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For a recent DMC project I had the pleasure of working with Pickering Interfaces, a well-known international PXI hardware vendor, to supply an off-the-shelf PXI card which can simulate 6 chemical battery cells. Since such a product did not exist at the start of the project, DMC had a large role to play in specifying its eventual performance and features.

It's not every day you get to dream up your own test and measurement instruments, but I guess that is what we've just done. The result of this direct vendor collaboration between DMC and Pickering is their newly released 41-752-001: 6-channel PXI battery cell simulator module.

Several of the Pickering battery simulator cards can be chained together in a single PXI or LXI chassis to simulate a large stack of batteries. Such large battery stacks are commonly used in packs designed for PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) and HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) automotive applications.

Having a stack of batteries you can control is useful for verification, validation, and HIL (Hardware in the loop) testing of BMS (Battery Management System) and battery control modules. Ensuring that a BMS design responds as required, under all battery stack conditions even extreme and worst case scenarios, is something you want to test before your battery pack gets into the field. And the only way to really do that at the hardware level is to have a battery stack simulator you can completely control and trust.

For more information about using this product do not hesistate to contact us.

Author Note 2/12/2010: Check out our new white paper on EV Battery Pack Testing

Further reading and links:

The DMC Case Study for our BMS testing solution here.

All DMC Battery Related Case Studies

The Pickering Product Announcement here.

More technical information about BMS HIL testing here.

Learn more about DMC's battery pack and BMS test stand expertise.