Published Research

1. Understanding Robust Control on Arduino Microcontroller Testing in Power Electronics Converters (Completed)

Abstract. This project presents the capability of Arduino for responding to the robust controller which has been applied to the 3 phase rectifier and 3 phase inverter. The interface between the converters and the Arduino has been established by using MATLAB-Simulink environment. This is the fastest interface due the Arduino library that is available in the MATLAB which can be used before downloading the program to the board. Two types of controllers have been tested which are, P-Resonant and Fuzzy-PI controller. The voltage or current feedback mechanism also has been applied between the converters with the Arduino input port in order for responding to the design controller for signal generating pattern. At the end, it shows that, the Arduino is capable to receive the signals from the converters, process the signals in the board and generating the signal out for controlling the converters.

2. MATLAB-Arduino as a Low Cost Microcontroller for 3 phase inverter (Completed)

This project presents the performance of the Arduino microcontroller board in response to an advanced control strategy for a motor control application. Two set of control theories have been used and combined as known as the Proportional Integration (PI) - Repetitive controller. This controller has been designed in MATLAB-Simulink environment and then downloaded to the Arduino for testing. The test set consists of 3 phase inverter, filter, induction machine (IM) and a set of current controller. The feedback current from the IM will be the control parameter for the controller and the Arduino in order to generate the pulse width modulation (PWM) pattern. Different PWM pattern is generated when the feedback current is changing due to the changing of the load.

3. MATLAB-SIMULINK CONTROLLER DESIGN FOR ARDUINO TARGET ON AC MOTOR CONTROL APPLICATION (Completed)

Abstract—This project explains, the implementation of MATLAB-simulink block diagram with the Arduino in order to control the output current of the 3-phase inverter for ac motor. There is no programming code has been involved but only uses the target preference blocks that are available in the MATLAB-Arduino library. The current controller has been developed by implementing the PID control in order to determine the efficiency of the controller to control the motor. The system has been tested on the 1kW inverter output and s connected to the 3 phase induction motor with rating of 375W.

4. Development of Three Phase Multilevel Inverter. (Completed)

Abstract - This project aims to develop a current control method for a multilevel inverter. Two stages cascaded H-bridge are created which uses 12 PWM signals. The PI controller has been been developed in the MATLAB in order to operating the TI C2000 TMS320F28335. Here, the multilevel inverter capable to produce double output voltage when applying single DC input.

5. EXPERIMENTS TEST ON SINGLE PHASE INVERTER USING RASPBERRY PI

Abstract

This project is about a single phase inverter that has been developed and used for understanding the concept of inverter model for step and square output voltage using the Raspberry Pi as the microcontroller. It also includes a way of communication between the Raspberry Pi and MATLAB Simulink software and the usage of the Arduino as a analog to digital converter. The main idea is to use the low cost microcontroller in order to generate a suitable signal based on the instruction developed in the MATLAb-Simulink block that required for the inverter. The inverter has been test in two conditions, where the first test is on the switching logic control for step inverter output and the second test by using the mathematical equation block diagram of the inverter for square output voltage. Both tests have been conducted in closed loop mode voltage feedback. At the end, the results show that, selected microcontrollers can be used for generating the controlling signal and also to be as a ADC converter for responding to the inverter output.

6. Investigation on Raspberry Pi Microcontroller as Digital Processing Controller in Back to Back Converter

Abstract: This paper is about, the investigation of the Raspberry Pi as a microcontroller for back-to-back converter. The Matlab-Simulink is used as the communication medium between the software and the microcontroller and at the same time, controllers have been developed based on the mathematical formulas in the MATLAB. Three types of controllers have been designed and simulated which are voltage, current and power controllers with the PID and Hysteresis control mechanism in order to see the respond to the given reference signals at the converter output. Two of controllers, which are the voltage and current controls have been tested in hardware setup that consists of single phase diode bridge, 3-phase inverter and a resistive load. Those tests have shown, the Raspberry Pi is managed to generate the gate signals for the converter which respond to the controller without any programming code written in the Matlab.

