Integrated VCU and MCU for E-Rickshaw

Synopsis of Project report submitted to

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
for the award of the degree

Of

Dual Degree
in Electrical Engineering
with Specialization in Instrumentation and Signal Processing

by

Navneet Soni
(15EE35018)

under the supervision of

Prof. Somnath Sengupta

Prof. Dipankar Debnath

Department of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
April 2020
 Abstract
At present almost all the e-rickshaws are running without any supervisory controller. There is
only a single control unit, which controls the Motor. This takes the input from
accelerator/throttle, brake-pedal and forward/reverse switch, based on which it generates a
suitable duty ratio for the inverter switches. So that the motor generate required torque, but it
does not care whether the battery is able to supply the required current while it remains in safe
and efficient operating region; also whether the battery, motor or motor controller are running in
safe temperature zone; is the motor running in the safe and efficient operating zone; if there is
any fault in high-voltage units then how to handle, and how to efficiently estimate the remaining
drive range. Such considerations and functionalities are typically missing in conventional
e-Rickshaws.
Therefore to improve the safety, efficiency, control and drive experience, we need to have a
supervisory Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) for e-rickshaw. This VCU can control in a coordinated
manner, the key units like Motor Control Unit (MCU), Battery Management System (BMS) for
li-ion battery, Battery Charger, High-voltage control and it will also provide a communication
platform for all the control units through the CAN bus, so the overall safety, control, and
efficiency of the vehicle will improve.
Since effective remaining driving range estimation is one of the key requirements for a small
e-rickshaw to improve user experience, here we have designed an effective, reliable, and
cost-efficient, remaining driving range estimation method.
The cost is also a big problem because the cost of the e-rickshaw has to be less, we have to make
its price as low as possible, and to reduce the cost we will try to finally build a VCU within a
small budget.
A complete Integrated VCU and MCU logic is designed in Simulink, and it has been tested in
Model in Loop (MIL) with a dynamic model of electric vehicle that also consists of electric
motor and battery Simulink block. It has also been tested in Qtronic Silver software that is used
by automotive engineers to integrate and test control software virtually using simulation on PC.
Later on it's been tested in Software in Loop (SIL), in that Integrated VCU and MCU logic run in
Raptor (Virtual ECU) with Simulink and the whole plant runs in Qtronic Silver software.
Further, it is targeted to generate C code from the simulated controller model, and then it will be
flashed into the 16-bit Ti F28379D LaunchPad for testing with hardware. Then we will analyze
the whole system and try to make it simple, small, and cost-efficient, so it will be suitable for
e-rickshaw.

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1. Introduction
Increasing environmental and safety concerns, along with rising gasoline prices, are driving a
worldwide shift in the automotive industry towards the development of green intelligent
transportation systems. Today, E-rickshaws are seen as the leading contender to displace existing
fleets of gasoline-powered auto’s, but there are some issues with the present existing e-rickshaw
like the efficiency of the motor, battery, and inverters; safety of the vehicle and prediction of
remaining drive range.

At present, the existing e-rickshaws available in Indian market have no regenerative braking
feature, so the whole braking energy is lost. Further, there is also no supervisory monitoring unit
that continuously monitors all the units of the vehicle for the vehicle to run in a safe and efficient
manner, and there is no reliable remaining drive range estimation feature

The aim of this project is to design an Integrated Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) and Motor Control
Unit (MCU) for e-rickshaw that can monitor all the unit of the vehicle like Motor, Power
Inverter, Battery Management System(BMS), Battery Charger and High-Voltage protection
control. So, the overall efficiency of the motor, controller, and battery pack can improve. The
safety of the vehicle also improves through high-voltage control units. The safety of the
high-voltage units is one of the most critical aspects of the electric vehicle due to events like a
short circuit, vehicle crushing, or some other unpredicted event, which may cause fire or some
unpredicted fault. So under such circumstances, VCU will isolate the battery from other
electrical units to decrease the impact of these events. VCU is also used to estimate the vehicle's
remaining drive range based on the past drive cycle and presently stored electric energy in the
battery using present SOC and SOH of the battery pack.

