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Prototype Motor Control Designs, and Test Motor Drives and their Embedded Controllers

Enable Continuous Innovation and Testing

 

Modern electrified vehicles, aircraft, and any other moving machinery rely on highly efficient and robust electric motors. As motor topologies, drives, and connected components such as batteries, fuel-cells, and powertrains are constantly evolving, R&D teams strongly benefit from real-time testing systems to perform continuous control design prototyping and automated requirements-based testing of both embedded controllers and electrical equipment. Leverage a model-based design workflow with MATLAB® & Simulink® by combining high-processing capacity, Simulink-programmable FPGAs, low-latency I/O connectivity, communication protocols, and power amplifiers.

Leverage Speedgoat test systems to prototype motor drive control designs and test motor drive controllers and drives in real-time, all with the same seamlessly integrated model-based testing workflow from Simulink:

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Simulate and Test in Real-Time with Speedgoat Test Systems

The models used for desktop simulation can be reused during all testing phases thanks to the seamless MATLAB & Simulink workflow integration:

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Use model-based design with Simulink and Speedgoat test systems to:

  • easily try out new ideas,
  • speed up the overall development process,
  • expose design problems, and
  • automate testing.

 

Speedgoat test systems offer a seamless integration with Simulink together with:

  • I/O connectivity,
  • Simulink-programmable FPGAs,
  • power emulation and signal conditioning, and
  • custom rack integration and services.

Rapidly prototype your control design on a Speedgoat test system and test it by controlling the real motor drive and electric motor:

Automate
Test
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Deploy your Simulink-based control designs or state estimators to a Speedgoat test system connected to a real motor drive and electric motor. Deploy system-level controllers on performant multi-core CPUs or power electronics controllers on low-latency FPGAs. Speedgoat test systems can execute your control designs together with low-latency I/O connectivity and communication protocols that enable you to test your motor drive, tune control parameters, and log data before deploying your algorithms to the final embedded controller. Use Simulink Test to automate testing and validate your controllers based on previously defined requirements.

Deploy a HIL simulation of the motor and drive on a Speedgoat test system connected to the embedded controller for verification of its functions:

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Deploy your motor drive and system-level plant models to a Speedgoat test system connected to your embedded controllers. HIL testing lets you validate embedded controllers for motor drives, powertrains, propulsion systems, or even vehicle dynamics by using real-time digital twins. Test the controller deterministically against a virtual plant including motor drives or other systems, while logging data or changing plant parameters on-the-fly. Speedgoat test systems provide turnkey I/O connectivity, communication protocol support and sensor emulation. Automate testing even with very high-frequency switching effects leading to full test coverage of firmware and interfaces.

Emulate electric motors and batteries with Speedgoat test systems including power amplifiers to test your motor drive at full power:

Deploy
Test
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Deploy the real-time digital twin of your electric plant to a Speedgoat test system including power amplifiers to test your electrical equipment at full power using emulators for electric motors, batteries, or DC grids. Emulate electric systems by swiftly matching the power of your digital twin with the electric power of your electrical equipment using real-time systems driving high-bandwidth power amplifiers with power levels ranging from a few hundred watts to megawatts. Speedgoat test systems can also emulate a wide range of sensors and include I/O connectivity or communication protocols to interface equipment controllers. Automate testing of motor drives at all operating conditions, including faults and edge cases even prior to the electric motor or battery pack being available. Log data, adjust plant parameters or even modify the electric motor or battery models on-the-fly.

Capabilities of Speedgoat Test Systems

  • Simulate and test control units and physical systems from MATLAB & Simulink
  • Real-time execution of Simulink models in multi-core CPUs and FPGAs
  • Off-the-shelf protocols, I/O, and sensor connectivity
  • Ready-to-use, application-specific models of control designs and plant simulations accelerate your ramp-up
  • Integration to test automation and third-party calibration tools
  • Power amplifier interfaces to emulate electric systems such as power grids, electric motors, or batteries
  • Electrical and thermal emulation of up to 250 battery cells in series
  • Comprehensive services like jumpstart workshops and acceptance testing

Testing Benefits

System-Level Controls

  • Calibrate, tune, and gradually test parts of a controller using protocol bypassing

  • Prototype control designs and state estimators for various electric motors

  • Integrate black box models

  • Test embedded controllers with low-latency and high-bandwidth fiber optic interfaces

  • Turnkey communication protocol support like CAN FD, EtherCAT, and ARINC, as well as Restbus simulation 

  • Typical I/O Interfaces, such as sensor measurement/emulation and power amplifiers

Power Electronics Controls

  • Rapidly prototype controllers with MHz-level bandwidth and switching frequency with Simulink-programmable FPGAs

  • Validate power electronics control units using FPGA-based HIL simulation at high-frequency switching

