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Use Cases
Use Cases

Fast Measurement of Voltage and Current Flows on E-Machines

During the development of the electric power train for electric vehicles, voltage and current characteristics at the AC phases of the electric motors must be recorded and analyzed. The HV Breakout Modules are particularly suitable for this purpose, as they measure required values extremely quickly, synchronously and precisely.

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Background

The synchronous and fast measurement of currents and voltages in all phases of an electric motor is the basis for the exact calculation of the electrical power or the determination of the efficiency. From the sampled values, the active, apparent and blind power is calculated with the eMobilityAnalyzer, a package which is included in the Vector software vMeasure or CANape.

Measurement task

Current and voltage measurement for power calculation.

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Challenge

In this example, the voltages and currents of each phase of a three-phase synchronous motor with a rated power of 43 kW are to be measured. Different load situations are simulated in the test bench by varying the speed and the torque. The high basic frequency of the inverter of 24 kHz (41.6 µs) requires a time resolution of the measured values in the microsecond range in order to also record short voltage pulses at low load. The 480 V battery voltage used also requires special safety measures for the measurement modules.

Measurement data of the three phases
Current and voltage curves of all three phases (at 2000 rpm and 37 Nm)
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The CSM Measurement Solution

  • For current and voltage measurement, HV Breakout Modules (BM) 1.1 or 1.2 are inserted directly into the high-voltage cables. The modules measure currents and voltages directly synchronously and calculate the instantaneous power in real time if required. The measurement data can be output via the EtherCAT interface at a data rate of up to 1 MHz (1 µs).
  • Via a XCP-Gateway 4S pro that synchronizes the measurement modules via Distributed Clock, the measurement data can be easily forwarded to common data acquisition software such as vMeasure. The XCP-Gateway converts the data acquired with EtherCAT into the common XCP-on-Ethernet standard.
Details of the measurement
Detailed view of the three PWM voltage curves and three conductor currents (at 2000 rpm and 37 Nm)
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Benefits

The HV Brekaout modules, with their high-voltage safe galvanically isolated inputs, ensure safety even at high voltages and meet the requirement for high time resolution of the measurement. With the synchronization of the measurement data and high measurement data rate, the current and voltage characteristics can be examined precisely. In this way, models created during development can be compared with the values actually measured and further optimizations can be made.

When using vMeasure, additional variables, e.g. power, can also be analyzed in real-time with the eMobilityAnalyzer.

Current and Voltage Measurement in E-Mobility Measurement System
Presentation of the current and voltage measurement in the systematics of the Vector CSM E-Mobility Measurement System

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