For our project, we will be developing an isolated testbed that will be used to test high voltage related circuits that are present on the FIT Formula Electric vehicle. The testbed will contain various isolated components, such as a fixed, isolated low voltage power supply, variable high voltage power supply, test areas for both low and high voltage test circuitry, an IMD (Insulation Monitoring Device), and other circuits used for control and safety.
The testbed will be constructed out of thick plexiglass to ensure its isolation. In order to access the interior of the box, an interlock will be connected to the lid to shutdown the high voltage immediately when opened. Approximate testbed dimensions: 3’ x 3’. About half of the box will consist of the high voltage and low voltage test areas that are only used when testing the vehicle circuits.
The interior of the testbed will be powered by a 15-20V UL approved power brick connected to a wall outlet. The power brick will act much like a laptop charger with a female connector built in to the box. The UL power supply will provide power to a chassis mounted power supply within the box that will distribute power to multiple circuits. The test areas will also contain a mounting surface that is capable of being removed from the testbed in order to mount external circuits, and place within the container to ensure they are securely mounted. The standoffs and mounting equipment will also be made of insulated material, such as plexiglass and nylon.
The high voltage power supply will use a variable low voltage input to feed an isolated, proportional high voltage power supply. This high voltage output, as stated will be isolated, ranges from 0V - 300V, and shall have a power rating less than 20W. Safety circuitry and mechanisms will be incorporated within the container, such as relays, fuses, interlocks, etc. The safety circuit will be connected to the high voltage power supply, the IMD, and the interlock. The safety circuit will shut down the high voltage when triggered by the interlock or the IMD. In addition, the safety circuit should contain relays to electronically open and close the high voltage circuit in the testbed.
The IMD will monitor the low and high voltage power supplies within the testbed, to emulate it’s functionality within the Formula Electric car. An analog and digital waveform will be produced by the device and interpreted amongst multiple projects. The digital waveform is interpreted by the testbed circuitry, controlling the high voltage power supply within the container. The analog waveform is a PWM signal that is interpreted by the Formula Electric IMD Display team, and an optically isolated interface will be provided from the testbed for the IMD display to interface with.
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