Automotive Mechatronics Newsletter Spring 2012 (v3)

AUTOMOTIVE MECHATRONICS CENTRE
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
Page 1
AUTOMOTIVE MECHATRONICS CENTRE, DEPARTMENT OF
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING, CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
Whittle Building, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL | T +44 (0) 12 3475 4708
Contents
Title Page
Automotive Mechatronics Centre and
Research Projects
1
UK Government Funded Projects
FUTURE Vehicles project
3
Application of Advanced Control for HEV
Torque Management
4
Directly Funded PhD Projects
Alternative Powertrain:
Comparative Analysis of Hybrid
Powertrains
5
Methods for Real World Estimation of
Energy Consumption of EV and PHEVs
6
Application of Multi Objective Design
Optimization Methods for EV Powertrain
8
Vehicle Dynamics and Active Chassis
Control:
Low Cost Integration of Electric Power
Assist Steering (EPAS) with Electronic
Stability Control (ESC)
9
The Influence of Torque and Speed
Sensitive Differential Characteristics
During On-Limit Maneuvers
9
MSc Student Projects 10
2012 R&D opportunities
By Prof. Francis Assadian, Head of the Department of
Automotive Engineering and Director of Automotive
Mechatronics at Cranfield University
Automotive Mechatronics Centre
During the last two decades, there have been
substantial advances in the theory and application
of robust multivariable feedback control system
design. The reason for a need of such robust
algorithms arises from several inherent
uncertainty sources, such as various operational
conditions, process changes, sensor noises and
unmeasured exogenous disturbances.
While robust control systems have been
successfully employed to tackle a wide range of
engineering applications including aerospace
systems, the automotive industry has not
benefited from the advantages of these modern
control techniques. However, it is interesting to
note that, most of the control software designs
and requirements captured in the automotive
engineering domain have been adopted from the
aerospace industry.
One of the main reasons for this is the fact that
the process of developing automotive systems,
unlike in the aerospace industry, is in a state of
flux and has not been "standardised" as of yet. It
turns out that there has been an increase in the
gap between the control theory and the practical
control strategies utilised in the existing
production vehicles.
This gap has resulted in several missed
opportunities through fundamental functionalities,
such as fuel economy, emissions and integration
of the Automotive Mechatronics units on-board
the vehicle, not being addressed.
A wide range of modern automotive products is
currently designed with the integration of
mechanical components and electronic hardware
into one packaging unit. This leads to the
development of true mechatronic solutions such
as HEV energy management systems, active
chassis systems and next-generation HEVs etc
(figure 1). On the other hand, there are various
challenges for automotive systems including
calibration, time and cost of production, reliability
and diagnostics, control system robustness,
performance issues and hardware constraints.
Existing methodologies are no longer able to meet
such requirements for increasingly complex new
vehicles and therefore a variety of innovative
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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mechatronics-based design methodologies are
desperately required. Mechatronics applications
offer one of the best solutions to the challenging
requirements of the automotive industry as they
offer flexible opportunities with regards to
functionality, cost, space requirements and
quality. The key objective of automotive
mechatronics is to pursue both research and
development, and a harmonised approach to the
design of mechatronic systems for automotive
applications.
Figure 1. Automotive mechatronics applications
Cranfield University is one of the leading institutes
of higher education in the UK in the fields of
design and engineering of automotive technology.
To meet the challenges of pioneering automotive
research, The Automotive Mechatronics Centre at
Cranfield University was established in 2009 to
help address some of the applied advanced
control issues discussed above.
Our research activities are mainly focused on
green mobility and vehicle electrification (novel
electrical and control architectures, advanced
automotive control and energy management
strategies), active safety, vehicle Dynamics and
integrated chassis Control. The overarching goals
of this centre are listed as follows:
1) To address the immediate needs and gaps in
mechatronics and advanced control system
design and knowledge in a coordinated pragmatic
approach through short term projects with
industry.
2) To carry out long term fundamental research in
the automotive green technology area, from
process and methodology, to mechatronics
modelling, design and development, through
governmental support and long term industrial
projects.
3) To address the knowledge gap in automotive
mechatronics through short courses as well as
establishment of an MSc program in Automotive
Mechatronics in 2013.
