SaberRD Design Example: Electric Vehicle Powertrain with Simulink Co-simulation

Balaji Siva Prasad Emandi

Introduction:

This design example provides the simulation study of a 3-Phase electric vehicle powertrain with its controller modeled in MATLAB Simulink. The example demonstrates the process of co-simulation between Saber and Simulink to interactively run the simulation in both the platforms, with Saber running in parent mode and Simulink in child mode.

The powertrain_simulink_cosim design uses a non-switching 3-phase inverter (vsi_abc), producing sinusoidal voltages at the synchronous frequency. The FOC algorithm in dq reference frame is implemented in Simulink and the conversion between dq and abc reference frames is done using the Park’s and Inverse Park’s transformation models available in Saber library.

In Saber Simulink co-simulation, as both the schematics are opened and available for editing, the simulation is interactive and gives more scope of improving both the models. The simulation is performed in co-simulation mode so that the capabilities of both the tools are utilized and provide a detailed understanding of the system.

Schematic:

Figure 1: Electric vehicle powertrain schematic

How to run the simulation:

1. Open the powertrain_simulink_cosim.ai_dsn in SaberRD from the attached design files.
   
2. Select an experiment from the additional pull-down menu and click the green play button to start the simulation.
   
3. After completion of simulation, corresponding experiment report and graphs are displayed in the Results pane.
   
4. Double-click on the graph/report to view the results.
   

For more details of the design, how to run the experiments, etc., refer to the powertrain_simulink_cosim.pdf file in the attachments.

Note: To run this design you should have SaberRD 2022.03 or higher and MATLAB R2020a or higher versions installed on your machine.