The Motor Control Unit (MCU) works as an intermediate model between the Vehicle Control
Unit (VCU) and the inverter. Basically, its work is to control the motor based on the torque
command from the VCU and present motor parameters like rotor position and motor current
feedback. It will generate sine PWM for three-phase inverter MOSFETs. In the MCU, we used
Field Oriented Control (FOC) method to generate the control signal for the power inverter to run
the three-phase BLDC motor.

For this work, an Integrated VCU and MCU logic model is designed, and it is integrated with the
electric vehicle plant model that consists of the e-rickshaw mechanical model, BLDC motor,
Power inverter, Power relays, and cooling actuator.

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2. Vehicle Control Unit (VCU)
An effective electric Vehicle Control Unit is the key to ensure the safe and efficient operation of
electric vehicles.

VCU receives the sensors and driver input signals, including pedal inputs, vehicle speed signals,
and other inputs, manages the system energy, commands the driver demanded torque to
powertrain, coordinates the control of vehicle components, achieves fault diagnosis and
determines the overall vehicle drivability.

The Complete VCU is divided into three parts, Torque Control with power management, Vehicle
Safety Control, and Remaining drive range estimation. The torque control part calculates the
required torque from the motor based on acceleration command from the driver, and considering
current Vehicle and battery parameters and finally sends the required torque command to the
Motor Control Unit (MCU). The safety control block monitors all the units of the vehicle like
Battery Management System (BMS), Motor Control Unit (MCU), High-Voltage Circuit Breaker,
Battery Charger Controller, and PreCheck Control block. These blocks generate control signals
based on the drive input parameters, BMS and MCU present parameters, and then send these
control signals to the vehicle plant module. The remaining drive range estimation block is used
to estimate how long the vehicle can run based on present battery parameters and reference drive
cycle.
Main Functions of VCU:

● Vehicle operating mode judgment based on Key input and vehicle status (PreCheck).

● Vehicle drive: VCU calculates the required torque based on input from the accelerator,
brake, speed, and present value of operating parameters.

● Energy recovery control: In a regenerative mode, based on brake input and SOC, VCU
estimates required negative torque and shares it between the mechanical brake and
electric brake with an estimated ratio, so maximum energy recovered and vehicle stop in
the minimum distance.

● Vehicle thermal management: of the battery pack, Traction Motor, and Motor
controller with the help of cooling source.

● Battery Charging control: To enable or disable the charging of the battery based on the
charger parameters and battery present parameters with the help of a relay that is placed
between the Charger connection and battery unit.

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 ● Safety monitoring under high-voltage: Continuously monitors the health of the battery
unit from BMS, motor, and the power inverter.

● Power-on/off control under high-voltage: VCU includes control of features like high
voltage interlock system (HVIL), emergency stop button.

○ The HVIL circuit travels through each High voltage system in such a way that if
something should go wrong in the High voltage circuit the HVIL circuit will
break effectively by closing contractors and isolating the battery unit from the rest
of the vehicle.

○ A disconnect switch for the centralized HVIL is also made accessible to service
personnel and first responders to bring the high-voltage system to a safe state.

● Vehicle fault diagnosis and response with the help of the On-Board Diagnosis (OBD)
controller.

● Vehicle status display and Accessory Control.

2.1. Precharge Control:

Mostly all power switching devices have a set
of input capacitors to buffer the power supply
voltage to the power switching electronics.
This ensures a stable input voltage for power
switching electronics. The purpose of
capacitors is that they resist any sharp change
in input voltage by providing or absorbing
current.

The precharge control needed at the starting of

the vehicle. Before starting the motor we need
to connect the battery to the power inverter,
between the battery and inverter there are two
relays placed to smoothly establish the
connection.

​Fig. 1: Precharge relay and main relay connection

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2.2. Torque control function:

The main need of the torque control block is to calculate the required torque from the motor and
required electric power to generate the amount of torque based on the accelerator and brake
pedal input, and parameters of the vehicle like present vehicle speed, etc.

