Regenerative test bench for the analysis of high power chargers

For applications where short charge times are required, high power DC charging is needed. As the power of high power chargers (HPC), their number, and their usage increase, the relevance of tests and analysis of the systems increases accordingly to ensure the safety of users and electrical components. To test and evaluate HPC, a test bench is built. The use of regenerative loads allows testing up to 360 kW while relieving the grid connection point. A three-layered system is used, comprising a physical, control, and measurement layer. The physical layer is composed of an optional grid emulator, the device under test, and an electric vehicle (EV) emulator. The control layer utilizes the full control capabilities of the EV and grid emulators. Thereby, the behaviour of different stationary working points, the grid influence on and interaction with the hard-and software side, as well as communication errors can be tested thoroughly. The measurement layer collects all available data, enabling in-depth analysis of influence factors. The test bench is validated using charging measurements. The stability of the regenerative concept is verified under maximum power. A comparison of the charging behaviour of a real EV and the proposed system, indicates realistic emulation.