In this webinar, learn how OPAL-RT's state-of-the-art Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation solutions empower engineers to design and test ECUs, and other integrated power electronic systems and controllers, with efficiency.

1. HIL Testing of Electric
Transportation
May 26, 2016

2. Your Hosts
Demo
Sébastien Cense
FPGA Application Specialist
OPAL-RT TECHNOLOGIES
Presenter
François Berthelot
Engineer
OPAL-RT TECHNOLOGIES
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Hao Huang
Technology Chief – Electrical Power
GE Aviation

3. Presentation Outline
1 2 3 4 5
Introduction
& Challenges
Case Studies
Live Demo
GE Aviation
Dr. Huang
Conclusion

4. Introduction to electric drives
Electric drives are nowadays found in a wide range of transportation
applications.
 In the automotive industry1:
 Hybrid vehicles
 Plug-in hybrid vehicles
 Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
 Battery electric vehicles1
 In other industries:
 Aircraft
 Off-highway vehicles (OHV)
 Electric locomotives
 Integrated/full electric marine propulsion systems (IEP/FEP)
For engineers involved in drive simulation and in hardware-in-the-loop testing of
electronic control units (ECU), the variety of challenges, technologies and
solutions can be daunting.
1 – According to the Society of AutomotiveEngineers (SAE)International.

5. Introduction to electric drives
OPAL-RT’s vision on hardware-in-the-
loop electric drive applications:
Electric Motors Power Converters
Types
Permanent Magnet Synchronous
Motor (PMSM)
Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)
Brushless DC Motor (BLDC)
Induction Motor (IM)
- DFIG, DFIM, squirrel-cage
Etc.
Types
DC-DC Converters, Buck / Boost
AC-DC Rectifiers
DC-AC Inverters
Neutral-Point Clamped Converters
Cycloconverters, Matrix Converters
Modular Multi-Level Converters
Etc.
ECU under test
Electric drives, inside transportation systems, do not come
alone. They are part of complex ecosystems which include
surrounding physical environments with communication
layers and dynamics control.
Testing electric drives requires complete test coverage of
possible failure cases. A real-time HIL simulator that can
perform such scenarios must support simple and efficient
scripting.
HIL testing of electric drives also aims at minimizing
dynamometer testing. Having the freedom to rely on a very
accurate real-time simulation, rich in harmonics, providing
current saturations and real torque phenomena is important.
Power amplifiers can also be used to go beyond controller
testing.
CAN bus,
Modbus,
ARINC, …
Faults
Protocols
Scripts
Dynamics
System
&
Environment

6. Challenge 1: High-Fidelity Motor Simulation
Historically, real-time simulation of electric motors has been achieved
by computing equations on processors (CPUs).
With such technology, timing constraints to achieve accurate
simulation of motors and associated drives are non-negligible. With
limited time steps down to 20 us to 50 us on CPU, model complexity
had to be kept simple in order to run in real-time with no overruns.
In order to get acceptable results, engineers had to fall back on
generic motor models, average models, limit the rotational speed or
limit the switching frequency among others.
This did not deliver the fidelity required to represent all harmonics,
saturations and ultimately to couple simulated motors with fast
simulated power converters and surrounding systems.

7. Nowadays, real-time electric motor simulation is executed on FPGA, where time steps achieved are typically below
1 microsecond. By being application-specific, FPGAs can be fully dedicated to the task.
Challenge 1: High-Fidelity Motor Simulation
… But programming detailed electric motors on FPGA is
challenging and requires specialized tools. Due to this,
generic or pre-built motor models are still common.
 Timing constraints are reduced  Simulation accuracy is increased
 Reach sufficient levels of harmonics and detailed saturation curves
 Reach extended rotational speeds and switching frequencies in simulation
 Test coverage is expanded  Reliability and confidence are stronger

8. Challenge 1: High-Fidelity Motor Simulation
To circumvent such limitations, FPGA-based real-time simulation
of motor models is now coupled with finite element analysis
(FEA) tools. High-fidelity inductance tables are generated from
those tools and are directly imported in the electric motor
simulation on FPGA.
 Takes in account non-linearity and allows real-time simulation
motor inductance variations at high current
 Fidelity related to detailed electric motor modeling is
increased
 Motor designers and HIL specialists work with a common tool
 Efficiency relatedto electric motor design and
testingis enhanced

9. Another key component of electric drives is fast power
electronics components.
High-frequencyswitching is used nowadays to reduce the filter
size, the size of other componentsin the converter, the
harmonics of the output signals, as well as to increase the
control bandwidth among others.
Using an FPGA-based technologyfor real-time simulation is
therefore preferred.
Similarly to the electric motors, programming power converters
on FPGA is challenging and again requires specialized tools and
skills.
Challenge 2: Fast power electronics components in HIL
Typical
Application
Typical
Frequency
Typical
Time Step
Temperature control 1 Hz 1 second
Human Vision (video) 24 Hz 42 ms
Aircraft Model (simulation) 200 Hz 5 ms
Robotics 1000 Hz 1 ms
Fuel Engine Control 10 000 Hz 100 us
Power Grid Simulation (AC systems) 20 000 Hz 50 us
Low frequency Power Electronics 100 000 Hz 10 us
Finite Element PMSM Motors 2 500 000 Hz 0.4 us
High Frequency Power Electronics 5 000 000 Hz 0.2 us

