Search Results

The three major challenges in the power electronics in hybrid and electric vehicles are: System cost, power density and reliability. High temperature power device and packaging technologies increases the power density and reliability while reducing system cost. Advanced Silicon devices with synthesized high-temperature packaging technologies can achieve junction temperature as high as 200C (compared to the present limitation of 150C) eliminating the need for a low-temperature radiator and therefore these devices reduces the system cost. The silicon area needed for a power inverter with high junction temperature capability can be reduced by more than 50 - 75% thereby significantly reducing the packaging space and power device and package cost. Smaller packaging space is highly desired since multiple vehicle platforms can share the same design and therefore reducing the cost further due to economies of scale.

Trans Tech recently debuted the all-electric eTrans school bus providing a total zero emission school bus. The presentation will demonstrate Smith Electric Vehicles and their history with electric vehicles. The presentation will help ensure that everybody has an idea of what the electric school bus will do and to dispel any rumors about the vehicle. Presenter Brian S. Barrington, Trans Tech. Bus

Axiomatic design is utilized to identify the design characteristics of an On-Line Electric Vehicle and to manage the design information. The On-Line Electric Vehicle, which is being developed at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, is a different concept of an electric vehicle from conventional electric vehicles which use the electric power of a charged battery(s). It is operated by an electric power supplied by the contactless power transmission technique between the roadway side and the vehicle. In other words, the power is transmitted based on the principle of an electric transformer. The On-Line Electric Vehicle can overcome the limitations of conventional electric vehicles such as the weight of the battery and driving distance problems. Because designers have little experience and knowledge about the On-Line Electric Vehicle in the developmental stage, an appropriate design guide is needed. The axiomatic approach is employed for the design process.

A variety of methodologies to use embedded multicore controllers efficiently has been discussed in the last years. Several assumptions are usually made in the automotive domain, such as static assignment of tasks to the cores. This paper shows an approach for efficient task allocation depending on different system modes. An engine management system (EMS) is used as application example, and the performance improvement compared to static allocation is assessed. The paper is structured as follows: First the control algorithms for the EMS will be classified according to operating modes. The classified algorithms will be allocated to the cores, depending on the operating mode. We identify mode transition points, allowing a reliable switch without neglecting timing requirements. As a next step, it will be shown that a load distribution by mode-dependent task allocation would be better balanced than a static task allocation.

The newly released Distributed System Interface 3 (DSI3) Bus Standard specification defines three modulation levels form which 16 valid symbols are coded. This complex structure is best decoded with symbol pattern recognition. This paper proposes a simplification of the correlation score calculation that sharply reduces the required number of operations. Additionally, the paper describes how the pattern recognition is achieved using correlation scores and a decoding algorithm. The performance of this method is demonstrated by mean of simulations with different load models between the master and the sensors and varying noise injection on the channel. We prove than the pattern recognition can decode symbols without any error for up to 24dBm.

Recently, vehicle networks have increased complexity due to the demand for autonomous driving or connected devices. This increasing complexity requires high bandwidth. As a result, vehicle manufacturers have begun using Ethernet-based communication for high-speed links. In order to deal with the heterogeneity of such networks where legacy automotive buses have to coexist with high-speed Ethernet links vehicle manufacturers introduced a vehicle gateway system. The system uses Ethernet as a backbone between domain controllers and CAN buses for communication between internal controllers. As a central point in the vehicle, the gateway is constantly exchanging vehicle data in a heterogeneous communication environment between the existing CAN and Ethernet networks. In an in-vehicle network context where the communications are strictly time-constrained, it is necessary to measure the delay for such routing task.

