Automated Electrified Powertrain Robustness Testing Tool 2017-01-1682

The FMEA and DV&PV process of developing automotive products requires identifying and repeatedly testing critical vehicle attributes and their response to noise factors that may impair vehicle function. Ford has developed a new automated scripting tool to streamline in-vehicle robustness testing and produce more accurate and repeatable results. Similar noise factors identified during the FMEA process are grouped together, condensed, and scripts are developed to simulate these noise factors using calibration parameters and vehicle controls. The automated testing tool uses the API of a calibration software tool and a graphical scripting interface to consistently simulate driver inputs with greater precision than a human calibrator and enable more sophisticated controls, which would have previously required experimental software builds. The noise factor scripts are executed with minimal intervention from a human operator, and the collected data is analyzed to determine robustness. The scripts are archived to form a testing library which facilitates repeated tests throughout the DV&PV cycle. The scripted testing tool allows for a more efficient use of limited testing time in prototype vehicles, creates tests that closely reflect the identified noise factors, and results in tests that are more repeatable than tests performed by a human driver. The scripting tool was developed for a hybrid powertrain, but it is applicable to all powertrain types.