Michele Fusero is an R&D engineer and control specialist for the e-mesh PowerStore Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at the Grid Edge Solutions Product Group at Hitachi ABB Power Grids. He delivered a talk at the virtual PEDG2021conference on how HIL became the pillar of the e-mesh solution product development.
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Story Summary
AVL List GmbH uses Typhoon HIL test solutions in the agile development, prototyping, testing, and maintenance of firmware and hardware versions of their e-Storage BTE product portfolio.
AVL e-Storage BTE can act as a battery tester and battery emulator for testing and validating batteries, e-motors, and inverters in early development phases.
C-HIL reduces firmware development and testing time, and as a result speeds up the time-to market-for new features by enabling automated testing through all product variant cases.
HIL in one word: Agile.
What is the challenge?
The electric power systems are going through a transition that encompass digitalization, decentralization, and decarbonization. This will lead to more resilient power grids due to higher adoption of digital technologies, renewable power sources, and new battery storage systems. Everyone will benefit from the enhanced control, efficiency, and maintenance capabilities, but it all has to start from smart test-driven design. There is a need for integrated solutions to improve power system performance which will be data-based, so the systems are built with the end specs in mind and thoroughly tested throughout all possible test scenarios in an automated manner.
Andy Haun, CTO of Schneider Electric’s microgrid business, was one of the panelists at the Microgrid Conference 2019. He has led many key product development and technical innovations at Schneider Electric to simplify and enable effective grid-edge solutions including battery-based energy storage with highly-efficient inverters for distributed energy resources.
Andy talked about how Schneider Electric used model-based system engineering and microgrid Hardware-in-the-Loop testing for designing and testing power systems controls.
This article is the first in a series from the Microgrid Conference Panel 2019 – Making Sure Your Microgrid Will Work: Risk Reduction with Controller Hardware In the Loop (C-HIL) and Model-based Engineering.
Paul Roege, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Typhoon HIL, introduced panelists from Schneider Electric, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Eaton, Raytheon and EPC Power. He adeptly described major problems with the current approach to microgrid development.
And how C-HIL and model-based engineering allows for a more integrated approach to microgrid design and testing throughout the entire project lifecycle.
“If we didn't have this, we'd be stuck using a platform that we couldn't change and therefore optimize. It really helps with confidence.
-Solon Mardapittas, CTO of Powerstar
For this next spotlight, we got a chance to speak with Powerstar’s CTO, Solon Mardapittas, on developing Powerstar’s intelligent energy management system (EMS) with real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) technology.
Based in the UK, Powerstar’s integrated energy system combines its voltage optimization technology with energy storage solution. This not only secures power but lowers energy costs and provides demand side response services to the grid.
Here is the insightful interview with Solon Mardapittas on Powerstar’s rigorous quality assurance process for its leading-edge technology:
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As Europe’s premiere research and technology organization, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), bridges the gap between industry and research by utilizing innovative solutions to key infrastructure issues.
Zoran Miletic, Senior Research Engineer and Power Electronics Design specialist at AIT, talks about how AIT developed its powerful pre-certification toolbox to design and test smart grid converters for grid code compliance using controller Hardware-in-the-Loop (C-HIL) technology.
