Analysis of detailed electric vehicle data in electrical engineering education
There is a large quantity of data available on the CAN bus of the Chevrolet Volt that can be obtained through the OBD2 connectors on both the passenger and driver side of the vehicle. Although much of this is not available on the console of the vehicle to passengers, it can be logged and collected to analyse various vehicle performance measures and behaviours as well as charging characteristics. A set of pertinent data has been collected simultaneously for approximately 40 vehicle parameters for numerous trips and charging events for the 2012 Chevrolet Volt. Some of the key parameters are battery voltage, battery current, motor currents, state of charge, engine rpm, vehicle speed, longitude, latitude, altitude, battery power, motor power, etc. This data has been used as a learning tool in the electrical engineering classroom for senior students in both advanced machine courses and in sustainable energy courses. Through analysis the students develop a better understanding of general electric vehicle operation principles and energy useage and management. They also develop problem solving skills and experience with analysing large data sets (certain trips have over 15 million data points) and using appropriate tools to perform large but repetitive tasks.
An EV-simulator for Electric Vehicle Education
This paper presents an Electric Vehicle simulator to aid in Electric Vehicle Education. There has been an exponential surge in demand for developing new generation of vehicles using electric-technology. That has caused rapid shift in design paradigm from mechanical to electrical. Such a paradigm shift requires developing new technology educational programs in electric vehicles. The EV-simulator presented in this paper will be helpful for such programs. The simulator is written in Visual C++/MS Visual Studio .NET 2007. It is called LAMAR-EVSim1 after Lamar's first Electric Vehicle Lamar-EV1. The tool is primarily tailored for educational use. Input data to the simulator is presented through a set of input data files including specifications of: the vehicle, the electric-elements, and the environment. The simulator estimates output parameters hierarchically from the tire, gear-box, motor, battery-pack, and finally at vehicle-level. The estimated output parameters include: various drag forces, torques, currents, voltages, RPMs, powers, top speeds, and mileages. Unlike other ev-simulators, this simulator embeds dynamic equations & algorithms context-sensitively so that the output simulation trace are self-instructive.
Development Of A Senior Elective For Ee And Eet Majors In The Design Of Electronic Instrumentation For Electric Vehicles
This paper describes innovative ideas for an interdisciplinary EE/EET senior level course. The course integrates different technology that ranges from Power Electronics, Computer Simulation, Data Acquisition, DSP, Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic, Electromagnetics and Energies, and Microprocessor Control. Normally these topics are covered in details in more than fifteen credit hours, while using "only as needed" philosophy, we can cover what we need from these materials that serve an important application: Electric Vehicles. The paper details the contents of the course, the laboratory components utilizing an actual propulsion system as donated from Delphi E. Inc, a subdivision of GM, and the role of LabView as a data acquisition system. The course was offered in a senior project format and the student satisfaction is reported here. In addition, the course is offered officially in the Spring 1998, and more data will be reported as we progress in the course. The project is funded by FIPSE and this represents the first phase of the project.