Emitech’s new EMC test facility sharpens focus on EV motors

The Emitech Group, a family of six companies with 16 sites throughout France equipped with laboratories specialising in environmental testing, has announced the opening of a new EMCEM (ElectroMagnetic Characterization of Electrical Motor) test facility, unique in Europe.

Emitech’s expertise is EMC or Electromagnetic Compatibility. The EMCEM test facility, integrated into the automotive laboratory at Montigny Le Bretonneux (near Paris), aims to characterise an electric vehicle motor from an electromagnetic compatibility perspective.

On-board electronics and power electronics are two major components in the mobility sector. The electrification of powertrains is evolving rapidly and technical progress as well as environmental and economic issues are creating strong dynamics. This evolution is reflected in a strong demand for expertise and testing of electric motors for the automotive and aeronautical industries.

The EMCEM installation allows the implementation of complete EMC test campaigns on high power direct coupled electric motors. The system enables the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of an electric motor to be characterized in operation, more precisely in the operating mode that a customer wishes to explore. The purpose of this characterisation is to ensure that in its various modes of operation, at low or high speed, this motor does not contribute to the deterioration of the electromagnetic environment characteristic of a vehicle and, conversely, that this same electromagnetic environment does not influence the expected operation of the motor and its control systems.

Test facility developed entirely in-house
The installation consists of an EMC neutral and transparent rotating engine test bench installed in an automotive Faraday cage that complies with the CISPR25 standard. The dyno is capable of reaching 21,000 rpm at 510 nm of torque. A filtered power supply is provided in the cage.

Outside, a high-power battery simulator (250kW – 1000V max – 1000A max), a filtered acquisition bay, two 11 kW water/glycol and oil cooling units for the thermal regulation of the engine under test, communication systems (CAN HS / FD / Flexray) between the control panel and the engine under test via an optical converter are proposed and complete the system.

The PULSAR control and acquisition software, the PULSAR Vibe vibration supervision software and the Emitech EMC test drive system allow the laboratory to provide complete supervision of key engine parameters in correlation with the applied or measured EMC test parameters.

Emitech’s Julien Floch adds: “One of our challenges was to build a fully adaptive test area around the customer’s motor to be tested, regardless of its dimensions, in order to respect the normative constraints. Our method allows us to radially test the different sides of a customer’s product without having to use a turntable. The fact that we can carry out tests on a rotating motor, under load and on all its sides, makes it more representative of the real case.”