Testing traction inverters & motor drives to ISO 16750-2
An aircraft bus is not a clean supply, and ISO 16750-2 is the document that says exactly how unclean it is allowed to get. You are testing traction inverters, motor control units, on-board chargers on bidirectional HV DC with regeneration, proving that the drive behaves across the whole DC input window, including regen. The standard turns on supply-voltage code system (A–H) and cranking and starting profiles; it says nothing about EMC and radiated immunity — 4.13 points out to the EMC standards or high-voltage traction buses (LV 123 territory), which belong to a different qualification entirely. Reproducing it takes programmable DC source covering 0–36 V steady state with millisecond profile sequencing — cranking waveforms with 2 Hz ripple and 1 ms transient edges — plus superimposed AC ripple injection from 10 Hz to 200 kHz at up to 15 A peak-to-peak, slow ramps down to 0.5 V/min, and polarity reversal to −26 V. Micro interruptions need a series switch that opens in ≤ 10 µs to ≥ 10 MΩ, and load dump needs a pulse delivered from a defined 0.5–8 Ω source resistance at up to 202 V peak — a specified source-impedance pulse, not just a voltage setpoint.
What you are testing
- Device under test
- traction inverters, motor control units, on-board chargers
- Bus
- bidirectional HV DC with regeneration
- Who buys this
- powertrain and drive engineering teams
What ISO 16750-2 does not cover
- EMC and radiated immunity — 4.13 points out to the EMC standards
- high-voltage traction buses (LV 123 territory)
- 400 Hz aviation power
- reliability-duration testing
- grid ride-through
If your programme needs those, they come from a different standard and often different hardware.
The limits this test has to reproduce
A drive regenerates, so the supply has to sink as readily as it sources. That single requirement eliminates most unidirectional bench supplies before any other spec matters.
| Parameter | Value | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Supply-voltage codes, 12 V systems | Code A 6–16 V; B 8–16 V; C 9–16 V; D 10.5–16 V; Z as agreed | Table 3 |
| Supply-voltage codes, 24 V systems | Code E 10–32 V; F 16–32 V; G 22–32 V; H 18–32 V; Z as agreed | Table 4 |
| Jump start (12 V systems only) | 26 V for 60 ± 6 s, rise/fall ≤ 10 ms, from USmin 10.8 V | Table 5 / Figure 2 |
| Transient overvoltage | 18 V (12 V) / 36 V (24 V) for 400 ms, rise/fall 1 ms (12 V) or 2 ms (24 V), 5 pulses at 1 s rest | Table 6 / Figure 3 |
| Starting profile (24 V, severest level) | drop to US1 6 V for 50 ms, then cranking plateau US 10 V with 2 Hz ripple; profile applied 10 times, ≥ 2 s recovery | Table 12 / Figure 13 |
| Load dump, Test A (no centralized suppression) | US 79–101 V (12 V) / 151–202 V (24 V); Ri 0.5–4 Ω / 1–8 Ω; td 40–400 ms / 100–350 ms; 10 pulses at 1 min intervals | Table 13 / Figure 14 |
| Load dump, Test B (centralized suppression) | clamped US* 27/30/32/35 V at severity 1–4 (12 V); 24 V as specified, typical 58 V; 5 pulses at 1 min intervals | Table 14 / Figure 15 |
The clauses ev-drive programmes actually face, as published in ISO 16750-2, revision 2023 (fifth edition), replaces ISO 16750-2:2012. See every limit in ISO 16750-2. Certification work should be run against the published standard.
What decides the rig here
The requirements that separate a system that can run this programme from one that only meets the headline numbers.
The supply must sink as well as source
A regenerating drive pushes energy back. Unidirectional supplies are eliminated at this requirement, whatever else they offer.
Battery emulation beats a real pack on a line
An emulated source is repeatable, always at the state of charge you asked for, and does not need charging between units.
Ripple superposition is usually the gap
Meeting the voltage window is straightforward. Superimposing the specified ripple across it is where bench supplies fail.
Other standards this DUT usually faces
Further reading on ISO 16750-2
Send us the clauses you have to satisfy
We will come back with the source and load capability that covers them — and tell you plainly if something in your spec needs hardware we would not supply.
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