Hardware-in-the-loop testing for electric vehicle drive applications

This paper describes the design, implementation, and validation of a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test platform for electric vehicle drive applications. We implement a HIL platform by interfacing a variable speed drive controller with a real-time simulation of an electric vehicle drive. A real-time test bench simulation enables drive cycle testing and fault injection capability for the HIL platform. We demonstrate the prototyping capability of the HIL platform with the EPA Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule (UDDS) on an electric vehicle drive system. Real-time comparisons with a real, small-scale electric vehicle drive validate the fidelity of the real-time simulation under various operating and fault conditions. Test case simulations demonstrate the fidelity and prototyping capability of the hardware-in-the-loop platform when used for electric vehicle drive testing applications. Additionally, real-time simulation and test results demonstrate the ability of the HIL platform to accurately encapsulate electric vehicle dynamics with time constants that span more than five orders of magnitude.