Week-3 Challenge: ADVISOR Tool

1. To observe the EV_defaults_in file with cargo mass of 500 kg and check if the vehicle can travel for 45 km with FTP drive cycle:

ADVISOR Tool:

ADVISOR, NREL's ADvanced Vehicle SimulatOR, is a set of model, data and script text files for use with Matlab and Simulink. It is designed for rapid analysis of the performance and fuel economy of conventional, electric and hybrid vehicles. ADVISOR also provides a backbone for the detailed simulation and analysis of user defined drivetrain components, a starting point of verified vehicle data and algorithms from which to take full advantage of the modeling flexibility of simulink and analytic power of Matlab. ADVISOR tool provides the vehicle engineering community with an easy-to-use, flexible, yet robust and supported analysis package for advanced vehicle modeling. It is primarily used to quantify fuel economy, the performance and thee emissions of vehicles that use alternative technologies including fuel. ADVISOR was first developed in November 1994 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. ADVISOR was first released publicly via the internet (www.nrel.gov/transportation/analysis) in September 1998.

Key attributes:

The following is a short list of the key attributes that have lead to the adoption of ADVISOR as an analysis tool by a broad audience:

• Intuitive, easy-to-use graphical interface;
• Fast solutions;
• Distributed as open source code;
• Customizable;
• Scalable component models;
• Good customer support, software maintenance and documentation;
• Free and publicly available;
• Highly parameterized models;
• Provides robust solutions;
• Modular architecture.

How to start ADVISOR Tool:

• Launch MATLAB and first set default location folder to the advisor.
• Now, select "Advisor.m" code file and type "advisor" in the command window and press enter.
• A new window will open and then set "metric" for unit and start ADVISOR.
• It will launch in a window.

ADVISOR tool has three windows:

1. Vehicle Input window

2. Simulation Parameter window

3. Results window

Below attachment shows the Vehicle Input window when we enter 500kg as cargo mass.

Steps:

i) First, load EV_defaults_in from the drop-down menu in the vehicle input window.

ii) Now we have entered the cargo mass as 500kg.

iii) By clicking continue button, a new window simulation parameter will pop up.

iv) In the Simulation parameter window, we change the drive cycle to CYC_FTP by selecting the drop-down menu. Below, that we can set the number of cycles of the drive cycle.

v) After pressing the RUN button, the simulation will start and it will show results in a new window.

Below attachment represents the simulation window and also results are provided too.

From the simulation result, we can conclude that for one drive cycle of FTP drive cycle, the vehicle has travelled the distance of 17.8km and the vehicle has used about 40% of SOC. In short, the vehicle now has 60% of charge.

Now, as per the question above, we need to check the status of the battery charge of the vehicle after the vehicle has covered 45km. So, for one drive cycle, of FTP, it is observed that the vehicle covers a distance of 17.8km. Now, when we increase the number of drivecycyle to two, the below results are obtained.

From the results, it is observed that the vehicle have covered the distance of 35.5km after we increased the number of drive cycle to two. Also, the present SOC is about close to 20%. So, the vehicle have utilised about 80% of battery while covering the distance of 35.5 km utilising two cycles of drive cycle FTP.

Now, by increasing the number of cycle again by one, we use three cycles of drive cycle FTP.

Below attachment is the result of the vehicle EV_default_in file, after we applied three cycles of drive cycle FTP. From the result, we can conclude that the vehicle has been able to travel a distance upto 41.4km and also, have used 100% charge (SOC) of the battery.

So, as per the question above, the vehicle is not being able to comple the distance of 45km as the minimum distance covered by the vehicle is 17.2km for the drive cycle FTP (one cycle applied) and the maximum distance covered by the vehicle is 41.4km (three cycles applied) at which the vehicle consumes 100% of charge or SOC.

No. of Drive Cycle(s) FTP Distance Covered by the Vehicle(km) SOC(%)

1 17.2 60

2 35.5 20

3 41.4 0

Therefore, we can conclude that due to insufficient SOC, the vehicle cannot cover the distance of 45km.

2. For the above case, we need to observe the same vehicle with same parameters by varying the battery capacity and carrying out the simulation:

From the above question, it is evident thaat the vehicle did not have sufficient SOC for covering the distance of 45km. It was also observed that we were using 25 number of modules of the battery which constituted about the nominal voltage of 308v and the mass of the battery was found out to be 275kg.

We need to increase the number of battery module inorder to attain the given target (here, the required distance).

i) Here, inorder to increase the number of battery modules, we have to back to the vehicle input window. From there, there is a column named "# of mod" which indicates the number of battery modules required. Also, the column next to that named, "V nom" and "mass(kg)" indicates the overall voltage obtained from the modules and the total weight of the battery modules respectively.

Here, we are going to increase the number of modules step by step, by adding one module at a time. The below attachment shows the addition of battery modules to the vehicle.

