C Chapman

An Adaptive Power-Split Strategy for Battery–Supercapacitor Powertrain—Design, Simulation, and Experiment

Electric vehicles (EVs) adopting both batteries and supercapacitors have attracted a significant amount of attention in research communities due to their unique power-sharing capabilities. A hybrid energy storage system (HESS) can effectively reduce power stress that would, otherwise, be applied to batteries alone, and whose weight and size is still a common concern when competing against conventional internal-combustion-engine-powered cars. In this paper, a high-level algorithm is developed to adaptively split the load between two sources for an EV adopting HESS under real-life load fluctuations. A converter—supercapacitor pack (SP) coupled HESS upon which such an algorithm is deployed on, is proposed to divert excess power into the SP via a smart power converter, which is located in between in order to regulate both behaviors. A power-split strategy is designed to track real-time load profiles and determine one important variable: the cutoff frequency. As a consequence, relatively higher frequency portion of the load power gets channeled to the SP, and the remaining less-varying power demand is sent to the BP based on the fundamental energy-balancing equation. A simplified HESS model is developed in MATLAB, and the real-time power-split algorithm is coded using Labview and verified on a test rig. Both simulation and experimental results prove its effectiveness in coping with even the harshest driving scenarios in real life.

A portable data acquisition system for the measurement of impact attenuation material properties

A variety impact attenuating materials are used for injury prevention and risk minimization in a variety of applications, including children’s playground surface, padding for trampoline frames, padding at the entrance and exit of inflatables, at the base of artificial climbing structures, and many other fall-zone applications. This paper details the development and description of a cordless impact measurement system. The electronics include a microprocessor based system located within the missile that controls the sampling, collates and processes the data prior to transmission. The data is then transmitted via a wireless connection to the laptop where it is imported via a custom driver into LabVIEW to undergo further post-processing and display in a user friendly GUI.

Development of a Novel Wireless Transducer for Measuring the Transient Torque of an Automotive Powertrain

This paper presents the development of a specific wireless torque measurement system that is used to obtain the transient torque of automatic transmissions. Strain gauges are put on the surface of components that rotate and transfer power. The gauges are connected to a circular printed circuit board (PCB), which is mounted on the rotating component next to the strain gauges. The PCB contains an amplifier, low pass filter, A/D converter, microcontroller, digital RF transceiver and the power supply. The transmitted torque data is received by a stationary antenna and transceiver, which is interfaced to a PC to process, display and save the data.