Floating interleaved boost converter (FIBC) is a promising topology of the dc/dc converters to interface the fuel cell with dc bus in a hybrid powertrain. For the efficient control development of power converters, the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation plays an important role. The accuracy of the real-time model determines the credibility of the HIL simulation. In order to take the power losses and thermal stress into account in the control development, the device-level real-time model is becoming popular in recent years, which can effectively produce device transient voltage and current waveforms, switching power dissipations, and thermal behaviors. In this paper, a device-level electro-thermal model of FIBC is proposed and developed using the field programmable gate array based real-time simulation technology. The FIBC network model can effectively be simulated with a 500-ns time step while producing the insulated-gate bipolar transistor transient switching waveforms authentically with a 5-ns resolution. The switching power losses can thus be estimated in real time and then used for the computation of the IGBT thermal behavior. Therefore, the device junction temperature can be evaluated in the real-time simulation. The accuracy of the proposed FIBC device-level model is validated by the reference model in the Saber offline simulation tool. At last, an embedded PI controller of FIBC is employed in the real-time experiments to verify the effectiveness of the developed model.

FPGA-Based Device-Level Electro-Thermal Modeling of Floating Interleaved Boost Converter for Fuel Cell Hardware-in-the-Loop Applications

Recently, researches on electric vehicle are focused on motion control and state estimation. These works require a model that imitate a real vehicle as close as possible. We propose in this paper a signal hardware-in-the-loop model of electric vehicles that includes driving system and vehicle model running in real-time in dSPACE-DS1103 control card. All the required states of the electric vehicle are monitored in Matlab/Simulink environment. The model is validated by implementing representative test cases. Results of this paper can be a useful tool for further electric vehicle researches.

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A signal hardware-in-the-loop model for electric vehicles

Nowadays, the Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) technique is widely used to test different power electronic converters. These real-time simulations require processing large data at high speed, which makes this application very suitable for FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) as they are capable of parallel processing. This paper provides an analytical discussion on three HIL models for a full-bridge converter. The three models use different possible numerical formats, namely float and fixed-point, the latter with and without optimizing the width of signals to the embedded DSP (Digital Signal Processors) blocks of the FPGA. The optimized fixed-point model (OFPM) uses three and two times fewer DSP blocks or LUTs (Look Up Tables), and the maximum achievable clock frequency is also up to 35 % and 25 % higher than the float model and non-optimized fixed-point model (nOFPM), respectively. Furthermore, the models’ accuracy is proportional to the clock frequency, thus the OFPM is also the most accurate model. Finally, the paper shows the differences in the simulation when the models include or not losses, proving that not including losses leads to high errors, especially during transients.

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/8/11/1255/pdf

Comparison of Power Converter Models with Losses for Hardware-in-the-Loop Using Different Numerical Formats

The paper deals with an extensive analysis of power converters failures in AC motor drives by exploiting the capability of a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation platform to emulate the real-time behavior of electrical machines and power converters. In this way it is possible to investigate the effects of power converter faults in electrical drives with the aim to propose solutions that allow to reduce the periods of drives inoperability. In this paper, a suitable realization of a test bench combining an embedded system based on a FPGA board with a high-level graphical programming language is proposed to replace part of the electrical drive hardware. Differently than standard approaches for FPGA programming, which are normally based on hardware description languages, the proposed solution exploits an environment software platform with a high level of abstraction that leads to a good trade-off between accuracy and hardware resources, also allowing a faster prototyping procedure. The proposed HIL solution has been used to study some common faults occurring in power converters, evaluating the behavior of a standard drive operating with different control algorithms.

Failure analysis of AC motor drives via FPGA-based hardware-in-the-loop simulations

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems with the grid is undoubtedly an issue of great interest both in terms of energy production, but also as a support to the grid as an ancillary service, but to evaluate the performance of the use of PV in an unconventional way, it is necessary to have reference models to be applied to evaluate the characteristics and integration requirements. In this work, an ancillary service provided by a grid-connected PV is shown and a hardware in the loop simulation environment is created to simulate performances and integration issues.

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/8/7/809/pdf

Ancillary Service with Grid Connected PV: A Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Approach for Evaluation of Performances

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation is today a standard method for testing electronic equipment in the automotive industry. Since electric drives and power electronic devices are more and more important in automotive applications, these kinds of systems have to be integrated into the hardware-in-the-loop simulation. Power converters and electric drives are used in many different applications in vehicles today (hybrid electric or electric powertrain, electric steering systems, DC-DC converters, etc.). The wide range of applications, topologies, and power levels results in various different approaches and solutions for hardware-in-the-loop testing. This paper gives an overview of hardware-in-the-loop simulation of power electronics and electric drives in the automotive industry. The currently available technologies are described and future challenges are outlined.

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HIL Simulation of Power Electronics and Electric Drives for Automotive Applications

FPGA-Based Real-Time Simulation of a DC/DC Converter

The increasing complexity of power grids makes hardware-in-the-loop simulations of electrical power systems more and more interesting for the industry. The simulation models are typically large. They often have to be split and used on several hardware platforms to allow efficient computations. Finding an appropriate position for splitting the simulation model requires expert knowledge about the electrical power system itself and about the functionality and limitations of the simulation hardware. In this paper, we present criteria that have to be taken into account when splitting an electrical power system model into subsystems. These criteria can serve as a basis for a systematic model splitting algorithm, which requires no special expert knowledge.

Systematic separation of electrical power systems for hardware-in-the-loop simulation

A computer-implemented method for simulation of an electrical circuit with circuit components by at least one computing unit includes mapping a coupling of the substrate representations in a couplingequation system for exchange of calculated coupling variables between the subcircuits. The method also includes calculating, in an evaluation step, at least one stability parameter on a basis of the coupling equation system, and deciding, in a selection step and depending on the at least one calculated stability parameter, whether the current separation of the electrical circuit into subcircuits will be used as the basis of the simulation. The method further includes performing, after a successful selection, the simulation of the electrical circuit by calculating the substrate space representations on the at least one computing unit.

Frank Puschmann

Papers

HIL Simulation of Power Electronics and Electric Drives for Automotive Applications

FPGA-Based Real-Time Simulation of a DC/DC Converter

Systematic separation of electrical power systems for hardware-in-the-loop simulation

Computer-implemented method for simulation of an entire electronic circuit

FPGA-basierte Echtzeitsimulation eines DC/DC-Konverters