Case Study: Eaton Corporation accelerates medium‑duty hybrid truck development with MathWorks Simulink Real‑Time

Eaton Corporation Speeds Development of a Medium-Duty Hybrid Truck

Eaton Corporation, a maker of truck powertrain components, needed an inexpensive, flexible controller for a prototype medium‑duty hybrid truck that could support diverse I/O, multiple CAN links, frequent algorithm changes, and rapid test iterations under tight time and budget constraints. To meet this challenge Eaton used MathWorks model‑based tools—including Simulink, Stateflow, Simulink Real‑Time, Simulink Coder, MATLAB, and Control System Toolbox—to design and implement the vehicle’s powertrain control unit (PCU).

MathWorks’ Simulink Real‑Time running on off‑the‑shelf PC/104 CPU and I/O hardware served as Eaton’s PCU and HIL/dynamometer test platform, enabling CAN bridging, rapid model changes, and simultaneous tests. The solution delivered a low‑cost, rugged controller with flexible I/O (only a little more than 50% of I/O was used, leaving spare capacity), sped development and in‑vehicle tuning, resolved EMI issues during motor characterization, and allowed one‑click code generation and deployment—helping Eaton demonstrate the hybrid within its time and budget.

Eaton Corporation

Richard Nellums

Engineering Manager – Hybrid Electric Powertrain