Then after calculating the required torque from the motor, we also find the max possible torque
that can be supplied by the motor at present speed of the motor based on torque-speed
characteristic curves and max required power from the motor efficiency map. Both are calculated
based on the present battery parameters and speed of the vehicle and then compared with the
required calculated torque.

The total torque developed by the traction motor is distributed into four parts, to balance the
rolling resistance force, aerodynamic drag, grading resistance, and acceleration or deceleration
force.

Rolling resistance: F r = M v * g * f r * C os(a)

Aerodynamic drag: F w = 0.5 * * Af * C d * (V + V w)2

Grading resistance: F g = M v * g * S in(a)

M v * dV /dt = F t − (F r + F w + F g)

Where,
𝝆 = air density
A​f​ = Vehicle frontal area
C​D​ = aerodynamic drag coefficient
V​w​ = wind speed on the vehicle moving direction
F​t ​= traction force
M​v​ = Total Vehicle mass
V = Vehicle speed
g = ​gravitational acceleration

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Fig. 2: Torque Management Simulink Block Diagram

The torque control block is divided into two parts. One is the calculation of required torque
based on the given accelerator and brake pedal input and present speed of motor and vehicle. The
second part is a power management block that generates a command for the Motor Control Unit
based on calculated required torque, required power for motor to generate calculated torque, the
efficiency of the motor at present speed of the motor and calculated torque, present battery
parameters and present speed of the motor.

2.3. Safety Control functions:

The purpose of the safety control block is to make sure that all the units of the vehicle work on
the safe operating region. Before starting the motor it needs to pre-check some present operating
parameters. Like before starting the charging of the battery, it needs to check the present
parameters of the battery unit, battery charger, and the vehicle running status. The temperature of
the battery unit, traction motor, and motor controller needs to operate in the safe temperature
range.

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Here we have designed five safety control block, these are

● PreCheck before vehicle start

● BMS monitor
● MCU monitor
● HVIL control
● Battery charging control

The safety control block used to monitor all the subunits of the electric vehicle like Battery
Management System (BMS), Motor Control Unit (MCU), High-Voltage Circuit Breaker Control,
Battery Charger Control, and PreCheck Control block. These blocks generate the control signal
based on the drive input parameters, BMS, and MCU present parameters. Then apply these
control signals on the dynamic model of the electric vehicle.

The safety control block continuously samples the battery operating parameters, motor operating
parameters, battery charger parameters, driver control input parameters like start key, manual
high voltage circuit breaker, etc. Then each separate block processes these parameters and
generates the control signal based on some conditions.

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Fig. 3: Complete Safety Control Simulink model

The safety control blocks not always remain active all the time. Each block becomes active with
conditions like the precheck block, only functioning at the starting of the vehicle for a few
microseconds and then gets inactive for the entire drive. The BMS monitor, MCU monitor, and
HVIL control block are activated once the Key_in input is active and executed in the cycle with
a fixed time period. The battery charging control block becomes active when the external battery
charger gets connected, and the charger terminal voltage is higher than the set threshold.

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2.4. Drive Range Estimation:
The E-Rickshaw is a type of vehicle that runs purely on battery power. The battery pack for
Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) has lower energy density than fossil fuel, resulting in a shorter
drive range in a single charge than the conventional vehicle of the same weight. Moreover, BEVs
have lengthy battery charging time and limited charging infrastructure. Due to the limited driving
range of BEVs, we need to have a more accurate remaining drive range for the vehicle. So the
driver will know the approx remaining drive range, that without recharging the battery, how
much distance an electric vehicle can run, and the driver plans their future ride or recharge the
battery.
Here the method for estimation of remaining drive range we use the two different predefined
drive cycles named optimistic and pessimistic drive cycle.
The Optimistic drive cycle design considering less speed variation, no grading, and standard road
conditions. The Pessimistic drive cycle design considering high-speed variation, finite grading,
and worst road condition.

