Test platform for hybrid electric power systems: Development of a HIL test platform

This paper reports about the development of a test platform for "hybrid electric power systems" (HEPS) for use in hybrid electric road vehicles. This test bench serves as a platform for both research and education and serves evaluating and optimizing the power flow in HEPS for road vehicles. For this purpose a real time simulation of the load of the electric drive train was implemented and allows applying dynamic drive cycles, hence representing a realistic load situation of the HEPS. The test platform can be used for Hardware In the Loop (HIL) simulations of HEPS and with their power converters (in particular DC/DC converters) managing the power flow between the different power sources of the HEPS and the electric drive train. In this way the power flow in the HEPS can be optimized in function of performance and efficiency. Further the test platform can be used for the development of dedicated power converters and rapid prototyping of the associated controllers.