Electric Test Bench

Application Areas

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems with high-voltage electronic load modules from dSPACE provide highly dynamic emulation of electric motor, battery, and grid components with several hundred kilowatts of power and voltages higher than 1,000 V. All components of hybrid and fully electric drives can be represented with a real energy flow.

These high-voltage power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) capabilities make dSPACE a unique provider of single-source, ready-to-use simulation solutions for the complete range of electric vehicle drives. Power hardware-in-the-loop testing is nothing new for dSPACE. The approach is similar to our smaller systems based on the DS5380 and DS5381 modules, which are suited for emulating and testing ECUs with low voltages of up to 30 V and up to 60 V, respectively.

Typical applications for the dSPACE high-voltage systems are dynamic tests at the power level of:

• Automotive traction motor controllers
• Charging stations and onboard chargers
• DC/DC and AC/DC converters
• Industrial servo controllers

These applications can be used in a variety of test scenarios:

• Functional tests
• Load test (burn-in, end-of-line, controlled fault conditions)
• Test of controller robustness (parameter variation)
• Test of critical operation conditions

An open (Simulink^®/Xilinx^®) library from dSPACE provides the required simulation models, from FPGA models for motors and position sensors using the XSG Electric Components Models to the dSPACE Automotive Simulation Models (ASM) for batteries and complete powertrains.

• Modular approach for highest flexibility at full power
• Outstanding and very realistic current emulation
• Identical modeling environment for tests on signal level and power level
• Specifically tailored for HIL simulation at power level
• Current-based emulation for simulating variable motor inductances without the requirement for switching or exchanging any hardware components
• Efficient operation thanks to a circular energy flow without energy recovery to the mains: power supply requires less than 20% of emulation power
• High power density per emulation rack, leading to a small overall system footprint
• Safe test conditions due to safety mechanisms for power electronics
• In-house development of hardware and software by dSPACE, resulting in a turn-key system from one provider.