Real-time Power-train Models for Fuel Economy Simulation
In today's world, alternative forms of vehicle propulsion, like for hybrid or electric vehicles, offer ways to meet the growing need to protect the climate and save fossil fuel resources. As a result, the fuel and/or energy consumption of a vehicle has to be studied closely throughout the entire development process.
When control systems are developed for new drive concepts, this issue has to be addressed right from the start. Because automotive controllers are increasingly being developed and tested by model-based development, the models used must not only plausibly represent the controlled system in terms of quality. They must also allow fuel or energy consumption to be calculated with maximum precision so that the operating strategies for alternative drives, for example, can be tested and if necessary optimized with the aid of hardware-in-the-loop simulation.
The University of Applied Sciences in East Westphalia-Lippe, Germany, is using dSPACE Automotive Simulation Models (ASM) to model alternative and consumption-optimized powertrain concepts.
The objectives of the research project are:
- To investigate and implement methods and approaches to integrating consumption-related effects (such as transmission losses due to friction and heat radiation from the components) into the real-time simulation of alternative vehicle drives.
- To model various powertrain configurations with maximum efficiency.
