Development of Model-in-the-Loop Environment for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

In this paper the significance of model-in-the-loop (MIL) simulation for the software development of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) is described. A MIL is developed not only for simulation and testing, but also for motor software development. All main components of a PMSM test bench are modeled, including a high fidelity PMSM model considering saturation, cross-coupling, iron loss and thermal characteristics, an inverter model considering dead time delay and inverter loss, a power source that can set a given supply voltage series or simulate a real battery, and a dynamometer model with good speed control performance. Virtual bench test of PMSM and its control software can therefore be conducted on the MIL. Several software development-oriented features are developed, enables the motor software to be developed step-by-step by a team simultaneously and efficiently. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the MIL developed.