Hardware-in-Loop Simulation of Electric Drives- Description of a Typical Simulation Platform 2009-01-2839

Electric powertrains are quiet, efficient, and provide a better controllability over their conventional counterparts. There are also many other areas in off-highway and commercial vehicles that are beginning to apply Electric Drive technology. The heart of these systems is the Electric Drive control technology being done on ECUs. Due to the complexity of the systems and need for demanding control applications, these ECU systems require a level of closed-loop testing that previous standard bench test-methods cannot supply. The common approach to testing these systems is using Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems designed for electric drive. This paper describes a typical HIL simulation platform for testing control systems for electric powertrain. The scope of this paper covers the standard practices in HIL simulation of electric drives, giving a general overview of the necessary interfaces and simulation technology.

HIL simulation of Electric drives is briefly outlined with a focus on different SUT-HIL electrical interfaces commonly implemented. Simulation requirements and the corresponding HIL hardware and software features are presented. Some of the quirks and challenges in simulating electric drives versus conventional powertrains are also discussed.