In this paper, we propose a vision based lateral control scheme for autonomous lane change system on highways. Three main techniques are proposed, to improve the lane keeping/lane change performance, and to reduce the ripple in the yaw rate on highways. First, we propose a model based lane prediction method to cope with the momentary failure of lane detection. Second, we innovate an approach to steering wheel angle control based on torque overlay for the EPS of the lateral control. Finally, the multi-rate lane-keeping control scheme is proposed to improve the lateral control performance and to reduce the ripple in the yaw rate. The performance of the proposed method was experimentally evaluated via test vehicle

The recent adoption of the ISO26262 Functional Safety Standard has lead to the need for a greater degree of rigor in the technical, organizational and process aspects of electronic ECU engineering. One new facet of this standard also covers (in part 9.7) the analysis of dependent failures at manufacturing time, not only the microcontroller, but also for the plethora of connected system ASICs, input circuits, output drivers and communication devices in the PCB of the ECU. This paper will describe the CAN based end of line ECU self test system that was implemented at a major tier 1 supplier to address the issues of efficiently gaining a high degree of diagnostic coverage of single point faults and latent faults in highly integrated automotive ECUs.

More than ever, microcontroller performance in cars has a direct impact on the driving experience, on compliance with improved safety, ever-stricter emissions regulations, and on fuel economy. The simple microcontrollers formerly used in automobiles are now being replaced by powerful number-crunchers with incredible levels of peripheral integration. As a result, performance can no longer be measured in MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second). A microcontroller's effectiveness is based on coherent partitioning between analog and digital, hardware and software, tools and methodology. To make an informed choice among the available devices, the designer needs benchmarks that are specific to automotive applications, and which provide a realistic representation of how the device will perform in the automotive environment.

An investigation has been performed to study the response of the front bumper beam of automobiles subjected to an external impact load. In the investigation, an aluminum shell structure is modeled as a beam, and the energy absorber of polyurethane is also modeled as statically equivalent springs attached to the beam. Castigliano's second theorem and principles of energy and momentum are then used to calculate the reaction forces and maximum deflection. Stress distribution is then calculated using the beam theory. The primary concern of the investigation is to present a procedure of how to design optimally the cross-sectional shape of the front bumper of automobiles.

The series-parallel hybrid electric vehicle(HEV), which employs a planetary gear set to combine one internal combustion engine(ICE) and two electric motors(EMs), can take advantages of both series and parallel hybrid system. The efficient powertrain operating point of the system can be obtained by the instantaneous optimization of equivalent fuel consumption. However, heavy computational requirements and variable constraints of the optimization process make it difficult to build real-time control strategy. To overcome the difficulty, this study suggests the control strategy which divides the optimization process into 2 stages. In the first stage, a target of charge/discharge power is determined based on equivalent fuel consumption, then in the second stage, an engine operating point is determined taking power transfer efficiency into account.

We used a one-dimensional monolithic catalyst model to predict the transient thermal and conversion characteristics of a dual monolithic catalytic converter with a Palladium only (Pd-only) catalyst and a Palladium/Rhodium (Pd/Rh) catalyst. Prior to the numerical investigation of the dual-catalyst converter, we modified the pre-exponential factor and activation energy of each reaction for both catalysts to achieve acceptable agreement with experimental data under typical operating conditions of automobile applications. We validated the conversion behavior of the lumped parameter model for each catalyst against different engine operating conditions. Two higher cell density substrates, Pd-only catalyst (600cpsi/3.9mil) and Pd/Rh catalyst (600cpsi/4mil), for faster light-off and improved warm-up performance are used in this study and the two monoliths has been connected without the space between monoliths.

Today the majority of power electronics is developed based on the requirements set by the main fields of application e.g. power generation, power supply, industrial drive and traction. With introduction to automotive applications new requirements have to be taken into account. This paper discusses how interconnection technologies for power semiconductors can be improved to meet the demand for higher temperature capability in HEV applications.

More than ever, microcontroller performance in cars has a direct impact on the driving experience, on compliance with improved safety, ever-stricter emissions regulations, and on fuel economy. The simple microcontrollers formerly used in automobiles are now being replaced by powerful number-crunchers whose performance can no longer be measured in MIPS. Instead, their effectiveness is based on a coherent partitioning between analog and digital, hardware and software, tools and methodology. To make an informed choice among the available devices, what the designer needs are benchmarks that are specific to automotive applications, and which provide a realistic representation of how the device will perform in the automotive environment. This presentation will explore the role of new benchmarks in the development of complex automotive applications.

