Automotive Power Converter Testing with the Keysight EV2000 Platform

New Challenges in Automotive Power Converter Design Validation

We are witnessing a global transition to widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Growth rates of EV production are running at more than 20% per year. As more EVs are produced, there is rapid growth in the number of new EV models being introduced and new EV designs getting underway.

EVs, whether they are EVs powered only by a battery (BEVs), or hybrids powered by a combination of battery and internal combustion engine (HEVs), have complex electrical powertrains. There are variations in the design of these powertrains, but they can be simplified to two models for BEVs and HEVs.

As you can see in this illustration, these EV powertrains contain multiple power converters. These include DC-DC, DC-AC, and AC-DC converters, with many of them operating at power levels ranging from 3 kW to 30 kW, and traction inverters operating up to 300 kW. All these converters are key elements of the electrical powertrains that are critical to both performance- and cost-differentiation for EV designers.

The explosion of new EV designs generates a similar explosion of new power converter designs. This leads to rapidly growing demand for design verification (DV) testing of these converters by both those producing the converters and by those consuming them across the automotive food chain.

This DV testing requires large numbers of test specimens and test repetition to accumulate enough data to have confidence in the performance of these new converters. The combination of these things is creating demand for large amounts of DV test capacity for these converters. This demand will escalate as EVs capture more and more market share.

The large amount of DV test capacity needed creates pressure to optimize the utilization of those DV test assets – both financial pressure, and pressure to support the volume of test demand. This sort of DV testing is in the critical path of successfully competing by quickly getting new EV designs to a rapidly growing market.

Because these power converters operate at high power and many of them operate at high voltages, safety during testing is a critical consideration for the DV test systems being used.

Designers and consumers of these power converters are experiencing the need for this increased DV test capacity. In the time-to-market race, they realize they have limited time and/or capability to develop this DV test capacity themselves. They need to quickly make decisions about how much of this DV test capacity and capability they will create themselves and how much they will acquire from a reliable source, all in the pursuit of getting the needed test systems online quickly.

Multiple Ways to Quickly Develop and Deploy Converter Test Systems with the Keysight EV2000 Platform

Every project to create design validation test systems for new converters faces a unique set of requirements regarding schedule, capital costs, engineering resources, and test coverage. Each new converter design triggers decisions about how much of the test system to make in-house vs. source from outside. Keysight provides multiple levels of solutions for power converter testing so you can optimize these trade-offs for each new project.

Off-the-Shelf Test System Components - New Resources to Improve Test System Integration

For those who want to want to design and integrate their own converter test systems, Keysight provides standard components that integrate quickly into your test system design. Start with the RP7900 Regenerative Power System as the foundation for power sourcing, loading, and measurements for the converter.

The common core capability needed for many different converter test requirements is bidirectional DC power sourcing/sinking in the 3kW – 30 kW range. This allows you to use a common, off-the-shelf test system resource to apply both sourcing power and electrical loads to bidirectional and unidirectional converters. To meet your system integration schedule, this type of DC power source/sink must:

• Match your converter’s operational requirements
• Be fast enough to simulate the charge-discharge of a Li-Ion battery in the EV drivetrain environment
• Meet test accuracy requirements
• Be easy to integrate and use
• Provide safety features to protect your test operators, your test system, and the converter being tested