Emulation of a Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Generator in Real-Time Using Power Hardware-in-the-Loop

Permanent-magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) are used in several applications of traction electrification such as power supplies for auxiliary systems and vehicle on-board range-extenders. In this paper, a PMSG is emulated using power hardware in-the-loop. This emulation scheme provides a method to eliminate risks and costs associated with the testing, prototyping, and validation of controllers for power converters and other parts of the traction system. The proposed scheme can be used for testing of motor drives' different parameters, thereby enabling the testing of a variety of electrical machine drives where the machine prototype is unavailable. The voltage output of the proposed emulator system replicates the voltage generated within the real-time model. The terminal voltage from the real-time model depends on the load connected to the emulator terminals; the current drawn from the emulator output terminals is sensed and fed back to enable the emulator to replicate the PMSG characteristics in steady state and transients. The performance of the system for nonlinear loads, such as a rectifier with a capacitor filter and transient conditions, is also experimentally verified and presented along with validation against a physical PMSG coupled to a dynamometer.