| Popis: |
The global automotive industry continually strives to develop advanced automotive control systems that can reduce fuel consumption and emissions towards a greener future, while improving efficiencies and enhancing safety and comfort.This effort is collaborative, with not just OEMs and their suppliers working amidst stiff competition and strict regulations, but various research organizations, both independent as well as academic collaborating with these OEMs. As a result of this collaborative effort, there is a huge potential for synergy, but also the possibility of huge disconnects in the process itself. Model-Based System Development methodologies that use simulation models representing the controlled and controlling systems have a very important role to play in today's scenario when developing control systems. For a research organization with strong academic background such as the Center for Automotive Research at The Ohio State University, a comprehensive process for automotive model-based control that encapsulates various practice and standards already in place in the industry can help develop better solutions when collaborating with industry. While systematic and detailed approaches exist already, there are sufficient variations amongst internal approaches and methodologies which calls for a more unified approach that is industry-inspired. This thesis presents a comprehensive process that helps a developer gain an overall perspective to the bigger problem. The proposed methodology starts right at the fundamental opportunity identification phase, and is driven in the early stages by product development methodologies. Systematic approaches towards identifying opportunities, generating concepts and selecting concepts, with a case-study based on the usage of model-based simulations tools to select concepts are presented. With constantly changing requirements in the automotive industry, the need for traceability to the initial requirements has been highlighted. To serve as an example throughout this thesis, a specific engineering problem aimed at optimizing the electrical system is chosen from an ongoing project on fuel economy improvement with Chrysler LLC. The objective of improving fuel economy by optimizing the usage of the alternator, and making better use of the existing vehicle battery to meet electrical load demands in the vehicle is achieved by means of an Adaptive Equivalent consumption Minimization Strategy (A-ECMS) based controller.The A-ECMS controller thus designed is implemented on a vehicle test-setup using Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) tools. Verification and Validation techniques that ensure that the system is built to specifications and meets requirements identified are presented in detail with the same example.Finally, future recommendations are made on implementation and testing as well as other model-based tools and approaches that can be considered. An overall process that gives a developer the bigger picture that encompasses the control system development process has been attempted in this thesis, drawing inspiration from various product development methodologies as well as industry-standard practices. Staying updated with relevant standards and methodologies can promote better industry collaborations and provide greater learning, and this thesis aims to support that with the proposed methodology for automotive model-based control. |
