Modeling, Simulation and Control Development of a Pre-Transmission Parallel E85 PHEV for Year-1 of EcoCAR 3 Competition 2016-01-1256

This paper details the first year of modeling and simulation, and powertrain control development for the Wayne State University EcoCAR 3 vehicle. Included in this paper are the processes for developing simulation platforms, plant models and electronic control units to support the supervisory control system development.

The EcoCAR 3 competition challenges sixteen North American universities to re-engineer the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to reduce its environmental impact without compromising its performance and consumer acceptability. The team is in the final stages of competition Year One, which, as the “non-vehicle year,” focuses on the preliminary design, simulation, and hybrid modes selection for the team’s selected vehicle architecture. The team chose a Pre-Transmission Parallel Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) architecture for its performance capability, multiplicity of operational modes, and drivetrain configuration that retains the vehicle’s rear-wheel drive configuration.

Over the course of Year One the modeling and simulation team utilized the two competition-sponsored simulation platforms, Argonne National Laboratory’s (ANL’s) Autonomie and MathWorks MATLAB, Simulink and Simscape, to create the vehicle models for the selected architecture, with the objective to fully maximize the benefits of each environment. The Autonomie model was utilized to determine the team’s ideal VTS and for vehicle architecture selection. The MathWorks model served as the foundation for the team to develop their own vehicle model. Plant models representing the physical components were created from a variety of foundational models. Each plant model interacts with its specific Soft-ECU, which communicates with the hybrid control unit (HCU) via CAN and other inputs. Over the course of the four-year development cycle, the plant models and Soft-ECUs will be refined to match the real operation of those components. The Model-Based approach adopted by the team enabled the concurrent development of the plant models and the controller subsystems, enhancing the overall development efficiency.