Use Cases 
During the development and validation of electric vehicles, a series of tests must be carried out in the high-voltage environment. HV-safe measurements of currents and voltages must not only be made from the perspective of a power calculation, but also to rule out hazards from potentials applied to the vehicle. Measurement modules that can carry out several voltage and current measurements simultaneously and process data directly are therefore ideal for the efficient execution of many measurements.
Due to the high voltages with which electric vehicles are operated, tests that serve the safety of persons are not only essential, but also obligatory. One of these tests must ensure that the HV potentials are symmetrical to and separate from the vehicle ground. This safety check is also specified in the car manufacturers' factory standards. This is intended to rule out or minimize any threat to life and limb in the event of a fault.
Measurement Task
Acquisition of current and voltage as well as additional voltages for verifying the voltage potentials.
Many measurements are required for the safety and performance calculations, but costs and time must be saved at the same time, it is necessary to keep the instrumentation costs as low as possible by using multi-channel measurement modules. In addition, the measurement technology used must be HV-safe and enable fast, synchronous recording of the values.
With the HV Breakout Module (HV BM) 1.2+U, up to four measurements can be carried out with just one measurement module. For single-phase measurements on HV live cables, the cables are simply fed through cable glands into the interior of the HV BM 1.2+U module and connected there using ring terminals. The inner conductor current and voltage can be measured simultaneously, for example to characterize a DC consumer and investigate its interaction with the vehicle electrical system. The module also measures two other voltages simultaneously: that of the HV+ inner conductor and that of the HV- inner conductor to the housing.
With the housing connected to the vehicle ground, possible potential differences can be determined. Safety-relevant investigations regarding the relative position of the potentials to the vehicle ground can be verified by these measurements.
The HV BM 1.2+U outputs the measurement data with a maximum data rate of up to 1 MHz via Ethernet and simultaneously with a data rate of up to 10 kHz via the additional CAN interface. With the Calc. option, active, apparent power and reactive power, power factor and the effective values for current and voltage can also be calculated directly in the module. This enables initial analyses without the use of additional hardware and software.
Performing development and safety-relevant measurements in electric vehicles with just one measurement module minimizes the effort required for instrumentation. With the HV BM 1.2+U, asymmetrical potentials outside the HV battery can also be detected in addition to recording current and voltages for power calculation. This makes the measurement setup more efficient, while measurements can be carried out in a HV-safe and synchronized manner.
The HV Breakout Module (BM) type 1.2+U is specially designed for single-phase measurements on HV voltage power cables. HV BM 1.2 are suited for simultaneous measurement of internal conductor current and voltage. With HV BM 1.2+U in addition the voltages of HV+ to ground (PA) and HV- to ground are measured.
vMeasure, developed by Vector Informatik, is an easy-to-use software tool for the acquisition and analysis of measurement data that can be used in combination with all CAN- and EtherCAT®-based CSM measurement modules. CSMconfig was integrated directly to ensure swift configuration.
Swift configuration of measurement chains: CSMconfig is the reliable configuration software for all CAN and EtherCAT® based measurement modules from CSM. The clearly arranged and easy-to-use user interface allows an easy setting of all measurement parameters. This helps speeding up the measurement setup considerably.