testing can be performed with or without an operating PEC and can avoid the need for dedicated and error prone signal conditioning circuitry that is external to the controller.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for detecting instability in power hardware-in-the-loop simulations for protection of the equipment being tested. The technology includes computing the magnitude of the time-derivative of reference quantities supplied to a power amplifier and applying a moving average filter. The result from the filter is compared to a threshold for detection of an instability resulting in oscillations of the reference quantities. Once oscillations are detected mitigating steps are taken to protect the device under test.