Engineering and ArchitectureIn today’s society, there is growing concern over the state of the global climate and the impact that we have on it. Scientists and engineers are seeking ways to meet energy demands and emissions regulations around the world by creating more sustainable and energy efficient technologies. In the automotive industry, this can be evidenced by the advent of hybrid electric vehicles. The Ohio State University EcoCAR 3 team based at the Center for Automotive Research is converting a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with the end goal of improving fuel consumption and emissions whilst maintaining the performance aspects of the vehicle. The main focus of this research was to model, predict, and improve the performance of the belted alternator/starter (BAS) and electric motors in the vehicle. Research began with gaining exposure to the full vehicle model as well as the component models in the team-developed simulator using MATLAB and Simulink. A higher fidelity model of the BAS was developed based on dynamic equations of the electric machine. Due to inverter calibration constraints, the BAS could not be physically tested during the time of this internship. Nonetheless, testing was done on the traction motor, which can be used to validate already existent models of the component. The vehicle was placed on a chassis dynamometer and run through multiple drive cycles. Data from this testing was logged, analyzed, and compared to results from the simulation. This type of analysis of data such as requested/actual torque, motor speed, temperature, etcetera, can be used to calibrate/validate different aspects of the vehicle and component models. As a result of this research, the vehicle model will be able to run more accurate simulations and increase component and vehicle performance, which will help the team perform well in the EcoCAR 3 competition.OSU College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research ProgramAcademic Major: Mechanical Engineerin
