Real-time Power Hardware-in-the-Loop Emulation of a Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle Drive Train

One of the main challenges in the development of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is control and co-ordination of several power sources. Power electronic emulators for drive trains provide effective and economic ways to test and validate control strategies in real-time. This paper proposes a real-time emulator for parallel hybrid electric vehicles. The major mechanical and electrical parts of a typical parallel hybrid electric vehicle power train (the engine drive train and the motor drive train) is modeled mathematically and is emulated in real-time using power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL). The individual sub-systems are modeled and locally controlled to maintain the required performance and control modes such as speed and torque. Real-time simulation was done in Matlab-Simulink and DS-1103 real-time controller and the results are presented. Voltage source inverters are used as power amplifiers to emulate the characteristics of the individual drive trains. The voltage source inverters are controlled by the same DS-1103 controller in rapid control prototype (RCP) mode. Experimental results with power hardware-in-the-loop emulator is presented for the validation of the proposed scheme.