An important part in the development of modern electronic control units (ECU) for passenger cars, trucks and buses is the test phase. For almost 20 years, this has been largely covered by HIL test benches (HIL = Hardware in the Loop) for cost, safety and functional reasons. In this way, the ECU can be qualified computer-aided and without the use of expensive real systems. For this method to be successful, real-time capable models are required which, on the one hand, represent all control-relevant processes of the controlled system sufficiently accurately and, on the other hand, can also be calculated in real time on cost-effective real-time hardware platforms. The increasing number of fuel cell vehicles on the market shows that there is also a growing demand for HIL test systems for fuel cell drives.
The Zentrum für BrennstoffzellenTechnik (ZBT), together with dSPACE GmbH and the Institute for Combustion Engines (VKA), is developing a sample process for this purpose, including all the necessary development steps. Within the consortium, ZBT is responsible for the development of a real-time fuel cell model and its parameterization. Special attention is paid to the optimal utilization of the hardware platforms of the partner dSPACE and the distribution of the calculations to several processor cores.