HIL Simulation for Industrial Drive Controls

Testing controller algorithms

Application Areas

  • Industrial automation
  • Robotics
  • Software tests with a high number of hardware configurations
  • Automation regression tests

Key Points

  • Support of industrial position sensors
  • Target-oriented test methods
  • Support of industrial bus interfaces
  • Flexibility, combination of electrical and mechanical solutions
  • Important aid to quality assurance and development cost reduction
  • Fast adaptation to a wide range of controller

The new SCALEXIO EMH Solution provides a ready-to-use FPGA application with a comprehensive I/O library for processor-based HIL simulation of electric motors. You can use it to configure the simulation of up to two electric motors on one DS2655 FPGA Base Board from within ConfigurationDesk. Thanks to the predefined function blocks, you no longer have to program or generate FPGA code. The fast I/O of the DS2655M1 Multi-I/O Module and the integrated angular processing unit (APU) with a resolution of 8 ns let you use high-resolution I/O to measure applications in the areas of pulse width modulation (PWM) and position sensor simulation (PSS). The variable I/O channel mapping and the flexible support of up to five DS2655M1 Multi-I/O Modules let you tap the hardware’s full potential.

You do not have to replace hardware to switch from processor-based simulation to FPGA-based simulation. You can simply continue to use the existing hardware system.

Flexible Adaptation

Controlled electric drives are a key technology in numerous engineering applications. Handling so many applications calls for a high degree of flexibility, especially for servo controllers in industrial automation. And with all the possible configuration options for the servo controller software, there is a high number of variants, entailing an enormous testing workload. As the necessary controlled systems and real parts can be replaced by simulation models, setups and changes of the test scenario can be done quickly. With automated testing on a HIL simulator, these tests then are accelerated significantly.

In addition to the servo controller, you can also test the energy management system if a regenerative unit is part of your system. For this, dSPACE offers simulation models for grid simulation.

Main Functions

  • Position Sensor Simulation (PSS)
  • Resolver Out
  • Sine Encoder Out
  • Incremental Encoder Out
  • Hall Encoder Out
  • Analog Wavetable
  • Encoder Out
  • Digital Wavetable
  • Encoder Out
  • Pulse Width Modulation 
  • Six-Channel PWM In
  • Single-Channel PWM In
  • Single-Channel PWM Out
  • Basic I/O Functions 
  • Multi-Bit In
  • Multi-Bit Out
  • Multi-Voltage In
  • Multi-Voltage Out

The ASM Electric Components Library is optimized for processor-based HIL simulations in real time. Application areas include servomotors for machine drives or positioning motors, industry automation, and industrial converters.

The Closed-Loop Electric Components sublibrary of the ASM Electric Components Library includes components such as electric machines, controllers, and power electronics. These components represent the controlled system for closed-loops tests of machine controllers in a HIL system. The models support real-time simulation in fast timer tasks or hardware interrupt tasks like those necessary for PWM-synchronous model calculation with extremely short sample times, such as 50 µs.

The main components for closed-loop applications are:

  • Electric motors (DC, BLDC, PMSM, asynchronous AC induction motor)
  • Controllers
  • Various auxiliary blocks
  • Three-level inverters
  • Discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) inverters

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