ProtoDrive 3.0 Proposal

ProtoDrive 3.0 Project Proposal

TEAM NAME - Bowser

TEAM MEMBERS - Pranav Kunapuli and Rron Rexha

TA MENTOR - Vincent Pacelli

TASK ALLOCATION

Rron will be responsible for the circuits involved in integrating the battery and supercapacitor, such as the power system and the motor system circuits. Pranav will be assisting Rron with the motors. Pranav will be responsible for programming the logic using an mBed microcontroller as well as the use of motor controllers, current sensors, and encoders.

MOTIVATION

In the past, electric vehicle power system control software has been solely tested using software simulations rather than hardware. While the software may pass certain simulation tests, once the car is fully developed and the system implemented with hardware, engineers may find that the simulations do not emulate the real-world conditions of the car. Such realizations then call for expensive and time consuming changes to the car. The ProtoDrive project aims to provide a physical platform on which control software can be tested prior to full-scale implementation in electric vehicle drive trains. The project has been attempted in the past, but there have been several shortcomings and areas for improvement. Our primary motivation for attempting this project is to recreate the ProtoDrive from scratch and to successfully link the super capacitor into the system so that it charges and discharges on command.

GOAL

Our final goal is to have a hardware system that can run a DC motor using a combination of a battery and supercapacitor. The Protodrive will asses the simulated situation and accordingly draw power from the battery, the supercapacitor, or both. Our final project will also incorporate the regenerative braking from Protodrive 2.0, which charges the supercapacitor by effectively spinning the motor in reverse during braking.

TESTING AND EVALUATION

We will test our final project using Matlab simulations, as well as current and voltage plots to ensure proper draw from both the battery and the supercapacitor. For the demo, we plan to run the system through a simulated test that demonstrates the varying draw from the battery and supercapacitor as well as the regenerative braking. As an extra task, we intend on printing the circuit on a PCB and incorporating larger motors into our system that can draw more power and theoretically drain the battery, as a realistic electric vehicle would do.

PROJECT TASKS

Baby step: Run a DC motor using an mBed and an encoder to control the speed

Step 1: Run the motor using a battery

Step 2: Use a second motor as a load motor to provide resistive force on the drive motor

Step 3: Add DC to DC converter to allow motor to be run by both supercapacitor and battery. Program the mBed to decide which power source to use based on resistance.

Step 4: Use regenerative braking to charge supercapacitor

Extra Steps: Print a PCB of the circuit, incorporate larger motors.

EXPECTED PARTS

- 2 DC Motors, 2 Motor Controllers

- 2 LiPo Batteries

- 1 mBed Microcontroller

- 1 Supercapacitor

- 1 Relay

-  Current sensors

- 2 Temperature Sensors (for safety)

OVERALL SYSTEMS

- Motor system, Power system and Control system

TIMELINE

Sprint 1: March 23rd - 29th

• Finish baby steps
• Begin on running motor with battery, add load motor and test system with load motor
• Build DC to DC converter for Step 3
• Read up on Matlab

Sprint 2: March 30th - April 5th

• Integrate the supercapacitor
• Use DC to DC converter from Sprint 1
• Write control algorithms
• Read up on Matlab

Sprint 3: April 6th - 12th

• Incorporate sensors
• Begin writing Matlab tests and simulations
• Design the PCB

Sprint 4: April 13th - 19th

• Finish Matlab data output and simulations

Sprint 5: April 20th - 24th

• Final tests
• Find and fix any remaining issues
• Rehearse demo