Power Supply Competition Experience Sharing

走马观花

Power Supply Competition Experience Sharing [Copy link]

As a biennial National Undergraduate Electronic Design Competition, I was lucky enough to participate in two sessions. Let me first talk about my experience of getting the first place in the country. When I was a junior, I won the first prize in the 2015 Power Supply Group (Undergraduate). The topic was the 2015 National Undergraduate Electronic Design Competition Power Supply A Topic Bidirectional DC-DC Converter. I'll get a certificate first, haha.

I was in charge of the software (also team leader and writing papers). At that time, we used STM32F103 as the main control, and my two teammates were hardware designers.

In fact, the preparations before the competition were quite sufficient. There were predicted topics before the competition, which might be about making inverters. We did some practical training in this area and made a lot of modules and software reserves, such as DC-DC modules, current and voltage detection modules, PWM dead-zone drivers, DSP software, etc. Anyway, we spent the whole summer studying in the laboratory, with teachers in charge of setting questions and checking. Our team was still quite optimistic at the time, after all, we had won good awards in previous years.

There wasn't much preparation work to do, and I was lucky because the modules for the competition were already ready, so I didn't have to prepare boards or solder and open them.

At that time, only one MOS tube was used to make a boost and buck integrated circuit (two MOS circuits were used at that time, one was boost and the other was buck, but coincidentally, one circuit could control the output of both boost and buck circuits at the same time. Luck couldn't be stopped). Then a high-precision sampling chip INA226 was used to collect voltage and current. This was also a module and program prepared before the game. The PID algorithm was used to control the PWM output to control the voltage or current. Therefore, no matter whether it was boost or buck, only one set of code was needed to complete it. The competition was relatively smooth and there was almost no overnight work.

At that time, we thought the accuracy was very high, so we used a 4.5-digit voltmeter to measure it, and it was still achieved with relatively high accuracy. These coefficients were obtained by repeatedly measuring the accuracy of voltage and current.

Then there is PID control. This type of control of current and voltage is relatively easy to control, unlike a balance car which will fall over if you adjust it too much or too little.

Actual picture & test picture

Pre-match preparation

The first round was the provincial competition, which was conducted at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. We got the first prize in the province, and then we took the re-test (some basic things, which can be searched on the Internet, and they were similar in previous years, such as building some circuits to produce a few waveforms, amplification, etc., and then writing a paragraph of instructions and drawing a flow chart). After passing all the tests, we went to Hangzhou for the second round of national re-test (the place for the finals is different every year. We went to Zhejiang University at that time. If there are no major problems with the actual object, you will basically get the first prize. There is no third prize in the finals).

These are just the conditions during this competition and can only be used as a reference. Every competition is different and you may not be able to guess the right answers. Therefore, pre-match preparation has a lot to do with your own abilities. If you want to win the grand prize, you basically have to get every question right.

As a junior who is about to enter his senior year, I have a lot of knowledge in software and hardware. If I want to win a big prize, I still have to rely on my accumulation. In terms of software, I must be familiar with at least three or more microcontrollers (STM32/51/DSP/MSP430/Arduino, etc.). The development of the host computer is still helpful for the competition (when debugging), but it has no practical significance. After all, I can't bring a computer to the competition venue, so it is not recommended to temporarily develop the host computer. In terms of hardware, I just need to draw the board and understand the principle. If I work on power supply, the main focus is on current accuracy, voltage accuracy, efficiency, etc.

I am just an ordinary student in a third-tier college. I came into contact with these competitions when I participated in clubs in my freshman year. Since I was interested in software, I learned and used it more in my freshman year, so I knew a little more than others. After getting in touch with microcontrollers, I am not excellent in software, but at least I can read and use it.

Before I joined this club to learn about microcontrollers, yes, I was taught by the seniors in the club. After studying, I returned to the dormitory almost at 11 o'clock every day. I returned to the dormitory almost at 11 o'clock every day for the first three years of my four years in college. Therefore, everyone's gains are proportional to their own efforts, and they do not come out of thin air. For people like us who are from third-tier colleges, teachers are almost useless in the competition, and we rely on ourselves (seniors) for everything.

During the summer vacation of my freshman year, I participated in the 2013 National College Student Electronic Design Competition. I was in the control group and worked on a simple inverted pendulum. It seems very simple to me now, but I didn’t learn much at the time. The most I learned was to control the motor to rotate. I didn’t even know how to use PID. In the end, I only scored on 2 small questions and won the third prize in Sichuan Province.

The main purpose of participating in the competition as a freshman is to gain experience, which is indeed a rare opportunity for us.

It is these experiences that made us realize that our school’s control department is really not doing well, but the power supply department is doing better. Therefore, we decided to start developing the hardware towards the power supply department, and continue to work on control software, and then work together on the power supply department during the Three Kingdoms Tournament.

When I was a sophomore, I participated in the 2014 Sichuan Province Electronic Design Competition. My work was on the control category, metal detectors. There was one small question where my accuracy was a little off, so unfortunately I only won second prize.

During my sophomore year, I also participated in the Blue Bridge Cup Competition. This is an individual competition. There are not many good universities participating in the electronic projects, and the assessment content is relatively simple. The embedded project is to control some basic peripherals of STM32. Then there is a circuit design, and finally a flow chart. The competition system is similar to the national competition. First, I won the provincial first prize, and then went to Beijing North University of Technology for another final. The topic was similar to the provincial competition, and I won the national second prize at that time.

There is also a special prize, which is won by Chengdu University of Information Technology every year.

I usually participate in electronic design competitions at school and online electronic competitions to gain more experience.

I participated in the Blue Bridge Cup for the second time in my junior year. This time I won the first prize in the country. The special prize was also won by Chengdu University of Information Technology. I was expecting to win the special prize at that time. What a pity. (Later, the topic of the Blue Bridge Cup was changed to be more algorithmic)

The last one is the national competition during the summer vacation of junior year.

The above are some of my experiences in participating in competitions during college. I don’t have any special experiences to share. I can only say that God rewards hard work and nothing comes for free. As long as you lay a solid foundation, you will definitely be able to perform stably and achieve good results in the competition.

Then for some good universities, it is easier to win awards and prizes with the guidance of teachers. As long as everyone can study and master these skills seriously in the laboratory, they can get a better name. If one time doesn't work, there are still two or three times. The more you accumulate, the greater the explosive power will be in the end.

I also wish all the competitors good results.

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