Software Development for Multiple Chopper Control with UART Communication on Zynq SoC

Abstract

High voltage power supplies (HVPS) for accelerator application typically generate voltage in tens of kilo volts. Multiple chopper configuration is common with high voltage power supplies or multi-level inverters. They have number of applications like RF heating, multi-megawatt accelerators. For regulation of output voltage, precise control on chopper is required. Typical control mechanism involves commu- nication and precise control signals for individual chopper. Pulse Width Modulated signals are used to control IGBT; the main controlling element. A closed loop con- trol is required to regulate the output voltage. This project involves software development on Xilinx Zynq-7045 SoC based ZC706 Evaluation board with Vivado Design Suite. Software development is targeted for Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) communication and genera- tion of multiple PWM pulses for control. Communication, control mechanism and closed loop control is implemented on Zynq Processing System (ARM Processor). User inputs are taken from host PC via UART communication. UART and PWM are implemented on Zynq Programmable Logic (PL). Processing System apply cor- rections to PWM duty cycle, based on field information. This software is tested with a test bench of 20 choppers which generates output of 600V. The software can be scaled for HVPS with large number of choppers. Zynq is suitable platform for this software development and can replace existing control systems with minimal cost overhead.