The electric vehicle experiment : developing the theoretical model for 2.672

The purpose of this project was to develop a computer simulation of the proposed 2.672 electric vehicle experiment (EVE) to estimate the magnitudes of the powers required in different components of the drive train, piecewise component and system efficiencies, and the information that would need to be collected to construct different component power models. The EVE model had to incorporate both acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle, using regenerative braking as needed. The resulting model can be used to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the EVE and determine sizes of relevant testing equipment required to implement the EVE. The model showed that the EVE could work safely and be modeled with a reasonable amount of effort by students in 2.672. The relatively low power flows (under 4kW) allow safe operation while the students are learning about the efficiencies of the individual components. The most inefficient component for the low speeds expected in the EVE was the motor/generator unit, though the efficiency increased as the torque increased. The gearbox and controller efficiencies were modeled as constants in the simplified model since the manufacturer's literature only quoted one value for the gearbox and since there was a lack of detailed information about the controller. The overall system energy recovery efficiency using regenerative braking was low, reaching a maximum of about 40% and falling as low as 10% when higher than expected power flows were used. The theoretical model was simplified by removing the effects of temperature and heat rise. Only with a built EVE can the actual performance of the system be characterized.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Zedler, Matthew R. (Matthew Robert)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• C. Forbes Dewey.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40929

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40929