Hardware-in-the-loop Test Systems Research Articles

Vehicle Power System Modeling and Integration in Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Simulations

The last decade has seen a rapid increase in the development and launch of a large number of hybrid and electric vehicles on the world market, a trend that is expected to accelerate in the medium to long term. However, not all markets in the world follow this trend at the same speed, conventional vehicles based on conventional energy systems, as start–stop systems, are prevalent in emerging markets. In Brazil, a unique biofuel energy program using sugar cane ethanol as an alternative fuel for ICE (internal combustion engines) has been successful for over forty years, and it can be used together with hybrid technologies. The introduction of micro-hybrid technologies and strategies in conventional vehicles has a significant impact on power system management, and developing and analyzing new systems and strategies can be time-consuming and expensive. Hence, the development of new HIL (hardware-in-the-loop) test systems or new methods for existing HIL systems is critical. In this paper, a modeling technique is suggested to incorporate a vehicle’s energy system into current HIL systems for studying micro-hybrid technologies and evaluating new proposals. By analyzing the impact of various strategies on fuel efficiency and the energy balance of the electric system, this modeling technique can assist in enhancing vehicle system efficiency, reducing fuel consumption, and lowering emissions.

Low-Cost Hardware in the Loop for Intelligent Neural Predictive Control of Hybrid Electric Vehicle

The design and investigation of an intelligent controller for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) implementation of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are proposed in this article. The proposed intelligent controller is adopted based on the enhancement of a model predictive controller (MPC) by an artificial neural network (ANN) approach. The MPC-based ANN (NNMPC) is proposed to control the speed of HEVs for a simulation system model and experimental HIL test systems. The HIL is established to assess the performance of the NNMPC to control the velocity of HEVs in an experimental environment. The real-time environment of HIL is implemented through a low-cost approach such as the integration of an Arduino Mega 2560 and a host Lenovo PC with a Core i7 @ 3.4 GHz processor. The NNMPC is compared with a proportional–integral (PI) controller, a classical MPC, and two different settings of the ANN methodology to verify the efficiency of the proposed intelligent NNMPC. The obtained results show a distinct behavior of the proposed NNMPC to control the speed of HEVs with good performance based on the distinct transient response, minimum error steady state, and system robustness against parameter perturbation.

Dynamic coordinated control strategy of power on gear shifting for novel dual motor electric vehicle

In order to solve the gear shifting power interruption problem in electric vehicles with automatic mechanical transmission, this paper proposes a novel dual-motor powertrain system including two motors and one gearbox, which can realize nine combined gears. Based on the working state of the power source, the clutch and the synchronizer in each working mode, as well as the operating characteristics of the vehicle, the dynamics of each gear shifting stage is analyzed, and the dynamic equations are established. The shifting process is simulated based on the co-simulation platform of MATLAB and AMEsim. Finally, a hardware in the loop test system including solenoid valve is designed and developed, and the gear shifting process from 01 to 11 is selected as a representative scheme for the experimental validation. The experimental results show that compared with the control strategy that the motor target speed is greater than the speed of the driven plate of the clutch, the control strategy that the motor target speed is lower than the speed of the driven plate of the clutch proposed in this paper reduces the shift time and sliding friction work by 37.4% and 87.3% respectively.

An ADRC-Based Hardware-in-the-Loop System for Maximum Power Point Tracking of a Wind Power Generation System

To improve the efficiency of the wind power generation, this article proposes an active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) based MPPT strategy, and establishes a LabVIEW FPGA platform based hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test system. Firstly, the configuration, operation principle, mathematical model and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control strategy of the wind power generation are analyzed. According to the angular speed tracking motion equation of the wind turbine, the ADRC based MPPT strategy is designed. Secondly, the real-time simulation model of wind speed, wind turbine and PMSG, as well as MPPT rapid control prototype (RCP) are developed by using PXI-FPGA architecture on the LabVIEW RT real-time operation platform. Then, by building a power converter and connecting it to the PXI-FPGA real-time operation platform, the HIL test system is established. Finally, the HIL real-time simulation tests are conducted with various wind speed conditions. The results not only prove the correctness of ADRC based MPPT strategy, but also demonstrate that the HIL system is an efficient tool for application in wind power generation development.