10. eHS (electric Hardware Solver) enables to simulate fast power
converter circuits with time steps ranging from 150 nanosecondsto 2
microseconds:
 No FPGA expertise or programmingneeded
 Direct interface with SimPowerSystems, PSIM, PLECS and Multisim
 Test different scenarios without rebuilding code
…But, this could be considered a power electronics HIL environment
« only », while users must couple it with multi-rate components of
the surrounding system such as motors, power systems, transmissions,
braking systems, etc. HIL tools integrationthen becomes vital.
Challenge 2: Fast power electronics components in HIL

11. HIL architectureusing CPU and FPGA
allows users to get the best from both
worlds:
 Dedicated FPGA for electric motors,
power converters, fault injection, …
Challenge 2: Fast power electronics components in HIL
 Flexible CPU for simulating
surrounding systems, dynamics,
control algorithms, communication
networks, …
CAN bus,
Modbus,
ARINC, …

12. Presentation Outline
21 3 4 5
Case Studies
Introduction
& Challenges
Live Demo
GE Aviation
Dr. Huang
Conclusion

13. Case Study: Hybrid Driveline Design & Control
SIMULATION NEEDS:
An electric drive with:
 Two Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors
 High-Impedance Capable Inverter
 Boost Converter
 PWM Frequencies: 2 to 20 kHz
 Dead Time: 2 to 20 μs Production
Controller
TESTS CONDUCTED:
 Phase over-current detection
 Boost converter action via speed increase
 VVC boost via torque command

14. Case Study: Conservation of dynamometer time
SIMULATION NEEDS:
Software development phase for ECU includes:
 Engine simulation
 Electric motor model simulation : Allows the user to check the motor
algorithms and drivers
 Communication network simulation: Multiple CAN and FlexRay channels
 Fault testing: Fault, diagnostic, and error message responses
As presentedduring the OPAL-RT RT13 Conference (June 2013)
BENEFITS:
 Because the dynamometers are expensive, many organizations multiplex the access to the
dynamometer across several programs  Objective = Reduce dyno time and optimize
schedule to lessen the chances of incurring “lost opportunity cost”
 With real-time simulation, the developers can approach the dynamometer with a 90%
confidence that the system will perform as expected
 Allows the engineers to focus on the performance of the system and not on the process of
making the system work  Wider test coverage
 Increase customer satisfaction, while cutting cost, and increasing reliability

15. Case Study: Rapid Control Prototyping of Powertrains
SIMULATION NEEDS:
 Simulink integration
 PWM and A/D Synchronization
 Resolver Input (position)
 Data logging and HCI
OBJECTIVES & ACHIEVEMENTS:
 Design new algorithms and control laws
 Test their efficiency on a prototype
 Demonstrated new electric automobile concepts
 Decreased development time

16. Presentation Outline
321 4 5
Live Demo
Case Studies
Introduction &
Challenges
GE Aviation
Dr. Huang
Conclusion

17. OP8665 DSP Board
eHS Solution – Chassis Support

18. HostComputer
(Console)
Design Power
Electronics Circuit
Real-Time
Simulator
FPGA
Executethesimulation
Physical
controller
Interface the controller
eHS Solution – Unique Workflow

19. 0 5 10 15 20
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
1 kHz PWM (UA)
Logiclevel
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-20
0
20
Load currents
Current(A)
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
20 kHz PWM (UA)
Logiclevel
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-20
0
20
Load currents
Current(A)
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
1 kHz PWM (UA)
Logiclevel
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-20
0
20
Load currents
Current(A)
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
20 kHz PWM (UA)
Logiclevel
Time (ms)
0 5 10 15 20
-20
0
20
Load currents
Current(A)
Time (ms)
Offline
results
eHS Matrix
Generation
Real Time
Simulation
Online
results
eHS workflow
Offline simulation
+
-
Model
Validation
eHS Solution – Unique Workflow

20. Presentation Outline
42 31 5
GE Aviation
Dr. Huang
Case Studies
Live Demo
Introduction
& Challenges
Conclusion

21. Presentation Outline
521 43
Conclusion
Case Studies
Introduction &
Challenges
GE Aviation
Dr. Huang
Live Demo

22. Electric drive real-time simulation evolves in complex ecosystems
- Dedicated software tools running on CPU and FPGA-based technologies that can be
coupled together are required, such as eMEGAsim and eHS
Complete test coverage is needed
- Wide range of fault scenarios possible with accurate models even in limit conditions
Minimize dynamometer testing
- Replaced by high-fidelity real-time simulation and Power-HIL
In Conclusion

23. For more information
Visit our electric motor and power electronics webpage:
http://www.opal-rt.com/electric-motor-and-power-electronics
For a one-on-one demo or any additional questions:
http://www.opal-rt.com/contact-opal-rt
The content of this webinar will be available shortly on:
http://opal-rt.com/events/past-webinars

24. Meet us at RT16
Register now at www.opal-rt.com/events

25. Thank you!
Q&A
www.opal-rt.com