Here we have considered the effect of motor efficiency, inverter efficiency, and battery
efficiency during the calculation of required energy for the drive cycle. So, finally, we get the
two estimated drive ranges, from the optimistic estimation we get higher than the ​pessimistic
estimation, the difference between them will not be too large. So we will get a span of drive
range based on that user may plan the journey.

3. Motor Control Unit (MCU)

The Motor Control Unit (MCU) works as a mediator model between the Vehicle Control Unit
(VCU) and inverter; its basic work is to control the motor based on the torque signal from the
VCU and present motor parameters like rotor position and motor current feedback. It will
generate sine PWM for three-phase inverter MOSFETs.
Here we have used a method called the Field Oriented Control (FOC) to control the BLDC
Motor. The Field Oriented Control (FOC) can also be called as the Vector Control. The vector
control is a Variable Frequency Drive control method in that the stator currents of a 3-phase
BLDC motor identified as 2(two) orthogonal elements that can be identified as a vector. One
component explains the magnetic flux of the BLDC motor, and the other component defines the
torque. The system which controls the drive estimates the respective current component
references from the flux() and references torque given by the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU).
Normally proportional-integral (PI) controllers have been used to keep all the present measured
parameters at their reference or original values. The pulse-width modulation (PWM) of the
variable-frequency drive(VFD) explains the power MOSFETs switching mainly based on the

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stator reference voltages which are the outcome of the current PI controllers.

Functions of MCU,
● Calculate Motor speed and rotor position using Hall sensor inputs.
● Generate Control signal for Inverter MOSFETs based on the Motor torque command,
rotor position, and motor phase current using Field Oriented Control (FOC) method.
● It also monitors Inverter working and generates fault signals.

Field Oriented Control (FOC) Implementation

In FOC implementation the stator currents of a 3-phase BLDC motor are described as two
orthogonal elements that can be identified with a vector using the park transform.

Fig. 4: Schematic diagram of Field Oriented Control with inverter and motor interface

The electromagnetic(EM) torque is one of the very important output components that calculates
the motor’s mechanical dynamics , like rotor position and speed of the motor.
Generally, the rate of change of stored magnetic energy is not compulsorily to be zero. Based on
the above outcomes, the formula derivation of the electromagnetic(EM) torque is given as
follows. The dynamic formulas of the BLDC can be written as
V = [R] * i + [L] * p * i + [G] * W r * i

By pre multiplying above equation by the transpose of the current vector, the instantaneous
input power is

P i = it * V = it * [R] * i + it * [L] * p * i + it * [G] * W r * i

where
[R] : matrix contains of resistive components of the stator winding
[L] : matrix contains of the multiplying coefficients of the derivative operator p
[G] : matrix has components that are the multiplying coefficients of the electrical rotor speed,

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 Wr
The given term it * [R] * i represent the stator & the rotor resistive losses. The another term
it * [L] * p * i represent the rate of change of magnetic energy stored. Therefore, what remains
left of the power component should be equal to the air gap power that is given by the term
it * [G] * W r * i . From the basics, we come to know that the motor air gap power is to be
associated with the rotor speed. The air gap power of the motor is the multiplication of the
mechanical rotor speed & air gap or electromagnetic(EM) torque. Now, the air gap torque, Te, is
obtained from the terms involving the rotor speed, ωm, in mechanical rad/s, as given by,

W m * T e = P a = it * [G] * i * W r = it * [G] * i * W m * (p/2)

where P is given as the number of motor poles. Canceling speed on both the sides of the above
equation leads to an electromagnetic(EM) torque that is written as
T e = (p/2) * it * [G] * i

substituting [G] in the above equation, the electromagnetic torque is obtained as

T e = (3/2) * (p/2) [ λaf * I r qs + (Ld − Lq) * I r qs * I r ds]

The above factor 3/2 is introduced on the right-hand side of the above equation between the
3-phase and 2-phase BLDC power equivalence condition.
Here the q component of the motor current represents torque and d component represents the
magnetic flux of the motor. ​Let us assume that the stator flux current element is zero by keeping
the torque angle, zero, i.e., r ids = 0, we get the electromagnetic(EM) torque as