The Centre is actively looking for academic and
industrial partners to create new opportunities in
the green mobility area and develop an
environment where knowledge transfer is
enhanced. There are ample opportunities in the
area of green mobility, which could be accessed
and addressed through the right partnerships.
Please find below a brief summary of our
automotive mechatronics research projects
proposals, which are currently being pursued with
our partners, and some of the future research
calls, which we will be looking for partners.
Current Proposals:
EPSRC proposal for Optimisation of Fully
Electric Vehicles,
Partners: University of Surrey, University of
Newcastle, and University of Sheffield
Proposal Submittal date: 15 June 2012
TSB proposal for Combustion Enhancement of
diesel engines over 4 Litres Capacity by the
use of Pulse Air Technology,
Partners: Clear Air Technology, University of
Warwick
Proposal Submittal date: 15 July 2012
Directly Funded proposal for Low Cost
Integration of Electric Power Assist Steering
(EPAS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC),
Partners: Jaguar Land Rover
Proposal Submittal date: 01 June 2012
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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Future Research Projects:
European FP7 Call for Configurable and
Adaptable Truck
Partners: Looking for partners
Proposal Submittal date: 15 July 2012
Global Mobility Network,
Funding: Looking for funding stream
Partners: Nottingham Trent University, AVL,
Texas A&M, University of Michigan, University of
California Davis, University of Zagreb, Jilin
University, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing
Jiaotong University, Scorpion Power System,
CADLM
Proposal Submittal date: Open
Future Vehicles
FUTURE is an EPSRC funded, collaborative
research project between Cranfield University,
Loughborough University, Oxford University,
Imperial College London and Coventry
University. The department of Automotive
Engineering, is leading the research into
system control and Multidisciplinary
optimisation.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are far more
complex than conventional vehicles. There are
numerous challenges facing the engineer to
optimise the design and choice of system
components as well as their control systems. At
the component level there is a need to obtain a
better understanding of the basic science/physics
of new subsystems together with issues of their
interconnectivity and overall performance at the
system level. The notion of purpose driven models
requires models of differing levels of fidelity, e.g.
control, diagnostics and prognostics. Whatever
the objective of these models, they will differ from
detailed models which will provide a greater
insight and understanding at the component level.
Thus there is a need to develop a systematic
approach resulting in a set of guidelines and tools
which will be of immense value to the design
engineer in terms of best practice.
The Fundamental Understanding of Technologies
for Ultra Reduced Emission Vehicles (FUTURE)
consortium will address the above need for
developing tools and methodologies. A systematic
and unified approach towards component level
modelling will be developed, underpinned by a
better understanding of the fundamental science
of the essential components of a FUTURE hybrid
electrical vehicle. The essential components will
include both energy storage devices (fuel cells,
batteries and ultra--capacitors) and energy
conversion devices (electrical machine drives and
power electronics). Detailed mathematical models
will be validated against experimental data over
their full range of operation, including the extreme
limits of performance. Reduced order lumped
parameter models are then to be derived and
verified against these validated models, with the
level of fidelity being defined by the purpose for
which the model is to be employed.
Figure 2: FUTURE Multidisciplinary Development
Optimization Process
The work will be carried out via three interlinked
work packages, each having two subwork
packages. WP1 will address the detailed
component modelling for the energy storage
devices, WP2 will address the detailed component
modelling for the energy conversion devices and
WP3 will address reduced order modelling and
control optimisation. The tasks will be carried out
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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iteratively from initial component level models
from WP1 and WP2 to WP3, subsequent reduced
order models developed and verified against initial
models, and banks of linear-time invariant models
developed for piecewise control optimisation.
Additionally, models of higher fidelity are to be
obtained for the purpose of online diagnosis. The
higher fidelity models will be able to capture the
transient conditions which may contain
information on the known failure modes. In
addition to optimising the utility of healthy
components in their normal operating ranges, to
ensure maximum efficiency and reduced costs,
further optimisation, particularly at the limits of
performance where component stress applied in a
controlled manner is considered to be potentially
beneficial, the impact of ageing and degradation is
to be assessed. Methodologies for prognostics
developed in other industry sectors, e.g.
aerospace, nuclear, will be reviewed for potential
application and/or tailoring for purpose. Models for
continuous component monitoring for the purpose
of prognosis will differ from those for control and
diagnosis, and it is envisaged that other non-
parametric feature based models and techniques
for quantification of component life linked to
particular use case scenarios will be required to
be derived.