7. Development of Single Phase Back to Back Converter with Closed Loop Voltage Feedback Controlled by Arduino Microcontroller

This paper presents a development of single phase back to back converter using voltage closed loop feedback using Arduino microcontroller. The key feature of this system is the ability of the Arduino as a low microcontroller to control the gate signal of power switches of the inverter by referring to the target voltage when applying with the PI control. The Matlab-Simulink has been the communication medium between software and the microcontroller. This is because, the controller structures have been developed based on the control mathematical formulae before downloaded to the microcontroller in order to test the back to back converter. Based on the results obtained, the back to back converter has successfully responded to the voltage feedback control mechanism and the Arduino is operated as a suitable low cost microcontroller for gate firing signals.

8. Development of Single Phase Active Power Filter for Rapid Control Prototyping using Low Cost Microcontroller

This project is to test a Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) protocol to the active power filter (APF) application in nonlinear load using low cost microcontroller. Here, the RCP has been tested on the RPi where it’s easy to use in undergraduate level. The advantages of using the RCP are the controller modeled can be developed in MATLAB while at the meantime, the APF output can be observed in real time mode within simulation. This has been conducted in APF because it injects the required APF current to improve the signal of the supply current due to nonlinear load by using a Proportional Integration (PI) control. At the end, it shows that, the RPi and Matlab are a suitable candidate for RCP process that can be applied during undergraduate level.

9. Undergraduate Student Experience in Development of ZVS Power Converter for Voltage Control with Low Cost Microcontroller

Abstract — This paper presents an integration of a low cost microcontroller with a power converter for controlling the output voltage. Here, it will benefit the UTHM final year student in order to apply what have been taught during Power Electronics subject in Year 3. The power converter that has been developed is the zero voltage switching (ZVS) with inverter voltage control mechanism. As for the microcontroller application, the Raspberry Pi has been used. A test on open loop and closed loop conditions have been applied using Proportional Integral (PI) control for controlling the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal pattern for inverter output in hardware experiment test. The PI controller is developed and simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink software and then downloaded to the Arduino and Raspberry Pi microcontroller boards for testing purposes. At the end of the project, the students are able to understand more especially on integrating the control mechanism to the microcontroller device using a power converter in order to achieve the control target output.

10. Implemention of Lyapunov Function to PID Voltage Control for Single Phase Rectifier using Low Cost Microcontroller

This project is focused on development of single phase rectifier with voltage control application using a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller. The PID controller uses a Lyapunov function in order to find the best gain values for the PID control gains for good accuracy and improved output respond. The uses of the Lyapunov involves with mathematical equations that have been model in MATLAB-Simulink in order to be applied with the low cost microcontroller where are the Raspberry Pi and Arduino. At the end, the simulation and hardware tests setup have been conducted and its show and prove that the Lyapunov function gives good result in terms of the rectifier output voltage .

11. Understanding Real Time Simulation on Single Phase Inverter using Low Cost microcontroller for Undergraduate Level

This paper explains a simple framework of Real Time Simulation (RTS) on single phase inverter model using a low cost microcontroller in undergraduate level approach. It consists of a host (personal computer for inverter model), Raspberry Pi (real time interface) and Arduino (controller operation). The MATLAB ver. R2014 is used for real time simulation that is available in the MATLAB that has been used to conduct these experiments. This library gives a real time simulation between the MATLAB and those microcontrollers and it easy to conduct. At the end, the results from this RIS experiments shown those microcontrollers are suitable candidates for RTS platform for controlling the voltage in single phase inverter.

12. Voltage Control In Z-Source Inverter Using Low Cost Microcontroller for Undergraduate Approach

Abstract. This paper is focussing on controlling the output voltage of Z-Source Inverter (ZSI) using a low cost microcontroller with MATLAB-Simulink that has been used for interfacing the voltage control at the output of ZSI. The key advantage of this system is the ability of a low cost microcontroller to process the voltage control blocks based on the mathematical equations created in MATLAB-Simulink. The Proportional Integral (PI) control equations are been applied and then, been downloaded to the microcontroller for observing the changes on the voltage output regarding to the changes on the reference on the PI. The system has been simulated in MATLAB and been verified with the hardware setup. As the results, the Raspberry Pi and Arduino that have been used in this work are able to respond well when there is a change of ZSI output. It proofed that, by applying/introducing this method to student in undergraduate level, it will help the student to understand more on the process of the power converter combine with a control feedback function that can be applied at low cost microcontroller.

