Feature sponsored by Test & measurement
he manufacturers of electric vehicles (EVs) are constantly pushing the boundaries of performance. Whether in racing cars or the everyday vehicles that consumers rely on, EV technology needs to demonstrate high efficiency, maximum range between charges, reliability and high dynamic performance. By showing that EVs can offer the same advantages and specification to drivers that conventional vehicles can, manufacturers can secure the future of a technology that is a major building block of a more sustainable society. To instil confidence in consumers, manufacturers need the assistance of specialist companies who can help them test and refine the designs of electric motors, drivetrains, batteries and control systems. Such a company is Intertek. At its EV Testing Centre of Excellence in Milton Keynes, UK, Intertek plays a crucial role in the industry’s efforts to develop new generations of technology, for road going vehicles and for Formula E racing cars. Its work can include tests of electric racing vehicles which can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 2.8s and reach a top speed of 280km/h. To meet the demands of its testing regime, Intertek needs measurement solutions that can achieve three requirements:
T
Measurement of high-speed power parameters – the highspeed test cell at the Milton Keynes facility can measure motors rotating at a speed of up to 27,000rpm
Ease of use and productivity – the less time that test engineers spend on operating test equipment and taking measurements, the more time they can devote to adding value, for instance by helping customers to interpret test results, or by providing recommendations on ways to refine system designs
Rapid integration into complex test platforms – the EV Centre of Excellence’s control and data acquisition system, implemented by Austin Consultants for Intertek, is based on a National Instruments LabVIEW platform, and is integrated with remote control rooms, mobile control desks and a networked data management system. For every new test set-up, Intertek needs to interface the instruments used for power measurements to this data acquisition platform with the minimum of delay and interruption to test service.
The solution chosen by Intertek is the
Yokogawa WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer. Its high resolution, 10.1” display enables split screen viewing of up to eighteen waveforms and can display up to 12 pages of various measurement parameters, making it ideal for efficiency tests of inverter-driven motors and electric vehicles.
Intertek uses its WT5000 to achieve traceable measurement of high-speed power signals. Particular needs include the measurement of high-speed motors rotating at up to 27,000rpm, enabled by the unit’s maximum sampling rate of 10 MS/s. Intertek’s WT5000 units also perform high-frequency harmonic analysis up to the 500th order, providing side-by-side comparison of harmonics from two different input sources. Full traceability of these measurements is ensured by calibration of the WT5000s conducted at Yokogawa’s ISO/IEC17025- accredited (RvA K164) European Standards Laboratory in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. The WT5000 provides ease of use and high productivity, notably the ability of the instrument to perform complex efficiency calculations. Intertek test engineer Raju Rajaneethan says: “The efficiency map calculations in the WT5000 save us a lot of time. We now go directly from
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Instrumentation Monthly May 2023
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