A Novel Approach for Dynamic Testing of Total Hip Dislocation under Physiological Conditions.

Constant high rates of dislocation-related complications of total hip replacements (THRs) show that contributing factors like implant position and design, soft tissue condition and dynamics of physiological motions have not yet been fully understood. As in vivo measurements of excessive motions are not possible due to ethical objections, a comprehensive approach is proposed which is capable of testing THR stability under dynamic, reproducible and physiological conditions. The approach is based on a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) simulation where a robotic physical setup interacts with a computational musculoskeletal model based on inverse dynamics. A major objective of this work was the validation of the HiL test system against in vivo data derived from patients with instrumented THRs. Moreover, the impact of certain test conditions, such as joint lubrication, implant position, load level in terms of body mass and removal of muscle structures, was evaluated within several HiL simulations. The outcomes for a normal sitting down and standing up maneuver revealed good agreement in trend and magnitude compared with in vivo measured hip joint forces. For a deep maneuver with femoral adduction, lubrication was shown to cause less friction torques than under dry conditions. Similarly, it could be demonstrated that less cup anteversion and inclination lead to earlier impingement in flexion motion including pelvic tilt for selected combinations of cup and stem positions. Reducing body mass did not influence impingement-free range of motion and dislocation behavior; however, higher resisting torques were observed under higher loads. Muscle removal emulating a posterior surgical approach indicated alterations in THR loading and the instability process in contrast to a reference case with intact musculature. Based on the presented data, it can be concluded that the HiL test system is able to reproduce comparable joint dynamics as present in THR patients.

Mitigating Time Delays: An Evaluation of Their Impact Using a Simulation Model of an Aircraft Power System Demonstrator Facility

The impact of time delays on emulation systems is examined through a simulation model of an aircraft power system demonstrator facility. The aircraft demonstrator uses hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) techniques to command a motor drive so that it emulates the dynamic characteristics of the shaft in an aircraft gas engine. As time-delay effects are inherent in the HIL test systems using industrial control platforms and communication systems, time-delay compensation techniques are required. Techniques to mitigate the time delay, or the effect of the time delay, are examined to enhance the accuracy of the gas-engine emulation.

Real-Time Test Environment for Hydraulic Gap Adjustment System in Hot Rolling Mill

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) test is an effective platform for developing and testing complex real-time systems and allows the engineer to examine units or equipments with greater test coverage compared to physical testing alone. Expensive and unique electro-hydraulic servo systems, which are applied in Hydraulic Gap Adjustment Systems in Hot Rolling Mills, are hard to test in different operating conditions, but a HIL test system can provide this examinations. In this paper a HIL test environment is presented which can be used to observe the dynamic behavior of the Hydraulic Gap Adjustment System.

Air System and Diesel Combustion Modeling for Hardware in the Loop Applications

The development of engine control unit (ECU) systems for series production requires an important validation phase. In order to reduce the number of time consuming and expensive vehicle tests, the ECU is validated using hardware in the loop (HIL) test bench. The HIL simulates the engine behavior in real-time simulations to generate consistent sensor values for all engine operating points, e.g., starting phase, transient behavior, static behavior, etc. Mean value engine models (MVEM) are able to run in real time and are appropriate for HIL test systems. In this paper we present a full MVEM taking into account all engine components: air system (air filter, turbocharger, charge air cooler, throttle valve, intake and exhaust manifolds, EGR valve, and turbine), oxidation catalyst (OxiCat), and diesel particulate filter (DPF). Additionally, combustion models have been developed to simulate the influence of the injection strategies (pre, main, post, and late injections) on the exhaust temperature and the unburned hydrocarbon emission (HC). These are taken into consideration in the exothermal reactions models inside OxiCat and DPF. The results show that the model prediction in term of pressure and temperature are in good agreement with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) project data. The after treatment temperature evolutions in the OxiCat and DPF are well reproduced by the proposed model.