Application of Advanced
Control for HEV Torque
Management
In this EPSRC funded research project on
multivariable controls, the aim was to design and
develop a pragmatic advanced model-based
(dynamical) controller to the torque management
of HEV which is a challenging application due to
the complexity of HEV dynamics. This complexity
results in many challenges for both automotive
OEMs and suppliers. Some of these challenges
include a better definition of the roles of supplier
and OEM, more efficient development processes,
more expertise in the mechatronics area
particularly at the OEM side, use of advanced
robust control techniques and more refined
integration approaches.
Our project aimed to deliver a setup with reduced
fuel consumption and CO2 emissions over
specific drive cycles, including the New European
Driving Cycle (NEDC), by meeting the
increasingly stringent emissions standards with
enhanced reliability and diagnostics. This was
motivated due to the fact that existing hybrid
powertrain control methods are based on off-line
(sub-optimal) algorithms, in which driveability is an
afterthought. Model uncertainties are ignored and
torque estimation errors in feedback are not
considered. It also turns out that intensive
calibration efforts are required.
Figure 3. The structure of the HEV for the application of
torque management
We have developed a Simulink package for the
HEV energy management application (figure 2).
This includes an empirical diesel engine model,
an electric Crankshaft Integrated Motor Controller
(CIMG), together with saturated actuators and
torque loss models (such as ICE ancillary,
pumping and friction torques). Also in the package
are sufficiently realistic clutch models, adaptive
torque estimation algorithms (for both ICE and
CIMG output torques), an ICE speed controller
and multivariable torque controllers with their
associated bumpless anti-windup controls that
were designed and tested in HIL (figure 3).
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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Figure 4. HIL architecture implemented based on the
dSPACE platforms
The results
We intend to show some typical results of the
multivariable robust control design, using mixed-
mu synthesis, applied successfully to the case
study of torque management of a Hybrid Electric
Vehicle (HEV) (figure 4).
Figure 5. Robust multivariable torque control results
designed and tested at Cranfield University. Yellow:
Requested torque, Magenta: Estimated torque; Top: ICE
torque, Middle: CIMG Torque, Bottom: Total Torque)
As illustrated, the developed robust multivariable
controller fully achieves our requirement from the
HEV driveability viewpoint by delivering
sufficiently fast total torque response. Due to
different bandwidths at two ICE/CIMG control
channels, the controller makes the CIMG help
bring the total torque rapidly to the requested
torque level. This is indeed a challenging highly-
coupled multivariable control problem that single
PID loops cannot cope with. Whilst the low-
frequency engine output torque responses are
actually delivered by the engine, at high-
frequencies modes (rapid torque requests), the
electric motor effectively compensates for the
engine output torque lags, referred to as torque
filling. In other words, the HEV torque
management application is a complex frequency-
weighted problem, which can be solved by the
robust MIMO, designs and as a result, drastically
reduce the need for manual drivability calibration
effort.
Comparative Analysis of
Hybrid Powertrains
With tightening legislations and ongoing crude oil
price volatility, the automotive industry has been
under increasing pressure to develop vehicles that
are more fuel efficient and lower in emissions.
This increasing pressure could also be attributed
towards change in market demands due to
perceived risks of climate change and depleting
fossil fuel resources.
As a result, hybrid powertrains are gaining
considerable momentum, in tandem with more
fuel-efficient internal combustion engines. Hybrid
powertrain is defined as two or more power
sources to propel a vehicle. For the purpose of
this thesis, hybrid powertrains are divided into
following main architectures:
Series Hybrid
Parallel Hybrid
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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Compound Hybrid
Within these architectures, the following energy
storage solutions are being investigated in further
detail:
Tank storage (Fossil Fuel and Hydrogen)
Battery
Ultracapacitors
Hydraulic Accumulators
Flywheel
Along with the following energy converters:
ICE
Electric Motor/Generator
Hydraulic pump
Fuel Cell
However, with a myriad of hybrid configurations
possible, it is beneficial that the right system is
chosen for the desired vehicle class and usage
profile.
