Electric Motor Drive Control Optimization
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Oral Presentation
Faculty Sponsor
Dr Narayan C Kar
Proposal
Due to the staggering levels of pollution around the world today from gasoline vehicles, the research and production of efficient and eco-friendly electrified vehicles (EVs) is a necessary goal to pursue. As a relatively new technology, much work remains to be done to optimize the internal workings of an EV. An EV powertrain is mainly comprised of a motor, motor drive and battery. The goal is to achieve higher motor efficiency and overall motor performance that can adapt to ideally any and all driving scenarios. The development of a cost-effective motor drive with reduced inverter losses along with the incorporation of a robust motor control will result in dynamic, safe and eco-friendly vehicles on the road. In order to achieve this, there are two parts to the motor drive which are the control board and the inverter. The goal of the author is to improve the motor drive control board which physically houses the required sensors and microcontroller with current and voltage protection, and to optimize the existing motor control. Then there is the programming which is uploaded onto the microcontroller. This code is improved and worked on in order to optimize speed and torque control algorithms. As of now, the motor drive board design has been completed in such a way that it is compatible with various microcontrollers. The current focus is to add software current protection with high level programming algorithms for existing motor control drive purposes. Once the new optimized algorithms have been developed, they will be benchmarked against the existing algorithms to compare their performance levels. Future work includes developing more efficient algorithms and implementing them in a way to elevate performance while reducing inverter losses.
Grand Challenges
Sustainable Industry
Electric Motor Drive Control Optimization
Due to the staggering levels of pollution around the world today from gasoline vehicles, the research and production of efficient and eco-friendly electrified vehicles (EVs) is a necessary goal to pursue. As a relatively new technology, much work remains to be done to optimize the internal workings of an EV. An EV powertrain is mainly comprised of a motor, motor drive and battery. The goal is to achieve higher motor efficiency and overall motor performance that can adapt to ideally any and all driving scenarios. The development of a cost-effective motor drive with reduced inverter losses along with the incorporation of a robust motor control will result in dynamic, safe and eco-friendly vehicles on the road. In order to achieve this, there are two parts to the motor drive which are the control board and the inverter. The goal of the author is to improve the motor drive control board which physically houses the required sensors and microcontroller with current and voltage protection, and to optimize the existing motor control. Then there is the programming which is uploaded onto the microcontroller. This code is improved and worked on in order to optimize speed and torque control algorithms. As of now, the motor drive board design has been completed in such a way that it is compatible with various microcontrollers. The current focus is to add software current protection with high level programming algorithms for existing motor control drive purposes. Once the new optimized algorithms have been developed, they will be benchmarked against the existing algorithms to compare their performance levels. Future work includes developing more efficient algorithms and implementing them in a way to elevate performance while reducing inverter losses.