L’Automotive di oggi e di domani

ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES FOR

VEHICLE ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Roberto Finizio
Centro Ricerche Fiat

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 Outline

• Motivations towards activities focused on vehicle energy management

• Methodological approach adopted in energy management solutions

• Examples of activities oriented towards energy management

• Analysis through vehicle electrical balance simulation

• Architectures based on rapid prototyping hardware

• Conclusions

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 Vehicle Energy Management – Motivations
Both legislation and customer buying behavior are driving automotive
OEMs and suppliers to currently devise solutions focused on fuel economy
and CO2 emission reduction.

Recent developments are oriented on:

• increase the efficiency of the internal combustion engines,

• lightweight construction strategy and sophisticated aerodynamic

features of the car body,

• energy management of the vehicle electrical power system.

New developments must not affect the other consumers’ requests such as
style, ‘fun-to-drive’, safety and cost.

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 Vehicle Energy Management - Methodology
“Stand-Alone” Approach

 Vehicle systems are designed to satisfy performance

and cost target,
 ON/OFF control with wide hysteresis guarantees
performance of the specific system,
 Lack of methodology to optimize the system control
and to reduce energy request of the vehicle system. Stand-alone
approach

Integrated Approach
 Shared vehicle data among the vehicle sub-systems, Integrated
 Improved control strategy to reduce fuel consumption approach
saving the vehicle performances,
 Estimation of the overall energy generation efficiency,
 Replacing mechanical components by electronically-
controlled devices,
 Adopting predicting algorithm of vehicle mission.

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 Overview of the energy distribution by different components
(Simulation on NEDC cycle)*
Electric Auxiliaries
4%

Drivetrain losses
3%

Brake energy
5%

Aerodynamic
resistance
8%

Rolling friction
10%
Wasted fuel energy
70%

• 70% of energy is lost as engine heat and exhaust gas

• 30% of energy is available fro propulsion and the electrical net

* EE-VERT EU Project 7th Framework Program

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 Energy Management Integrated Approach
Target of Fuel Economy

Improvements Target of fuel saving [%]

Oil pump - Variable displacement 1,5
Electronic Thermostat 1,0
Fuel Pump 1,5
Exhaust Gas Heat Recovery 2,0
Smart Alternator + Battery 2,0
Fan speed proportional control 0,5
Controllable Vacuum Pump 1,0
Total target Benefit 9,5

About 9% of fuel economy is achievable by means of smart control of electric auxiliaries

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 Energy Management Technologies
Vehicle System Enabling Technology

DC electric motor with Motor controller able to modulate the

on/off control motor speed for more efficient control of
the pump speed
Fuel pump

DC electric motor with fan Motor controller able to modulate the

control limited to 1-2 speed motor speed for more efficient control of
Cooling the fan speed

Wax pellet with an on/off Electric valve able to control the coolant flow
mechanical control in radiator, bypass and cabin heater circuits
for enhanced thermal management
Thermostat

Voltage regulator with fixed Smart voltage regulator for a more efficient
14V regulation generation control
Alternator
Conventional starter Enhanced starter that can withstand the
suitable for manual engine increased number of engine-starts in a
Starter cranking stop-start vehicle

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 The integrated vehicle management approach
Technology requirements

The EM technology must meet:

 System functional constraints

 Functional safety qualification for road vehicles

 Hardware and software diagnosis

 Communication interface (bus, wired,…) requests

 Limited Hardware and software resources

 Cost target

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 Example of EM solution: Engine fan control
From ON/OFF activation:

Engine water temperature

Activation speed (1 or 2 level)
Freon pressure

To continuos regulation:
Communication interface
Electrical specs ECU
Fan PWM driver Harness
External temperature
Fan Connectors
Case Engine water temperature

Freon pressure

Fuel saving due to:Vehicle energetic status

Diagnostic
Control strategies
Control strategies • Fan activation based on actual required air flow
(engine cooling, freon pressure)
(soft-start, bus voltage adapt.)

Protections • High side freon pressure regulation

(stalled motor, overtemp, …)

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 Example of EM solution: smart alternator
Vehicle energy and dynamic conditions used to manage alternator generation.

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ELBA: Tool for analysis of vehicle electric powernet balance
• Dynamic effective simulation of electric load.
• Direct dynamic approach for regulator control.
• Energy management strategy simulation for Smart
Alternator, Stop & Start, By Wire.

100
Ialt [A]
50

0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
30
Vbatt [V]
28

26

24
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

91
SOC [%]
90

89

88
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
[s]

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 Architecture based on rapid prototyping hardware:
solutions with NI real-time controllers
LIN
ECU1 ECU2 Sensor/Acuator
Battery

CAN1

Sensor/Actuator
FAST PROTOTYPING ECU Sensor/Acuator

ECU3 Electric Load1

CAN2

Electric Load2

ECU4 Electric Load3

Sensors/Actuators
ECUs
Electric Loads
Alternator Starter

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 Conclusions

• Under pressure from legislation and customer buying behavior,

automotive OEMs and suppliers are developing solutions focused on
vehicle energy management
• As far the development of energy management solutions, CRF is
adopting an ‘integrated approach’ able to fill up the lack of
methodologies in reducing the energy request of vehicle systems
• The approach could guarantee up to 9 % of fuel saving in real use
and a slight lower improvement on the homologation cycle (NEDC)
• Simulation analysis and rapid prototyping hardware are key tools to
accelerate the time-to-market, estimating virtually and demonstrate
on-field the maturity of a specific technology

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