Case Study: Alstom Grid slashes HVDC control development time from 12 months to 3 months with MathWorks Model-Based Design

Alstom Grid Develops High-Voltage Direct Current Transmission Control System Using Model-Based Design

Alstom faced a tight, 24-month schedule to develop a complex control system for a 24 MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) voltage source converter demonstrator, needing early verification across multi-layer controls and to eliminate months of hand-coding. To meet these challenges the Alstom Grid team adopted MathWorks Model-Based Design using MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow and related toolboxes to model, simulate, document and generate code for the control and protection systems.

Using MathWorks tools, Alstom partitioned and simulated a large closed-loop plant and control model, generated Embedded Coder production code for DSPs, deployed to real-time hardware, and produced automated documentation. The result: design-to-code time fell from about one year to three months, design iterations dropped from two months to under two weeks, documentation updates went from two weeks to minutes, protection algorithms that previously took six months in C were implemented in a week, and the 24 MW demonstrator is now operational and receiving positive customer evaluations.

Alstom

Anthony Totterdell

Deputy Control Systems Manager – VSC Expert