The Pennsylvania State University's Advanced Vehicle Team: EcoCAR3 Year One Final Technical Report

Abstract This paper details the powertrain modeling and control strategies the Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team (PSUAVT) developed for submission to the EcoCAR 3 competition, an advanced vehicle design competition in which university teams compete to hybridize a stock 2016 Chevrolet Camaro. The team utilized model-in-the-loop studies using both public-domain and custom-built vehicle simulation packages to undergo an iterative powertrain model development process. This analysis lead to the development of a pre-transmission plug-in parallel hybrid electric vehicle that uniquely meets PSUAVT's goals. The design process was guided by vehicle technical specifications (VTS) based on consumer market research as well as the team's emphasis on producing a technically-feasible but performance-weighted hybrid architecture. Component models are presented that blend physics-based and map-based methods. A heuristic master vehicle controller (MVC) is described that splits the required driving torque between the motor and engine so engine brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) is minimized. Fault analysis of this controller is also presented based on design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA) performed in previous studies.