Development of a communication interface between a real time engine model and a SiL infrastructure based on National Instruments software LabVIEW and its application as a virtual engine test bench

The purpose of the project is to create a communication connection between the LabVIEW environment and an executable written in C language called “Driver” that executes the engine’s simulation by using the Wave-RT functions. The goal is to achieve a real time simulation of a specific engine model (in our case the model is a 1.4 litres GTDI gasoline turbo engine) driven from LabVIEW by the user. In the LabVIEW environment the user will set the values of the actuators of the model (for example throttle position, fuel mass injected and spark ignition). Afterwards these data will be sent to the Driver executable, written in C language, that will call the Wave-RT functions that perform the simulation by solving the dynamics equations of pressure waves, mass flows, and energy. The Driver will produce as output a set of data representing the evolution of the physical quantity of the engine’s model (for example pressure, temperature, engine torque and power). After the simulation performs a complete motor cycle (two crank angle rotations), the Driver will send the output data of the sensors to LabVIEW. In this way the user will be able to see the results of the simulation and the effects of the values assigned to the actuators on the output data.