Field bus for data exchange and control of modular power electronic systems with high synchronisation accuracy of ±4 ns

Abstract

This paper proposes a new field bus protocol based on the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard. The protocol enables fast data exchange between the modules and synchronised control in the modules of modular power electronic systems. With increasing switching frequency, a highly accurate synchronisation of the different modules is a necessary requirement for a control bus. The proposed field bus protocol provides a stable and efficient scheme including a novel data frame structure and allows the realisation of a synchronisation accuracy of ±4 ns based on the 1 GBit Ethernet standard. For validation of the new protocol, a prototype system was developed and the measurement results are reported herein. The results show that the implementation satisfies the specifications. Finally, different use-cases and the achievable data rates for the given implementation were derived.