Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation for Large-Scale Applications

The hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing methodology has recently gained wide acceptance from the scientific community worldwide, as it allows virtual or actual components of a complex system to be implemented and tested together with the controller in a real-time environment. In this paper, three different case studies are investigated to show the use of the HIL testing methodology in different disciplines. In the first case study, a shunt active power filter for power quality improvement in a distribution network is presented and investigated using the HIL methodology. In the first case study, a HIL platform for drill string system control has also been developed and its operational principle and hardware components are explained. In the third case study, a HIL testing platform was developed for high power induction motor driving drill string system, in which the drill string is studied together with the induction motor and a variable frequency drive to match real-world case scenarios. A variety of tests were performed to provide a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of the HIL testing platform on different applications that take advantage of state-of-the-art real-time simulators. The presented HIL infrastructure can be extended to accommodate different studies on other electromechanical systems.