T e = (3/2) * (p/2) [ λaf * I r qs ]

The control system of the drive id is used to calculate the respective current element references
from the flux & torque references given via the drive's speed control.
I q Ref = (2/3) * (2/p) * [1/ λaf ]

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Fig. 5: The MCU Simulink model

The feedback current components can be written as,

Id = sin(𝛉)*Ia+ sin(𝛉-2*𝝿/3)*Ib + sin(𝛉+2*𝝿/3)*Ic

Iq = cos(𝛉)*Ia + cos(𝛉-2*𝝿/3)*Ib + cos(𝛉+2*𝝿/3)*Ic

To keep the measured stator current elements at their reference values, ​the proportional-integral
(PI) controllers​ are used,
V​q​ : I​q_Ref​ - I​q
V​d​ : I​d_Ref​ - I​d ,​ (​given​, I​d_Ref​ ​=0​, ​assuming motor speed always remain below the base
speed​)

Va_Ref = Vdc*[sin(𝛉)*Vq + cos(𝛉)*Vd]

Vb_Ref = Vdc*[sin(𝛉-2*𝝿/3)*Vq + cos(𝛉-2*𝝿/3)*Vd]
Vc_Ref = Vdc*[sin(𝛉+2*𝝿/3)*Vq + cos(𝛉+2*𝝿/3)*Vd]

The pulse-width modulation (PWM) of the variable-frequency drive(VFD) explains the Inverter
MOSFETs switching signal according to the stator reference voltages that are the outcome of the
PI current controllers.

4. Integration of VCU and MCU logic

The cost is also a big problem because the cost of the e-rickshaw has to be less, we have to make
it as price effective as possible to reduce the cost. We decided to design such that both MCU and
VCU logic resides on the same microcontroller, so we need to integrate both VCU and MCU
logic. Where VCU supervisory control of all the units of the vehicle like Motor Control Unit
(MCU), Battery Management System (BMS), Battery Charger, HV protection control, and it also

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provides a communication platform for all the control units through the CAN bus. The MCU
used to generate the required drive pulses signal for the inverter MOSFETs.

The VCU gets the BMS parameters through the CAN communication bus, which is established
between the VCU and BMS microcontroller.

Fig.6: Schematic diagram of complete e-rickshaw electrical and electronics components

The VCU gets the BMS parameters through the CAN communication bus, which is established
between the VCU and BMS microcontroller.

The complete Integrated VCU and MCU code will be flashed into a 16-bit, Ti F28379D
LaunchPad which also has the UART and CAN interface that we needed. To power this
microcontroller we need a 3-3.3V power supply for that we used ​Linear regulator
TPS70933DRVR which takes input voltage 5 - 30V.

5. Battery Management System (BMS)

A battery management system (BMS) is an electronic system which is used to manage or control
a rechargeable battery (cell or battery pack), like by protecting the battery unit from operating
outside its safe zone of operation, observing its operating state, finding secondary required data,
reporting the collected data to the supervisory control unit, controlling the environment
parameter, authenticating it and/or balancing its cell parameters or battery pack.

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The VCU and BMS communicated through CAN Bus, CAN connection established using
Simulink Vehicle Communication toolbox with .dbc file that was created using kvaser dbc
editor.
A BMS monitors the state of the battery as represented by various parameters, such as:
● Voltage: the complete battery pack voltage, individual cell voltage, maximum &
minimum cell voltage.
● Temperature: the median temperature, coolant input temperature, output coolant
temperature, or individual cells temperatures.
● State of Charge (SOC) or the term depth of discharge (DOD) used to indicate the level of
charge of the battery unit.
● State of health (SOH), a usually-defined parameter of the left capacity of the battery as
percentage(%) of the original capacity that decreases with the life of the battery.
● Max allowed charging current
● State of Safety (SOS)
● Current: current in or out of the batter

Fig. 7: The BMS logic Simulink Model

Here we have implemented four functions in the BMS these are,

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 ● Charging current limit calculation
● Battery SOC estimation
● Battery fault detection
● Battery Power loss estimation

6. Results and Analysis

The complete vehicle model tested in different software with different drive cycles. Here these
tests are

● Matlab Simulink (Model in Loop(MiL)) testing

● Qtronic Silver (Model in Loop(MiL)) testing
● Co-Simulation between Qtronic Silver and Raptor Simulink (Software in Loop (SiL))
testing
● Hardware in Loop(HiL) testing, using Bosch ECU and Qutronic Silver with CAN
Communication.

