Opal-RT Technologies Inc. to Demonstrate the Latest in Real-Time Hybrid Powertrain Simulation at the SAE Hybrid Vehicle Technologies 2006 Symposium

Opal-RT Technologies Inc. (www.opal-rt.com), the world leader in distributed real-time simulation on PC-based platforms, will present its latest development in real-time hybrid powertrain simulation at the SAE Hybrid Vehicle Technologies Symposium in San Diego, California February 1-2, 2006.

Hybrid powertrain design presents unique engineering challenges. Since 1999, Opal-RT Technologies has been providing simulation technologies to help engineers reduce the development cycle of the power electronics, electric drive control, and energy management systems. Using hardware in-the-loop simulators (HIL) enabled by these technologies, design engineers are now able to use a virtual vehicle based on real-time simulation to prototype new system concepts, validate control systems, and perform initial calibration in the laboratory, before a prototype vehicle becomes available. Opal-RT’s HIL simulators are currently serving OEMs and suppliers developing hybrid electric vehicles and components throughout North America and Asia.

Technical specialists from Opal-RT will bring two examples to the Symposium.

• The first demonstration is a real-time simulation of a fuel-cell hybrid vehicle. The core of the virtual hybrid powertrain is a high precision Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) inverter model running on an HIL simulator at a time step of 10 microseconds, with an IGBT pulse capture resolution of 10 nanoseconds. The simulation provides sufficient accuracy to reproduce typical distortions caused by dead times in switching circuits.
• The second demonstration takes power electronics simulation a step further in speed and accuracy. The three-phase PMSM model is implemented in Simulink, which is then automatically compiled and downloaded into a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip for execution using the XILINX System Generator. With a 250-nanosecond time step, this chip-based simulation allows upcoming hybrid powertrain components such as inverters and DC-DC converters with switching frequency upwards of 100 kHz to be accurately modeled in real-time.

”The SAE Hybrid Vehicle Technologies Symposium is an outstanding forum for presenting our most current HIL technology to the hybrid vehicle engineering community,” said Jean Belanger, President of Opal-RT Technologies. "Opal-RT has long been at the forefront of development and deployment of HIL simulation technologies for hybrid vehicle programs. As hybrid vehicles gain greater acceptance in the marketplace, Opal-RT will continue to develop technologies and practical solutions that allow design engineers to simulate more, simulate accurately, and simulation in real-time.”