The increasingly stringent requirements in relation to emission reduction and onboard diagnostics are pushing the Chinese automotive industry toward more innovative solutions and a rapid increase in electronic control performance. To manage the system complexity the architecture will require being well structure on hardware and software level. The paper introduces GEMS-K1 (Gasoline Engine Management System - Kit 1). GEMS-K1 is a platform being compliant with Euro IV emission regulation for gasoline engines. The application software is developed using modeling language, the code is automatically generated from the model. The driver software has a well defined structure including microcontroller abstraction layer and ECU abstraction layer. The hardware is following design rules to be robust, 100% testable and easy to manufacture. The electronic components use the latest innovation in terms of architecture and technologies.

In this paper, a nonlinear dynamic engine model is introduced, which is developed to represent an SI engine over a wide range of operating conditions. The model includes intake manifold dynamics, fuel film dynamics, and engine rotational dynamics with transport delays inherent in the four-stroke engine cycles, and can be used for designing engine controllers. The model is validated with engine-dynamometer experimental data. The accuracy of the model is evaluated by the comparison of the simulated and the measured data obtained from a 2.0 L inline four-cylinder engine over wide operating ranges. The test data are obtained from 42 operating conditions of the engine. The speed range is from 1500 (rpm) to 4000 (rpm), and the load range is from 0.4 (bar) to WOT. The results show that the simulation data from the model and the measured data during the engine test are in good agreement.

In a multi-cylinder variable valve lift (VVL) engine, in spite of its high efficiency and low emission performance, operation of the variable valve lift brings about not only variation of the air-fuel ratio at the exhaust manifold, but also individual cylinder air-fuel ratio maldistribution. In this study, in order to reduce the air-fuel ratio variation and maldistribution, we propose an individual cylinder air-fuel ratio estimation algorithm for individual cylinder air-fuel ratio control. For the purpose of the individual cylinder air-fuel ratio estimation, air charging dynamics are modeled according to valve lift conditions. In addition, based on the air charging model, individual cylinder air-fuel ratios are estimated by multi-rate sampling from single universal exhaust gas oxygen (UEGO) sensor located on the exhaust manifold. Estimation results are validated with a one-dimensional engine simulation tool.

This paper considers the verification of non-standard CAN network topologies of the physical layer at high speed transmission rate (500.0Kbps and 1.0Mbps). These network topologies including single star, multiple stars, and hybrid topologies (multiple stars in combination with linear bus or with ring topology) are simulated by using behavior modeling language (VHDL-AMS) in comparison to measurement. Throughout the verification process, CAN transceiver behavioral model together with other CAN physical layer simulation components have been proved to be very accurate. The modeling of measurement environment of the CAN network is discussed, showing how to get the measurement and simulation results well matched. This demonstrates that the simulation solution is reliable, which is highly desired and very important for the verification requirement in CAN physical layer design.

A new control algorithm of a wedge brake system has been developed. The proposed control algorithm is based on the position control and current control of electronic wedge brake(EWB). The EWB control system in rear wheel has both active braking functions like ABS and ESC and convenient function such as EPB. In this paper, development of control algorithm was performed using hybrid brake system(HBS) which consists of hydraulic brake in front wheel and electronic brake in rear wheel. At first, the configuration of EWB system is explained. Next, structure of electronic control in HBS is explained. And then ABS/ESC/EPB control algorithms are shown. ABS control algorithm has wheel slip calculation, wheel error calculation, wheel slip control, position control, current control, and duty control. ESC algorithm consists of yaw error calculation, yaw moment control, wheel slip control, position control, current control, and duty control.

Infineon's latest high-end automotive microcontrollers like TC1796 are complex Systems On Chip (SoC) with two processor cores and up to two internal multi-master buses. The complex interaction between cores, peripherals and environment provides a big challenge for debugging. For mission critical control like engine management the debugging approach must not be intrusive. The provided solution are dedicated Emulation Devices which are able to deal with several 10 Gbit/s of raw internal trace data with nearly no cost adder for mass production and system design. Calibration, which is used later in the development cycle, has different requirements, but is covered by the Emulation Devices as well. The architecture of TC1796ED comprises the unchanged TC1796 silicon layout, extended by a full In-Circuit Emulator (ICE) and calibration overlay memory on the same die. In most cases, the only debug/calibration tool hardware needed is a USB cable.