Power Analyzer for Testing of Electrical Vehicles

Project Introduction

This project focuses on a car manufacturer applying specific testing and measurement tools for EV powertrains during their development and testing stages. The goal is to ensure that each individual component, as well as the entire powertrain system—including control mechanisms, motor operation, and drive signal feedback—meets stringent quality standards. Only after passing these comprehensive tests can the system proceed to on-road trials. This case study demonstrates a practical approach adopted by automakers or component suppliers to enhance the reliability and performance of electric powertrain systems during product development.

System Requirements

The electric powertrain system of an electric vehicle consists of several key components: the battery, inverter, and motor. The transmission of signals and electrical power between these components, as well as feedback on their operation, are among the critical areas of testing. Depending on the size of the system, the number of data points required for measurement varies. However, the testing requirements can be broken down into the following sections:

Project Implementation

• AMAX-5580: Intel® Core™ i7/i5/Celeron® Control IPC With EtherCAT Slice IO Expansion
• iDAQ-964: 4-slot Industrial DAQ Chassis Module for AMAX-5000
• iDAQ-784: l   4-ch Counter & Encoder iDAQ module
  
• iDAQ-841: 8-ch, 16-bit, 1MS/s/ch Analog Input iDAQ Module

System Description

Advantech's AMAX-5580 combined with the iDAQ-964 data acquisition platform offers synchronized data acquisition, signal triggering inputs, and computing capabilities. The AMAX-5580 delivers robust computing performance along with essential features such as display output (HDMI & VGA), Ethernet, USB, and serial communication ports, enabling not only data acquisition and processing but also peripheral I/O device connections and display functions.   

The iDAQ-841 measurement module provides 8 channels for voltage and current measurement, with flexible input range configurations for each channel, supporting up to ±20V to meet varying signal input requirements. When used with external signal converters, it can measure signals across different voltage ranges (10~800 Vrms). In addition to measuring voltage and current from batteries, inverters, and motors, it can also measure torque. With a maximum sampling rate of 1 MS/s per channel for synchronized acquisition, this module meets all analog signal measurement needs.   

The iDAQ-784 module, on the other hand, supports encoder signal measurement, compatible with the three most common encoder types (Signed Pulse, CW/CCW, AB phase). It converts encoder signals into counts, allowing users to interpret information such as rotational speed and position. Additionally, the iDAQ-784 can capture encoder readings using a high-speed clock, similar to the high-speed analog input process, with data being read back into the system via the Buffered Counter API provided by DAQNavi.   

Both the iDAQ-841 and iDAQ-784 can be synchronized through device fusion, enabling simultaneous capture of voltage and current data along with encoder readings for speed and position. This synchronization allows for correlating physical values with motor rotation. Finally, the API and testing support provided by DAQNavi accommodate multiple programming languages, and in this project, the testing of the electric powertrain system was implemented using C# programming.

System Diagram

Conclusion

Why Advantech