Week-3 Challenge: ADVISOR Tool

Objective:

Use the ADVISOR tool and simulate the following

1. For the EV_defaults_in file, if cargo mass is 500 kg with all other default conditions, can the vehicle travel for 45 km with an FTP drive cycle? Conclude your observations.

2. In the above case, try changing the battery capacity and repeat the simulation.

3. Perform Gradeability test with PRIUS_Jpn_defaults_in file

Compare your results in a table and conclude.

Theory:

ADVISOR:

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 to take full advantage of the modeling flexibility of Simulink and analytic power MATLAB.

You may benefit from using ADVISOR if you want to:

• estimate the fuel economy of vehicles that have not yet been built
• learn about how conventional, hybrid or electric vehicles use (and lose) energy throughout their drivetrains
• compare relative tailpipe emissions produced on several cycles
• evaluate an energy management strategy for your hybrid vehicle’s fuel converter
• optimize the gear ratios in your transmission to minimize fuel use or maximize performance, etc.

ADVISOR was preliminarily written and used in November 1994. Since then, it has been modified as necessary to help manage the US DOE Hybrid Vehicle Propulsion System subcontracts. Only in January 1998 was a concerted development effort was undertaken to clean up and document ADVISOR.

Since then, over 4500 individuals have downloaded one or more versions of ADVISOR, including all of the OEMs and major suppliers. About 2/3 of the users are from industry and 1/3 from universities. A shortlist of major ADVISOR users includes:

• DaimlerChrysler
• Ford Motor Company
• General Motors Corp.
• Delphi Automotive Systems
• Visteon, and hundreds of others.

Procedure:

1. For the EV_defaults_in file, if cargo mass is 500 kg with all other default conditions, can the vehicle travel for 45 km with an FTP drive cycle? Conclude your observations.

• Download the advisor tool from SourceForge Platform.
• Launched the MATLAB R2021a and open the advisor file location, right-click on folder>Add to path>Selected Folders and Subfolders.

• Type 'advisor' in the command window and press 'Enter'.
• The new Advisor window will open and then chosen the metric option and click on start.

• Default vehicle input is opened. in the load file, drop-down arrow and select the file 'EV_defaults_in'.

• Change the cargo mass to 500 kg and click save.

• A new window will open, change the driving cycle by a dropdown arrow and select 'CYC_FTP' and run the simulation on No. of cycle '1'.

• Again the new window and the simulation results can be open.

• Now, change the 'No. of cycles' to 2 and 3 and run the simulation again.

2. In the above case, try changing the battery capacity and repeat the simulation.

• In by default condition, the battery capacity(Energy Storage #of mod) is 25, change it to 28 and run the simulation.

3. Perform a Gradeability test with the PRIUS_Jpn_defaults_in file. Compare your results in a table and conclude.

• In the Load, file drop-down selects the ‘PRIUS_Jpn_defaults_in’ file and click Continue.

• A Simulation Parameter Window opens.
• Check the Grade-ability test box and click on the Grade options to open a new dialog box.

• Now in the Enable/Disable Systems Section, select All systems enabled.
• The Speed gives different values like 25, 35, and 45 mph respectively at the duration of 10 seconds and Click OK.
• Now, Click RUN to check the Grade-ability.

For 35 Kms:

For 45 Kms:

• After checking for the duration of 10 seconds, change the duration to 30 seconds and follow the same process and observe the results.

For 25 Kms:

For 35 Kms:

For 45 Kms:

Conclusion:

1. The distance of 45km can’t be reached by the system as the Battery capacity isn’t enough to cover the distance. It can travel to 41.4kms by draining the battery completely.
2. The observations are formatted as a table

For the Battery Mod of 28:

No. of Cycles	Distance Covered (km)	Voltage	Battery capacity
2	35.5	345	308
3	46.3	345	308

• It is observed that just by increasing the battery module from 25 to 28. The Number of drive cycles also plays an important role to make the battery power efficient.
• To cover the given distance of 45kms, at least a 28 module 345 volt battery can be used.

3. The observations are specified in the form of a Table.

For time Duration of 10 secs:

Vehicle Speed (mph)	Critical Vehicle Speed (km/h)	Grade-ability %
25	40.2	16.5
35	56.3	13
45	72.4	10.7

For time Duration of 30 secs:

Vehicle Speed (mph)	Critical Vehicle Speed (Km/h)	Grade-ability %
25	25	20.4
35	35	16.7
45	45	14.1

• From the tables, we can see that there is a decrease in the Grade-ability for both the time durations with the increase in the vehicle speed.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learned to use the advisor tool.
• Learned to observe different cases and how it is acting on a vehicle.