Developing and testing charging technologies with CAN FD

The DS5366 Smart Charging Solution from Dspace offers automobile manufacturers and providers of charging stations a solution for developing and testing technologies for charging. The product comes with a CAN FD interface for integration.

The solution adheres to international standards, guarantees interoperability, and supports developers of onboard chargers, charging columns, and, in the future, inductive charging systems by offering a range of test options and dynamic models.

The central requirements for developing the solution include the integration of existing test systems via CAN FD interface and a test depth that can be adjusted depending on customer requirements. Manipulations are possible both at the electrical and at the protocol level. The solution from the company consists of a software part that contains an open model and a special hardware module for communication, according to ISO 15118. This ensures an adaptation to the powerline communication. Logging of all communication events allows for manual or automatic checks of the intended behavior and compliance with the protocol specification, as well as performing an error diagnosis. Thus, it also supports the execution of conformance tests, according to the standard.

Typical applications are tests of the onboard chargers and charging stations, as well as the communication modules according to various charging standards. Another important application is error simulation during communication. The product enables the simulation of a variety of charging stations in the lab, emulates communication errors, and ensures that the ECU (electronic control unit) functions without errors, explained the company.

In the same manner, it will also be possible to test the compatibility between the developed charging stations and numerous simulated vehicles during tests on the charging station. Another focus area is the development of onboard chargers. If no software or hardware is available for charging communication during the development of a vehicle charge controller, the solution can replace the vehicle ECUs or their communication controllers for testing in-vehicle prototypes.

Test environment with ASM tool suite

In combination with the company’s Automotive Simulation Models (ASM), the Dspace tool suite for simulating motors, vehicle dynamics, electric components, and the traffic environment, the Smart Charging Solution becomes a turn-key application for battery-powered electric vehicles, including real-time, high-voltage battery simulation. The models also include emulation of a charging station in which the charging voltage depends on the vehicle power consumption, which is determined by the charging control unit that is tested in the vehicle. If no charge controller is available, ASM lets users simulate a controller using a constant current constant voltage (CCCV) charging process. The demo models are prepared in such a way that all signals required for communication with the control units are available. This enables testing of the control algorithms and the interfaces between all devices, according to standards such as CHAdeMO, ISO 15118, and GB/T 20234.2.

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