Validating EV power converter designs with off-the-shelf test resources
Validating the design of power converters (DC to DC, DC to AC, AC to DC) for electric vehicle (EV) power trains requires measuring power conversion efficiency over a wide operating range. Depending on their functions, onboard power converters operate from 3 kW to 30 kW or more, and traction inverters can operate up to 300 kW and beyond. Verifying their performance requires numerous test specimens and repeating the tests to accumulate enough data to assess their performance.
For full battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), design engineers require a power system that can emulate the EV battery to test bidirectional onboard power conversion or unidirectional AC grid to the high-voltage bus via the onboard charger. The engineers need to create a test system that matches the EV power converter's operational requirements and can simulate the charge-to-discharge of an EV's Li-ion battery.
EV power converter test solution
Validating EV power converter designs requires applying sourcing power and electrical loads from 3 to 30 kW. The Keysight EV power converter test solution uses a regenerative power system that can perform the source / sink functions of the EV battery to test BEV and HEV DC to DC onboard power conversion. In the event of electrical faults in the system under test, a redundant safety disconnect system (500 and 950 V models only) safely disconnects the output.