Hardware Test Simulation

This calculation allows real-time simulations to be carried out, using the real turbine controller hardware to control the simulations with the Bladed model acting as a virtual turbine. This requires the Hardware Test module to be installed from the Bladed installer. This acts as an interface between the Bladed simulation and the controller. Any external controller defined in the Bladed project is ignored.

The Hardware Test screen in the Calculation parameters is used as follows. First some parameters are required to define the way in which the simulation will proceed:

• Real time step length: Real time simulations use a fixed step integrator, unlike normal Bladed simulations. Enter the fixed integrator step length which will be used (the default is 0.005s). If the model contains fast dynamics, such as very high frequency bending modes, or some detailed pitch actuator models, a shorter step may be needed in order to achieve sufficiently accurate results. If the step length is too small however, the simulation may fail to run in real time. Every time this happens, a warning message is generated. Run a normal simulation with the software performance calculation output enabled to get a good indication of a suitable step length to use.
• Real time factor: The simulation can be made to run faster or slower than real time by entering a factor here. The default value of 1 would result in a standard real time run. Values less than 1 would slow the run down and values over 1 will speed it up. For example, a real time factor value of 0.5 will make the simulation run half as fast as a real time run, whereas a factor of 2 will cause the system to attempt to run twice as fast. Note that faster than real time runs are dependent on the model being simplified enough to allow such execution speeds.
• Circular buffer: If this is selected, the oldest results are overwritten rather than being written out to the disc. The results buffer is only written to disc at the end of the simulation, so only the results from the last part of the simulation (as defined by length of buffer in simulation control) will be saved.
• Maximise process priority: This option can be used to increase the priority of the simulation with respect to other Windows processes which may be competing for processing resources, and will reduce the risk of the simulation running too slowly to keep up with real time.

The simulation to be carried out is defined in a Test Plan. Enter the name of the test plan file, or browse for it. Test plans are created by the Hardware Test Interface: a button is provided to start up the interface, which comes with its own documentation. Within the test plan, a specific procedure defines the particular simulation, and the appropriate Procedure name must therefore be entered. Finally, select the initial state of the turbine at the start of the simulation, which may be idling, parked or in the power production state.

If desired, tick the box to show the Hardware Test interface during the simulation. You can specify whether it is shown minimised or not, and whether or not it remains visible when the simulation is finished.

Last updated 30-08-2024