The Novosibirsk State Technical University (NSTU) has developed an electric vehicle test emulator, which includes software and hardware modules for simulating common charging standards for electric vehicles and a power load system. The developed emulator can be used to control the quality of the manufactured electric charging stations under production conditions, as well as to diagnose malfunctions of the operated stations.
"Several testing programs are possible for a station released from the assembly line, for example, long—term operation with varying load current and output voltage over a wide range, prolonged operation at maximum capacity, or multiple cycles of starting and stopping the charging process. The use of electric vehicles for these purposes has significant difficulties and limitations, since due to the nature of the actual process of charging batteries and the need to discharge them, such checks will require a large fleet of electric vehicles and the organization of a labor-intensive system for preparing them for testing electric charging stations. The developed emulator is specially designed for such checks and does not require complex preparation for operation. It reproduces the functionality of the nodes of real electric vehicles responsible for charging batteries and provides the operator with the opportunity to set and control the parameters of the entire charging process. The load is made in the form of resistances divided into stages of different power (up to 150 kW). In addition, the use of an electronic load is supported to simulate the behavior of the batteries. The second area where an electric vehicle emulator can be used is a service check of operated charging stations. Periodically or as needed, they must undergo maintenance, during which the emulator will allow you to check the characteristics of the charging stations and diagnose malfunctions in the operation of communication interfaces and power charging circuits. Thus, the causes of charge interruption can be identified and promptly eliminated," said Evgeny Abramov, a junior researcher at the Center for Technological Excellence, an assistant at the Department of Electrical Engineering at NSTU-NETI.
The controllers, software, and design documentation for the emulator are NSTU-NETI' s own development.
The emulator can be controlled both from the touch-screen displays and through diagnostic software with advanced features for setting the parameters of the charging process, including template profiles for different models of electric vehicles and recording all the parameters for analysis.
The electric vehicle emulator will soon be transferred to an industrial partner for the production testing of the charging stations being manufactured. Scientists at NST-NETI can offer the development of such emulators to any manufacturer of charging stations to organize product quality control, as well as to service organizations for the maintenance of existing stations.
"In the future, taking into account the changing realities, the capabilities of our emulators will expand — based on the results of operation, we will improve the functionality, implement support for new communication protocols, and develop emulators for new charging standards," added Evgeny Abramov.
It should be recalled that the scientists at NSTU-NETI, together with an industrial partner, have created an industrial sample of an electric charging station for electric vehicles. The work is being carried out as part of the implementation of the Priority 2030 program of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.