A Low-Cost, High-Performance Microcontroller-Based Motor Emulator with Deadbeat Current Control for PHIL Testing of Traction Drive Inverters
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper presents a novel low-cost, high-performance motor emulator (ME) for testing traction drive inverters. The proposed system employs a simple back-to-back inverter topology, eliminating the need for complex and expensive hardware setups, and implements real-time PMSM emulation with deadbeat current control on an automotive-grade micro-controller rather than on a high-end FPGA or CPU. The main contribution is the demonstration that a widely applicable, high-performance ME can be realized despite hardware cost constraints and limited computational capacity. This is enabled by a novel current control method, a carefully designed software architecture, and efficient utilization of the microcontroller peripherals. The ME has been built and experimentally validated at full power. Both steady-state and transient experimental results confirm its accuracy, stability, and high performance, demonstrating its suitability for control validation, design verification, and end-of-line testing of traction drive inverters.
Institution: RWTH Aachen University
Language: English
Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7224959913