13. APPLICATION OF LOW COST MICROCONTROLLER IN RAPID CONTROL PROTOTYPING FOR SINGLE PHASE BACK TO BACK CONVERTER

This project is carried out in order to develop a Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) process using a PI control which can be employed in a low cost microcontroller device for online measurement. Therefore, the Raspberry PI has been chosen for beeing set as a real-time response and combined with a closed loop feedback control. Here, a back to back converter has been developed using the Matlab-Simulink in order to interface in real time processing system. At the end, all the results have shown the desired output which responses to the target referenced which has been observed in real-time using Matlab Graphical User Interface model. It indicates that, the selected low cost microcontroller can be used as a real time measurement for reducing the total cost of experimented setup, ensure safety of the system and increase the accuracy of the system.

14. Control Model Development Using TMS320F28335 Microcontroller for High Rated Inverter and DC Motor Drive Application

This project describes a MATLAB control development in order to be tested in high power inverter and DC motor drive using TI microcontroller. The reason why two tests condition have been conducted is to test the application of inverter in to produce high power for the inverter output while the rectifier to test on the DC motor drive. This project is also to see the effectiveness of the TI controller board which is the TMS320F28335. The main features of this system is the ability of the controller which has been build in the TMS320F28335 for controlling the output current at the inverter and also to control the speed for DC motor application. Therefore, the Proportional Integral (PI) controller is used in those systems in order to ensure the current and speed outputs are same as the reference value that have been set in the Matlab/Simulink. At the end, all the results have shown a good agreement on the PI controller on the feedback response for both applications using TMS320F28335.

16. Investigation on Proportional Resonant Current Control for 7-Level Multilevel Inverter with Reduced Switching Device

This project describes the investigation on the Proportional Resonant (PR) control and its performance for a 7-level multilevel inverter using only 5 switches of devices in the single-phase inverter. The performance of the PR control is measured based on the ability of the controller to reduce the harmonic distortion in the inverter output system when connected to a non-linear load. This project is divided into two parts: firstly by using the MATLAB simulation, and then testing the hardware implementation. The results of the multilevel simulation in MATLAB/Simulink show that the implementation of the PR control in the inverter system can reduce the total harmonic distortion caused by the non-linear load; meanwhile, the hardware results show that the PR controller system is applicable and functioning well for generating a 7-step level using TI microcontroller based on current PR control strategy system.

17. A Study on Low Cost Microcontrollers for Converter Applications

Abstract – In this project, the development of a control system based on single phase inverter in hardware and simulation have been conducted to study the use of low-cost microcontroller for converter application. Therefore, this project aims to develop a voltage control system that can be designed in Raspberry Pi and Arduino to understand the effectiveness of the microcontrollers. The inverter voltage is being controlled using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) that is modelled using a feedback control using the MATLAB Simulink as a code generation. At the meantime, the Proportional (P) control has been used for the inverter output control in order the output voltage to follow the target reference value. This study has been divided into two stages where the MATLAB simulation has been developed for determined the control response for the single-phase inverter when using the Raspberry PI and Arduino as the source generation. After it has been successfully designing deed, the hardware has been set up to see the operation of the inverter with the voltage control that has been built in the MATLAB, by connecting to a resistive load as to represent any household applications such as a fluorescent lamp. The results show that, by using these low-cost microcontrollers, the controller

18. Investigation of Multilevel Inverter for Next Distributed Generation Using Low Cost Microcontroller

Abstract

This project explains about a converter that been widely used at Distributed Generation (DG) in order to increase the elec-trical power generation when multi-input DGs are connected to each other. The converter which is known as the multilevel inverter. This paper will explain on how the multilevel inverter output current can be controlled using a low cost microcon-troller. The type of microcontroller that is been used is a C2000 Microcontroller (Texas Instrument TMS320F28) which can combine with a current feedback loop. This microcontroller acts as a communication interface between the MATLAB SIMULINK and the multilevel inverter whenever the current controller model is been modeled in MATLAB program. It is where, the MOSFETs at the multilevel inverter have been triggered by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals gen-erated by the microcontroller output. It also uses a current output control system by integrating with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller at the multilevel inverter where it allows the output current to follow the reference current with a closed loop feedback. As from the findings from the results, it can be summarized that, the multilevel inverter is very use-ful devices for DGs sources which combine with a control current where at the same time increase the voltage at the load from a low output voltage from the input source. Here, it given an indication that, in the future, more DGs can be connected to multilevel inverter structure where it will reduce the dependency on the filter design in order to have more sinusoidal output to the load.