  • Include nonlinear effects in control prototyping and HIL testing, such as saturation and space-harmonics

  • Include off-the-shelf SPI, SSI, I2C, EnDat, Aurora protocols, and others

  • Emulate and measure sensors like encoders, resolvers, RTDs, and others

Featured Application Use Cases

Prototype control designs for permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM), brushless DC motors or synchronous motors without having to worry about coding details, sensor interfaces, protocols, nor PWM techniques. Use PID autotuning, reinforcement learning, or machine learning techniques to tune, calibrate, and test controls with motor drives and all associated sensors. Once you deploy your final control designs, test your embedded controller against a virtual motor drive and electric motor including saturation, spatial harmonics, and other nonlinear effects. When developing and testing controllers such as field-oriented control (FOC), direct torque control, vector control, or sensorless controls, you will require some of the following tasks:

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Control Design Prototyping

  • Prototype control designs with your motor drive and all associated sensors
  • Use PWM techniques like space-vector modulation (SVM)
  • Get started with ready-made controls and hardware demonstrators

HIL Testing

  • Test embedded controllers with a HIL simulation of your motor drive
  • Emulate sensors like resolvers, encoders, and RTDs
  • Include FEM models from JMAG-RT or ANSYS MAXWELL

Power Hardware-in-the-Loop

  • Test motor drives at full power with power HIL
  • Emulate different electric motors and battery packs
  • Include FEM models from JMAG-RT or ANSYS MAXWELL

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Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Prototype control designs, test embedded controllers, and validate motor drives at full power for different asynchronous electrical machines or induction motors. With automatic code generation from Simulink, you can easily deploy your models to Speedgoat test systems and use sensor interfaces, protocols, and different PWM techniques. Use PID autotuning, model predictive control or machine learning techniques to tune, calibrate, and test controls. Test embedded controllers to validate operation for typical and fault conditions. When developing and testing controllers such as field-oriented control (FOC), vector control, or sensorless controls, you will require some of the following tasks:

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Control Design Prototyping

  • Prototype control designs with your motor drive and all associated sensors
  • Use PWM techniques like space-vector modulation (SVPWM)
  • Ready-made controls and hardware demonstrators

HIL Testing

  • Test embedded controllers with a HIL simulation of your motor drive
  • Emulate sensors like resolvers, encoders, and RTDs
  • Verify controllers for typical operation and fault conditions

 

Power Hardware-in-the-Loop

  • Test motor drives at full power with power HIL
  • Emulate different electric motors and battery packs
  • Include FEM models from JMAG-RT or ANSYS MAXWELL

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Watch Video Series

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More

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Prototype control designs for synchronous reluctance motors and switched reluctance motors without having to worry about coding details, sensor interfaces, protocols, nor PWM techniques. Use PID autotuning and include 3D look-up table information to tune, calibrate, and test controls with motor drives and all associated sensors. Once you deploy your final control designs, test your embedded controller against a virtual motor drive and an electric motor including nonlinear effects. Verify motor inverters at full power using emulators for batteries and reluctance machines. When developing and testing controllers such as current control, torque control, or voltage impulse control, you will require some of the following tasks:

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Control Design Prototyping

  • Prototype control designs with your motor drive and all associated sensors
  • Use PWM techniques and 3D look-up tables (LUTs)
  • Get started with ready-made controls

HIL Testing

  • Test embedded controllers with a HIL simulation of your motor drive
  • Emulate sensors like resolvers, encoders, and RTDs
  • Include complex nonlinear models based on FEA tools

 

Power Hardware-in-the-Loop

  • Test motor drives at full power with power HIL
  • Emulate different electric motors and battery packs
  • Include FEM models from JMAG-RT or ANSYS MAXWELL

Watch Webinar

Watch Webinar

Watch Webinar

Watch Webinar

Watch Webinar

Watch Webinar

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

Get Started with Example Models

The development of motor drives starts with a desktop simulation including controllers, motor drives, and electric motors. Once electric motors and drives are available, use a Speedgoat test system as a controller to perform control design prototyping for requirements-based validation without worrying about processing capacity or I/O connectivity. Perform thorough embedded controller testing by connecting it to a virtual motor drive including high-fidelity power electronics. Finally, carry out motor drive testing at realistic operating conditions using electric power emulation of electric motors and batteries.

Develop and test using a single platform: Simulink. Development of motor drives typically begins with desktop simulation, followed by real-time testing. Deploy your controller models to a Speedgoat system to rapidly test control designs while connected to a motor and drive. The same seamless workflow allows you to use Simulink or Simscape™ Electrical™ plant models for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) validation of your embedded controller or even Power-HIL to test your real motor drive equipment at full power. Speedgoat test systems, Simulink, and its toolboxes also facilitate requirements-based testing, test automation, and DevOps workflows.

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