In our next piece of expedited PCIM coverage, ipXchange talks with Florian from dSPACE. The topic of the hour was an interesting demonstration of a hardware-interfaced simulation tool for developing Electric Vehicle (EV) on-board chargers.
Designers are creating increasingly more complex power systems to get the best use out of the energy running through their automotive systems, and many of the power devices involved in these are controlled by cards running software to make sure everything runs smoothly. As Florian explains, dSPACE has created a flexible simulation platform for evaluating the performance of these control systems before deploying them in a hardware environment.
The example system on display is a Vienna rectifier for AC-DC conversion. Precise control of the components within this power topology is key to smooth operation, so dSPACE’s simulation tool can be used to test the controller card within a simulated circuit environment for greater insights into how the system will behave. As well as changing the simulated circuitry, conditions like grid fluctuations can be introduced so you can see how the software running on your controller card copes with these possibilities. You can then adjust your control software accordingly.
While the Vienna rectifier is an AC-DC conversion system, dSPACE’s solution can also be used for automotive DC-DC systems and industrial power control systems far beyond the scope of this demo.
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