Mohamed Ayeb

A new approach to diagnostics for permanent-magnet motors in automotive powertrain systems

Due to their high efficiency and small volume, permanent-magnet synchronous motors are and will be widely used in current and future hybrid and electric vehicles. As an essential component of the power train system, electric motors should be continuously monitored to ensure driving safety and the efficient use of the electrical energy available on board. Effective methods are necessary to realize both a high-precision end-of-line parameterization of the electrical machine and the on-board diagnostics to detect derating or failure. Because most mechanical, magnetic, and electric faults cause increasing energy losses, the survey of the energy efficiency of the electrical machine is an appropriate approach for diagnostics. This paper shows a practical method for characterizing the electrical machine and for the sensitive detection of mechanical and electromagnetic deviations.

A generic architecture for hybrid intelligent test systems

The last decade has obviously witnessed an emerging interest in studying human intelligence aiming to solve complex problems in many industrial fields, e.g. the process of verification and validation. Therefore, in an effort to alleviate the challenges of this process, an idea to construct intelligent test systems from the viewpoints of learning, reasoning, and optimization paradigms is presented. The adopted approach is based on the ability of the test system to observe, model, and store the behavior of skilled human testers aiming to imitate their intelligence. Hence, the developed test system should be able to partially substitute the absence of the human factor during an automated test cycle, which consequently leads to a substantial reduction in the development time and cost; yet the test efficiency is not sacrificed.

Agents learn from human experts: An approach to test reconfigurable systems

Faulty software is costly and possibly life threatening as software products permeate our daily life. Therefore, the test process formulates an indispensable component of the development cycle; yet it is a formidable task. In an effort to alleviate its challenges, this contribution outlines a novel approach to enrich traditional test techniques with intuition-based test strategies learned by observing skilled human testers during various test sessions. Consequently, the strategies learned would be verified, combined, and generalized to be further applied in similar test situations. Hence, a reasonable portion of the workload done by human testers would be shifted to the test system itself. This leads to a significant reduction in the development time and cost; yet the test efficiency is not sacrificed.

Smart Power Control and Architecture for an Efficient Vehicle Alternator - Capacitor - Load System

The introduction of additional electrical functionalities will represent a challenge for both the electrical energy and the power balance, which implies the need for good energy efficiency and a low system weight. In particular, safety-critical, power-consuming new systems, e.g. in the area of vehicle dynamics, demand high reliability in the vehicle power supply. The presented concept combines 1) efficient recuperation of the vehicle’s kinetic or potential energy even in conventional, IC-engine driven vehicles, 2) the buffering of power peaks and 3) the power management of particular loads. It is based on a modified voltage-controlled alternator and an appropriate charging strategy for a combination of super capacitors, battery and DC/DC converter allowing the use of very compact components. In addition to the theoretical description and modelling, a dedicated hardware-in-the-loop based test set-up was built in order to validate the approach with experimental data and results.