Automated Hardware-in-the-loop testing for high voltage/power system “AVL E-STORAGE BTE”

The AVL E-STORAGE BTE is a high-voltage power supply which is designed for characterization and verification of electric driveline components in the automotive, off-highway, marine and aviation industries. It is able to provide a voltage-range from 8V to 800V with a power output up to 250kW. Due to its dynamic performance an ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) real-time emulator for Power Electronics is needed. In our HIL setup, HIL602, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based system is used to emulate power electronics and interact with the Power Controller Unit (PCU) as well as the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The PLC handles information from user commands, controls digital inputs/outputs and executes a state machine, whereas the PCU contains controller boards for interaction with the mains rectifier (MR) and step-down converter (STDC). The AVL E-Storage power electronics model is built, compiled and simulated using its mathematical representation in HIL software, where the analog/digital I/Os are controlled. Automating the HIL testing is crucial because it helps to reduce costs, to detect possible errors in the early development stage and it provides a real-time fault-tolerant operation. This paper presents an approach to test the functionality of E-Storage Battery Tester & Emulator (BTE) System's PCU- and PLC-Software in automated tests.