This PhD research investigates this issue, by
suggesting a tool to critically evaluate different
hybrid powertrain topologies. A ranking algorithm
provides a systematic and objective approach to
comparing different hybrid powertrain topologies,
and it will enable powertrain topologies to be
compared against criteria that are defined by
vehicle class and usage profile. As a result, this
potentially enables powertrain topologies to be
ranked according to their advantages and
disadvantages, for a given vehicle application.
The scope of this research is summarised in the
Venn diagram:
This PhD research aims to compare hybrid
powertrains in terms of:
Cost
Fuel economy and emissions
Reliability (Component Count)
Packaging size and weight
Well-to-wheels energy efficiency (with
UK-based energy data)
Performance
Methods for Real World
Estimation of Energy
Consumption of EV and
PHEVs
Within the automotive and road transport sector,
one of the main drivers for technological
development and innovation is the need to reduce
the vehicles fuel consumption and the emission of
Carbon Dioxide (CO
2
). This research funded by
Morgan Motor Company makes use of two real-
world test programs of an EV and a conventional
vehicle, to study the relation between usage
patterns and vehicle component design.
Calculation of the component sizes for EVs and
PHEVs remains one of the main design
challenges. In the context of a PHEV the
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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challenge is further compounded by the choice of
ICE, HV battery and the energy management
strategy. Within a number of applications the HV
battery system constitutes the single largest
contributor to vehicle mass and cost. Furthermore,
it was determined that the usage pattern has a
significant impact on the performance of the
vehicle. However, legislative procedures do not
address these issues. This research, which is
depicted in Figure 1, aims to understand the
relation between the usage patterns, component
sizes of the PHEV and the appropriate energy
management strategies.
Figure 6. Area of Research
The aim of this research is broken to four
objectives.
Objective 1: Real-World Usage Analysis
Provide a consistent framework for the
analysis of real-world data.
This data would then be analysed for
determining usage patterns and also
development of the vehicle model.
Objective 2: Component Sizing PHEV
Develop a scalable PHEV based on the data
from Objective 1.
Make use of an optimisation routine to select
the ideal component sizes based on various
constraints.
Identify the variation in component sizes for
different use case scenarios, control
strategies and legislative requirements.
Objective 3: Supervisory Controller
Development a robust sub-optimal
instantaneous real-time controller for the
management of the two energy sources.
Improve the performance of the controller
using GPS / pattern recognition data obtained
from Objective 1.
Objective 4:
Observe and understand the links between
these various objectives.
A novel frame work based on neural networks
was formulated for the recognition of the various
driving environments. Figure 2 shows the energy
consumption for different driving environments.
The range of the EV can vary by much as 30 %
based on the driving environment.
Figure 7. Energy Use for different environments
Currently, an instantaneous optimal controller
based on equivalent fuel consumption
minimisation method is being developed. Early
results show the controller consistently out
performs a rule based strategy by 10 15 %. This
can be achieved by including predictive abilities to
the controller such as journey distance. Figure 3
shows the operation of the PHEV over a typical
real-world cycle for the various control strategies.
Finally genetic algorithms have been chosen
since the optimisation problem is non-linear and
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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discontinuous. Currently, research is focused on
developing algorithms for the evaluation of the
vehicle models over legislative test procedures.
The end stage of the research would be to
understand the relation between sizing routine,
control strategy and usage scenarios.
Figure 8. Engine ON/OFF operation for various controllers
(a) Rule Based Strategy (b) EFCM (c) Predictive EFCM
Application of Multi
Objective Design
Optimization Methods for
EV Powertrain
This research is aimed to develop a methodology
to design and optimise the powertrain
architecture, powertrain component and
supervisory control for battery electric vehicle.
This project comprises of three main areas.
Battery Electric vehicle powertrain architecture
and components sizing
Battery electric vehicle supervisory control
algorithm
Multi-disciplinary and multi-objective
optimisation for Battery electric vehicle
Powertrain architecture and component sizing
includes selecting the appropriate electric
vehicle powertrain layout and designing the
number and sizing of powertrain components.