The result of all the control units of Integrated VCU and MCU with a dynamic model of electric
vehicle needs to be analyzed with a reference or expected signal. Here we used two different
modes one is using the reference drive cycle as the reference vehicle speed and another is manual
drive control using the direct accelerator and brake pedal input.

6.1 Model in Loop (MiL) testing in Matlab Simulink

All the modules of the vehicle like VCU, MCU, BMS, Vehicle plant model run in a Simulink file
and all the modules communicate through direct connection except VCU and BMS communicate
through CAN bus.

6.1.1. Required Torque estimation

The calculated required torque from the motor based on the accelerator-pedal, brake-pedal, and
vehicle speed compared with the required torque commanded by the VCU to the MCU.

The required torque commanded by the motor is limited by the present battery discharging,
charging current capacity, motor operating efficiency, required power to provide the calculated
torque, and other battery operating conditions.

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Fig. 8: Calculated required torque based on input control and the present vehicle parameters plot for the given drive
cycle

The difference between the Calculated required torque and actual Motor torque, seen to be
significant because of the amount of power required to generate calculated required torque from
the motor also depends upon the present battery operating parameters that controlled by the
VCU’s power management block is not able to supply due to some battery limitations.

6.2. MCU Control Output

The MCU gets the torque control command from VCU and generates the reference voltage
signal to get the PWM signal from the PWM Generator for the power inverter to drive the
traction BLDC motor.

Fig. 9: The three-phase reference voltage for the PWM generator Simulink model

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6.3. Battery discharging and charging
At the running mode of the vehicle, the battery charges through regenerative braking. In the
regenerative mode, based on brake input and SOC; VCU estimate required negative torque and
shares it between the mechanical brake and Electric brake with an estimated ratio, so maximum
energy recovered and vehicle stop in the minimum distance.

Fig. 10: Battery SOC, Battery current and Battery output or input power plot for the used drive cycle

Here we can see that during regenerative braking the part of breaking energy comes back to the
battery and the battery SOC decreases during positive battery output current and increases during
negative battery output current, but the increase in SOC is not clearly shown in the plot because
it’s too small.

6.4. Drive Range Estimation

The remaining drive range for electric vehicles based on the past drive electric energy
consumption and present stored electric energy in the battery. Here we also compare the
expected remaining drive range and the actual remaining drive range and find the error between
them.

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Fig. 11: Estimated remaining drive range with battery SOC and vehicle speed plot

6.2 Software in Loop (SiL) testing (Co-Simulation between Qtronic

Silver and Raptor Simulink)
In Co-Simulation the VCU and MCU logic block placed in the foreground module and the .dll
files of complete Vehicle plant model (including battery, power Inverter, motor, and connecting
relays) and BMS logic model placed in the Qtronic Silver project file.

Here the test was done using two different methods, using reference speed drive cycle and taking
control input (KeyIn, accelerator, brake, reverse, etc ) directly from the user.

6.2.1 Required Torque estimation and vehicle speed tracking

For the reference speed method, the driver model generates the accelerator and brake command
signal based on the reference vehicle speed and the present vehicle speed, and in the manual
control mode the all the control signals directly received from the Qtronic Silver dashboard
inputs.

