Customer
Jaguar / Land Rover
Challenge
Bloomy and RDVS were tasked with developing a system providing the ability to rapidly produce Battery Management System (BMS) algorithms on physical hardware, and safely test the unit against different battery chemistries, fault scenarios, and drive profiles.
The BMS is a complex control system responsible for the delivery of power, overall pack safety, and communications to other electric vehicle systems. To evaluate the BMS algorithms and validate their operation, the test system requires real-time execution of the cell models, IO, and communications at the frequency expected by the BMS.
Solution
The delivered system is made up of two components, the BMS provided by RDVS and the Bloomy BMS HIL Test System. Both units were integrated into one system, providing a robust solution for the customer to program the BMS and immediately execute a known set of tests to determine if the algorithms are executing as intended.
Bloomy configured the BMS HIL Test System to accommodate the specific BMS input signals such as battery cells, current sensors, temperature sensors, control IO, and communications. The system was designed around NI PXI real-time controller, data acquisition, control IO, and the Bloomy Battery Simulator 1200 units. The system software is a customized application built on the NI VeriStand real-time test software environment, providing methods for configuring cell model execution, manual system control, or implementing custom application (stimulus) profiles.
Benefits
The co-development of the BMS algorithm and HIL test system with RDVS provided many advantages to Jaguar / Land Rover when implementing new electric vehicle battery management systems:
- A safe and efficient method of simulating a high-voltage battery
- Integrated system with BMS hardware and programming capabilities
- Expandable system to accommodate new system IO and increased cell counts
- Execution of real-time cell models with the ability to load and recall new models
- Methods for implementing irregular battery conditions
- Improved testing with repeatable stimulus
- Shorten development process through rapidly executing known test scenarios
Results
Bloomy provided a complete hardware and software solution for BMS testing. Successful integration of the RDVS BMS into the system completed the system, providing a robust and reliable solution to Jaguar / Land Rover that met all CE certification standards.
The ability to build off of existing platforms, allowed Bloomy and RDVS to deliver a system on budget and on schedule to Jaguar / Land Rover (UK).