Anticipating the complex engineering demands of designing hybrid and electric motor vehicles, in particular very high frequency electronic systems, Opal-RT Technologies and Infolytica Corporation announced a new partnership and link between their software tools RT-LAB/MotorSolve - integrated software optimized for high-precision motor and drive real-time simulation.
The collaboration between OPAL-RT Technologies and Infolytica Corporation gives rise to a new solution which combines RT-LAB's real-time simulation technology with MotorSolve's machine design and analysis capabilities. This integration combines advantages of Infolytica's highly accurate finite element analysis modeling approach with the ultra-low latency of RT-LAB's FPGA-based simulation.
Infolytica supports high-fidelity simulation of both linear and soon-to-be-released non-linear phenomena due to motor construction yielding to non-linear induced flux. RT-LAB, Opal-RT's flagship technology, is a real-time simulation multi-core PCs and FPGA platform that enables the distributed simulation of complex electromechanical devices, power systems, and controllers.
The combination of these two leading simulation tools enables users to simulate the complete drive including IGBT converters, with a small time step below one microsecond required for circuit simulation and control testing with a highly accurate behavior model of the electric motor design in MotorSolve which complies with real-time simulation requirements.
The new solution is used as the based platform for designing advanced power electronic control systems and performing HIL testing of controllers used in high speed electric motors, power converters, and hybrid drives.
"The combination of MotorSolve with the real time simulation provided by OPAL-RT marks a quantum leap in the design and simulation of drive systems for a large range of applications," says Dr. David Lowther, President, Infolytica Corporation. "Our mutual commitment to deliver these types of innovative solutions to our clients is why this partnership has been so successful."
"As electric drives increase in complexity, so must the tools for designing and testing them," says Jean Belanger, President, OPAL-RT Technologies Inc. "Through maintaining technology partnerships with key developers like Infolytica, Opal-RT continues to develop simulation solutions that provide the software platforms and computational power necessary to meet these engineering challenges."
MotorSolve v4, with support for OPAL-RT's RT-LAB real-time system using LINUX PCs and XILINX FPGA, is now available for PC's running Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7.