Development of Software and Strategies for Battery Management System Testing on HIL Simulator

In comparison with tests conducted on real Li-ion batteries, Battery Management System (BMS) tests conducted on a Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) battery simulator may be more cost and time effective, more flexible and traceable, easier to reproduce and safer beyond the normal range of operation. This is particularly the case of tests at early stages in the development process or during fault simulation. However, the use of a HIL battery simulator requires the development of software (SW) and strategies for testing. While the possibilities are immense, it should be noted that the greater the level of complexity of the tests, the higher the demands for ad hoc development of SW and strategies. With regard to the latter, there is not a universal definition and there are different points of view. Therefore different strategies may be followed, which can be classified into many different ways according to the testing level, methods or processes. The aim of this paper is both to introduce the theoretical principles of BMS testing and to present a practical approach to develop ad hoc SW and strategies for BMS testing at system level on a commercial HIL simulator.