Generalization of C++ based DSP software for voltage source regulation and control of diverse power converters in particle accelerators

Abstract

Large particle accelerator facilities such as the one at The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) are good examples of complex systems where a large variety of switched power converters coexist to feed the acceleration systems. Over the years, the low-level voltage source regulation software has evolved in a decentralized manner, making it repetitive and difficult to test, debug and maintain. As reliability is of capital importance, this work investigates the similarities between various representative power systems and their converter-specific software, named CANCUN (Cern Acdc Narrow CoNverter), HL-LHC18kA (High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider 18 kA) and RF3kA (Radio-Frequency 3 kA). Then, a C++ coded common control library, herein named RegDspLib, is proposed to make software generalization possible, taking advantage of Object Oriented Programming (OOP). Among the library's features, the re-factorization includes a unified control state machine. The proposal also provides digital signal processor's (DSP) resource utilization reduction. Modifications over the interrupt handling and generalization of pulse width modulation (PWM) modules through parametrization are also investigated. Finally, experimental results showing the correctness of the proposal are presented. All this provides field engineers and researchers valuable information regarding voltage control software standardization, at a power electronics level, in medium-to-large particle acceleration or other complex industrial systems.