Result:

We have observed the results of the vehicle by increasing the modules of battery and also applying the same drive cycle and hence increasing the number of cycles. Below attachment is about the observations from the following results. From the same observation it has been understood that while applying only one drive cycle FTP for 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 modules, it has been observed that the distance covered remained unchanged and the SOC improved as we added new battery module.

Also, the datas about distance covered, nominal voltage and weight of the battery is given below. As for the question, we have included the simulation result of :

i) Energy Storage System : 26 modules and 1 drive cycle:

ii) Energy Storage System: 26 modules and 2 drive cycles:

iii) Energy Storage System : 26 modules and 3 drive cycles:

iv) Energy Storage System : 27 modules and 1 drive cycle:

v) Energy Storage System : 27 modules and 2 drive cycles:

vi) Energy Storage System : 27 modules and 3 drive cycles:

vii) Energy Storage System : 28 modules and 1 drive cycle:

viii) Energy Storage System : 28 modules and 2 drive cycles:

ix) Energy Storage System : 28 modules and 3 drive cycles:

x) Energy Storage System : 30 modules and 1 drive cycle:

xi) Energy Storage System : 30 modules and 2 drive cycles:

xii) Energy Storage System : 30 modules and 3 drive cycles:

Drive Cycle FTP : 1:

Battery Module	Nominal Voltage (V)	Distance (km)	Mass (kg)
26	321	17.8	286
27	333	17.8	297
28	345	17.8	308
29	358	17.8	319
30	370	17.8	330

Drive Cycle FTP : 2:

Battery Module	Nominal Voltage (V)	Distance (km)	Mass (kg)
26	321	35.5	286
27	333	35.5	297
28	345	35.5	308
29	358	35.5	319
30	370	35.5	330

Drive Cycle FTP : 3:

Battery Module	Nominal Voltage (V)	Distance (km)	Mass (kg)
26	321	42.7	286
27	333	44.8	297
28	345	46.3	308
29	358	47.7	319
30	370	49.1	330

3. To perform gradeability test with PRIUS_Jpn_defaults_in file and compare the results:

In this problem, we have to perform the gradeability test for the Prius japan model and compare the results of various gradeability applied to the vehicle. Here, we are using the same drivecycle which is the Drivecycle FTP. Below attachment shows the vehicle input window of PRIUS_Jpn_defaults_in file. The following steps are performed :

i) In ADVISOR tool Vehicle Input window, select PRIUS_Jpn_defaults_in file model.

ii) Continue to the next window.

iii) Simulation Parameter window will open.

iv) Select the gradeability test and click on the grade option box, a new dialogue box will open.

v) We can change the speed and duration of the simulation.

vi) Click on all system enabled.

vii) Click ok and run the simulation and a result window will open showing different results depend upon input data.

Result:

The result of simulation of the model is done for the following speed :

i) Speed: 25miles/h

ii) Speed: 30miles/h

iii) Speed: 35miles/h

iv) Speed: 40miles/h

v) Speed: 45miles/h

The following tables are the datas of the gradeability for various speed for the PRIUS_Jpn_in model with all systems enabled and the table for the gradeability of energy and fuel convertor disabled mode.

Table: 1: Gradeability for various speed (All systems enabled) Time= 10 sec

Velocity (miles/hour)	Velocity (km/h)	Gradeability (%)
25	40.2	16.5
30	48.3	14.7
35	56.3	132
40	64.4	11.7
45	72.4	10.7

Table: 2: Gradeability for various speed (Energy storage disabled and Fuel converter disabled)

Velocity (miles/h)	Velocity (km/h)	Gradeability(Energy Storage Disabled)(%)	Gradeability(Fuel converter Disabled)(%)
25	40.2	0	16.5
30	48.3	2.5	14.7
35	56.3	2.4	13
40	64.4	2.5	11.7
45	72.4	2.2	10.7

Time : 20 sec

Table: 3: Gradeability for various speeds (All system enabled).

Velocity (miles/h)	Velocity (km/h)	Gradeability (%)
25	40.2	19.7
30	48.3	17.7
35	56.3	16
40	64.4	14.6
45	72.4	13.4

Table: 4: Gradeability for various speeds (Energy storage disabled and Fuel Converter disabled)

Velocity (miles/h)	Velocity (km/h)	Gradeability (%)( Energy storage disabled)	Gradeability (%)( Fuel Converter disabled)
25	40.2	0	19.7
30	48.3	2.5	17.7
35	56.3	2.5	16
40	64.4	2.5	14.6
45	72.4	2.2	13.4

Conclusion:

As we can see in the table, as the speed of the vehicle increases the gradeability percentage decreases. Also at same speed as time duration changes gradeability increases for both time intervals of 10 sec and 20 sec. Therefore when vehicle speed increases there is a decrease in gradeability. In other words, the gradeability for the vehicle when it is running with energy storage disabled is very low as compared to when it is running with energy storage enabled.