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Fig. 12: Reference and actual vehicle speed and Torque Command to the motor and actual torque generated by the
motor for the given reference drive

Here in reference speed drive mode, speed plot the green plot represents the vehicle reference
speed and orange plot represents the actual vehicle speed, and in the torque plot the violet plot
represents the Motor torque command calculated by VCU and the blue plot represents the Actual
torque supplied by the motor. From the above plot we can say that the actual vehicle speed is
able to track the reference vehicle speed with the error that is small with respect to the reference
or actual vehicle speed. Similarly for the manual drive mode the required reference torque
command calculated based on the accelerator, brake, reverse drive, and the present vehicle speed
and the maximum required reference torque limited by a peak threshold (here it is 6 Nm).

6.2.2. MCU Control Output

The MCU first gets the reference torque command signal from the VCU and based on reference
torque command, inverter dc voltage, rotor position and, then generates the power inverter drive
signal.

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Fig. 13: Reference torque control, power inverter line voltage and pulse power inverter control pulse signal plot for
the given reference drive cycle

Here the reference torque command is limited by the timer that limits the torque command if the
signal remains above the threshold for a long time or if the motor or battery temperature increase
above the threshold, it also limits the rate of change of motor torque command.

6.2.3. Battery discharging and charging

In the running mode the battery charges during regenerative braking and discharge during the
normal drive, it is directly reflected through Battery SOC and power output by the battery.

Here the battery load current not the same as we expected or that we get in Matlab Simulink SiL
testing, because the .dll file that we generated for Qtronic Silver are generated in Matlab 2018a
and the Integrated VCU and MCU model running in Matlab 2019a and motor model that we
used in SiL testing (in Matlab 2019a) is not available for the same BLDC motor model, so we
used different BLDC motor model.

Here we used two different Matlab models because the .dll file for the Qtronic Silver is can only
be generated in the 2018a Matlab version and for the Co-Simulation the Raptor Matlab toolbox
not able to run in 2018a Matlab version so, we used Matlab 2019a version.

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Fig. 14: Reference vehicle speed and actual vehicle speed, Battery load current and battery SOC plot for the given
Reference drive cycle

Here the initial SOC is taken as 80% and is also the Maximum SOC for healthy Li-ion Battery
and the minimum SOC is 20%.

6.2.4. Drive Range Estimation

The remaining drive range for the e-rickshaw is estimated based on the past drive electric energy
consumption and present stored electric energy in the battery. For the testing, we used a 48V,
28Ah Li-ion battery model just to see the significant change in the battery SOC and Estimated
drive range.

Fig.15: The vehicle speed, Battery Load current and Estimated drive Range plot for the given reference drive cycle

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7. Conclusion
The implementation and performance of a complete Integrated VCU and MCU logic, integrated
with a dynamic model of the e-rickshaw has been demonstrated. The whole control block
including torque control, power management, vehicle safety control, and the drive range
estimation blocks have been tested for the given drive cycle, and manual control drive. All the
VCU and MCU units are tested and analyzed in Model in Loop (MiL) testing (In Matlab
Simulink), Qtronic Silver Software (MiL, generally used by automotive engineers to integrate
and test control software virtually) testing and Software in Loop (Qtronic Silver and Raptor
Simulink Co-Simulation) testing. Almost all the results obtained are reliable and meet the
expectation of the vehicle.
Further, it is targeted to first test Hardware in Loop (HiL) with Bosch GCM-1793-196-1505
ECU to test all the functionality of the control logic and to know about the required memory and
other specifications that have to in the microcontroller for the final design.
Subsequently C-code will be generated from the simulated Integrated VCU and MCU logic
model, and then it will be flashed into the 16-bit Dual-core Ti F28379D LaunchPad for testing
with the actual vehicle model that consists of all the control input source, battery, BLDC motor,
Power Inverter, connectors and relays, and other required hardware devices. Then we will
analyze the whole system and try to make it simple, small, and cost-efficient, so it will be
suitable for e-rickshaw.

8. References:
[1] Thomas D. Gillespie, “Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics,” Society of Automotive
Engineers, jnc, 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001

[2] Mehrdad Ehsani, Yimin Gao, Sebastien E. Gay, Ali Emadi, “Modern Electric, Hybrid
Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles,” CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W., ISBN 0-8493-3154-4.

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