OPAL-RT HIL simulation for variable frequency drive R&D
Harvest
Energy
01 / 21 / 2026
The company
Harvest, founded in 1998 and based in Beijing, is one of the leading manufacturers specializing in the R&D, production, and sales of Medium Voltage Variable Frequency Drives (MV VFD) in China. With over 400 employees and 27 years of focused expertise in MV VFD technology, the company joined Schneider Electric (a Fortune Global 500 company) in 2011, becoming its global R&D center and production base for medium voltage variable frequency drives.
Harvest’s product portfolio covers output voltages from 3.3kV to 13.8kV and output capacities up to 52MVA, including air-cooled, water-cooled, and four-quadrant regenerative MV VFDs. These products feature vector control for both asynchronous and synchronous motors, supporting diverse loads and finding wide applications.
In early 2024, OPAL-RT China partnered with Harvest to provide a comprehensive HIL simulation testing solution for medium voltage variable frequency drive designed for a variety of motor types.
The OPAL-RT hardware-in-the-loop test platform relieves the pressure on the test prototype occupancy and accelerates the validation session of the control algorithm, which is also in line with the R&D concept of Harvest.
Software Engineer at Harvest
The challenges
Harvest faced multifaceted technical hurdles in MV VFD modeling and testing:
- Computationally intensive EMT simulation driven by cascaded MV VFD topologies and high switching frequencies
- Multi-motor and sensor diversity, making full physical validation impractical
- High safety risks and long test cycles when validating extreme operating conditions on hardware
The OPAL-RT solution
To address these challenges, OPAL-RT China deployed a comprehensive hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation solution, combining advanced hardware, software, and local support:
- Hardware: OPAL-RT’s high-end OP5707XG simulator, offering scalable I/O interfaces for 3-phase 8–13 cascaded full-bridge or converter topologies. For higher-level topologies, such as 50+-cascade full-bridge systems, optical fiber communication transmits switching signals and voltage/current measurements.
- Software: OPAL-RT’s eHS (FPGA-based power electronics toolbox) for ultra-fast power electronics simulation (nanosecond time steps, 200kHz+ switching frequencies) and a rich library of motor/sensor models; ARTEMiS (CPU-based Electrical Toolbox) for large-scale system decoupling, multi-rate execution, and cost-effective rectifier simulation without compromising accuracy.
- Local Support: Full-cycle services including integrated cabinet design, pre-deployment model development and open-loop testing, 48-hour technical support, and premium maintenance.
To address these challenges – simulating all product variants, validating diverse real-world conditions, and performing safe extreme testing – we introduced OPAL-RT’s HIL simulation platform into our R&D.
Software Engineer at Harvest
The results
The OPAL-RT HIL solution transformed Harvest’s VFD testing and R&D processes:
- Accelerated control algorithm verification
- Enabled on-site issue reproduction in the lab
- Supported multi-motor testing on a single bench
- Exposed control program defects early in development
- Facilitated safe fault-condition testing
- Accelerated product development with reliable simulation data
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