Electric Vehicle Powertrain System Test and Measurement Solutions
Gain valuable insight into the performance of electric powertrain systems without second-guessing the quality of your power measurements. From the battery to the motor output and everything in between, Yokogawa instruments enable engineers to confidently and comprehensively analyze electromechanical challenges of EV powertrain systems.
To develop and optimize efficient and sustainable transportation solutions, it’s critical that engineers and researchers accurately identify, quantify, and understand the losses from each component (e.g., battery, inverter, motor) as power flows through the complex network of an electric vehicle powertrain system.
Effective measurement and analysis of the various measurement test points along an EV powertrain requires equipment optimized to ensure the highest quality data with the fewest potential trade-offs. Selecting the instrument best suited to a specific application ultimately comes down to the application's required level of accuracy, number of channels needed, and types of signals being acquired.
Electric Motor & Variable Speed Drive Testing
White Paper
Understanding power generation, power loss, and the different types of power measured can be intimidating. This white paper gives an overview of basic electric and mechanical power measurements and the interfacing of drives in motors.
Read the White Paper
eBook
Electrical Motor Power Measurement & Analysis
A guide of common measurements and parameters to drive greater efficiency.
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Webinar
Motor & Drive Control System Measurements
Learn how to more effectively benchmark data for and troubleshoot issues with energy efficiency in EV powertrains.
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Case Study
Solar Team Twente
Accurate power analysis boosts solar race car's range and speed.
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Measurement guidance related to field-oriented control (FOC) of electric motors with example use cases that illustrates how this is accomplished using a power analyzer and/or a ScopeCorder. Specifically addressed are direct and quadrature currents of a surface-mounted permanent magnet motor (SMPM) with field weakening applied. The techniques illustrated can also be applied to other FOC variables, algorithms, and motor technologies.
This application note provides guidance for making measurements relating to field-oriented control of electric motors and presents an example use case that illustrates how to accomplish these with the /MT1 option on a Yokogawa Test&Measurement DL950 ScopeCorder. Specifically addressed are direct and quadrature currents of a surface-mounted permanent magnet motor with field weakening applied. The techniques discussed are also applicable to other field-oriented control variables, algorithms, and motor technologies.
Use built-in calculations to analyze motor rotor position of Brushless DC motors (BLDC) and Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSM) and find the relative angle between the rotor and position sensors such as encoders or resolvers
To best utilize SiC devices for improved energy efficiency in equipment, it is important to optimize the internal device peripheral circuits in the inverter according to the device characteristics.
How can I capture data from motion sensors synchronized with other analog data? The Yokogawa ScopeCorder series of instruments feature input modules and functions to make this possible.
Designing an instrumentation system for high current measurement requires careful consideration of the trade-offs associated with each type of sensing device. The purpose of this application note is to help engineers understand the sensing choices available and the corresponding trade-offs with each technology.
- Motor testing, variable speed drive testing procedure
- AC, DC, and power measurement
- Precision measurements on motors and VFD systems
- How to calculate energy efficiency
Standards driving energy efficiency classifications are a driving force behind the development of the next generation of motor and drive technologies. Learn more here.
How-tos
- Measuring Individual Phase Power on Three Phase Systems
- Standard Delta computation function
- Available on Yokogawa WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer
Webinars
- Establishing baselines for system efficiency
- Conducting inverter control signal analysis at the systems level
- Identifying critical measurements for benchmarking inverter input, inverter output, and motor output
- Analyzing motor control signals, including torque control variables, positional sensors, and pulse-width modulation (PWM), as well as torque measurements
- How to avoid the “gotcha's” of inverter-based measurements
- Computations for field-oriented control
- The integration of CAN bus communications
- Correlations in the frequency domain
- Other advanced motor and drive topics
- A look at multi-phase measurements and measurement techniques
- A review of practical applications
- Real-world examples
With ongoing innovations in motor and inverter technologies seeking to advance global decarbonization objectives in the automotive industry, it’s crucial that engineers have a thorough understanding of how to properly analyze these systems.
This complimentary webinar provides engineering professionals involved in motor and control system development with insights that enable data benchmarking and troubleshooting issues related to energy efficiency in electric vehicle (EV) powertrains.
Key webinar topics include:
You know the basics of electrical power measurements, have set up your dyno, and made key measurements – which is great. But as your motor and drive projects progress, the complexities of system drive requirements can change frequently. Control algorithms, networked communications, and mechanical systems form a complex web of interactions that need sorting. This 60-minute webinar explains how to get past ground-level measurements and delve into comprehensive solutions that leverage test and measurement instruments including power analyzers, high-speed data acquisition, and real-time software.
Topics include:
The technical presentation includes an audience Q&A.
Although DC power measurements can be fairly straightforward, complexities with AC power measurements arise when dealing with distorted waveforms, fluctuating power factors, and multiple phases, which introduce intricacies that complicate an otherwise simple measurement process.
This on-demand webinar provides an informative dive into the various fundamental aspects of power measurement and includes:
Why should you be concerned with your product’s power system voltage and current harmonics? From an engineering perspective, harmonics produce excessive heat in equipment that causes significant damage and results in inefficient operation. From a business perspective, compliance is an absolute requirement for entry into global markets. To minimize or eliminate these issues and establish acceptable levels of harmonics, numerous power quality standards with specifications and limits for harmonic distortion, such as IEEE 519-2014 and IEC61000-3-2, have been introduced. During this webinar, attendees will gain knowledge on the inner workings of harmonics, learn best practices for accurately measuring harmonics, learn to recognize and distinguish the critical difference between DFT and FFT, and discover important measurement tradeoffs across various test equipment.