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Hardware in Loop

Stephen Frank edited this page Apr 18, 2014 · 4 revisions

Hardware in Loop

With certain caveats, the Campus Energy Modeling library is compatible with several hardware in loop (HIL) simulation platforms. The caveats are:

  1. The library has not been extensively tested with the HIL platforms identified here, so proper operation is not guaranteed.
  2. Because of the various links to external applications, the library will not work in compiled form on an external HIL target. Therefore, the HIL platform must support Simulink co-simulation on the host computer (in Normal or Accelerator mode).

For situations which require real-time simulation but do not involve HIL, the library also offers a pseudo real-time clock utility block as an alternative to a real-time target. The pseudo real-time clock block enables real-time simulation up to speeds of approximately 1 Hz. Note, however, that the timing provided by this block is not very precise, and real-time input/output is not guaranteed. Therefore, it is not recommended for HIL.

Opal-RT

Opal-RT's HIL platform, RT-LAB, is compatible with the Campus Energy Modeling library because a portion of the real-time model may run on the host computer. RT-LAB 10.7 supports MATLAB R2013a (32-bit). Some Campus Energy Modeling library blocks can be compiled and run on an Opal-RT HIL target, but any block that interfaces to external modeling software for co-simulation must be run on the host computer.

The Campus Energy Modeling team has performed some proof-of-concept tests which integrate EnergyPlus co-simulation with an HIL target, but the library has not been extensively tested. For NREL work, the team is available to assist with HIL support for Opal-RT.

Real-Time Windows Target

The Campus Energy Modeling library should work without modification with the Simulink Real-Time Windows Target if Simulink is running in normal execution mode. However, this setup has not been tested.

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