Abstract
The Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) offers courses addressing the simulation, modeling, and control system design of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). In the Spring of 1999 such a course was conducted to support the UTK FutureCar Challenge entry for 1999. The vehicle modeled is a Dual-configuration Hybrid Electric Vehicle (DHEV) which uses a planetary power-split device similar to the Toyota Hybrid System used in the Toyota “Prius”. The goals of the course included the development of a real-time simulator that could incorporate actual vehicle control hardware in the simulator loop. This “control-hardware-in-the-loop” (CHIL) configuration was used for simulation, control system design, and troubleshooting. This approach allows the simulation of normal vehicle operating conditions as well as emergency fault handling situations in which it may not be desirable to subject the actual prototype vehicle to a given test condition. Additionally, it is possible to do a great deal of control system testing and development without an operating vehicle.