The purpose of this design is to identify the
architecture that responds to the vehicle
requirements and driving cycle. Supervisory
control is focused on the interaction of
components. Multidisciplinary design
optimisation technique is planned to select the
optimum points among the designs of
powertrain architecture along with the design
of supervisory control (Figure 4). Finally, the
comparison of current production battery
electric vehicle will present with the
optimisation results. This research process is
divided into three phases.
1. Using the multi-objective optimisation
method to optimise the battery electric
vehicle powertrain based on the currently
available EV.
2. Alternative architecture of battery electric
vehicle powertrain, the possibility of
different powertrain component and
powertrain sizing will be considered. The
optimisation technique is also used to
identify the better possible of efficiency
EV powertrain.
3. Control algorithm will be integrated to the
EV powertrain to determine the optimal
management logic. Concurrent
optimisation will be used to optimise the
parameters of powertrain components
and control system of the battery electric
vehicle.
Figure 9: structure of multi-objective design optimisation
method of EV powertrain
Low Cost Integration
Electric Power Assist
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
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Steering (EPAS) with
Electronic Stability Control
(ESC)
The main goal of this research is to propose a
novel control system and a control functional
architecture for integration of Electric Power
Steering (ESP) and Electronic Stability Control
(ESC) systems to enhance driver comfort as well
as vehicle safety. In addition, virtual sensing will
be developed and utilised where necessary to
reduce the overall cost of the final system. The
deliverables can be classified into four groups, as
follows:
1. Design and development of a customised
functional architecture for control
integration of ESP and ESC by utilising
and modifying a previously developed
Advanced Global Chassis Control system
(Figure 4).
Figure 10: Structure of AGCC system for
lateral motion control
2. Model based control design, by using the
novel neo-classical method, of a yaw
stability high-level controller including the
tyre self-aligning torque estimation as a
virtual sensing. Model based control
design of low-level smart actuator
controllers for EPAS and ESP systems.
3. Design and development of a unique
control integration concept for EPAS and
ESP system using the Fuzzy Logic
approach.
Figure 11: The proposed integrated EPS & ESC
HIL configuration
4. Design and fabricate an integrated ESP &
ESC HIL system with driver in the loop
capability. This HIL system will be used
as a rapid control development tool as
well as a test rig for functional and non-
functional testing of ESP and ESC system
(Figure 5).
The Influence of Torque and
Speed Sensitive Differential
Characteristics During On-
Limit Manoeuvres
This research is carried out with the support of
Xtrac Limited who design and manufacture
transmission solutions for the motorsport industry.
In such a competitive environment, there is benefit
in being able to offer tailored designs and
understanding the impact of the transmission on
vehicle handling. In light of this, differential
characteristics play an essential part of
transmission development. Much of this is centred
on how the differential changes its torque transfer
characteristics during cornering and how torque
transfer application can be made more
progressive.
Passive Limited Slip Differentials (PLSD) are a
well-established means of improving the traction
limitation imposed by standard automotive open
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2012
Page 10
differentials and achieve this by transmitting a
bias torque from a faster to slower rotating driven
wheel. This torque bias is typically proportional to
the differential input torque or the speed
difference between wheels. Common examples of
these include plate type (see Figure 6) and
viscous coupling differentials.
Figure 12: Xtrac Plate Differential Assembly
Many types of modern PLSD device which
operate in this way have been used as the basis
for handling investigations in the mainstream
automotive sector. These have focused on the
benefits of one particular method of torque bias
control. In the motorsport environment however,
there exists devices which are able to bias torque
through both methods simultaneously, but to date,
remain unexplored with respect to their influence
on handling and the differential models required to
study them.
This research uses both Matab/Simulink
simulation tools and Xtracs in-house differential
test rig to help characterise differential torque bias
characteristics. An 8 degree of freedom vehicle
model and preview steering driver model (see
Figure 7) provides the basis to explore the
dynamic effects of differentials on vehicle handling
performance.
Figure 13: Vehicle Model Simulation Structure
MSc Student Projects
1. Modelling and Simulation of SCR
Hydraulic Components
2. Modelling Mechanical Hybrid Powertrain
3. Parametric Clutch Torque Modelling and
Analysis for Control Applications
4. Development of an Integrated EPAS/ESP
Test Rig/HIL System

Automotive Mechatronics Newsletter Spring 2012 (v3)

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