MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE: ANALYSIS AND SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE
Paulo Roberto Ubaldo Guazzelli1; Marcelo Suetake2; Sergio Henrique Evangelista2; Osmar Ogashawara2
1 Universidade de São Paulo; 2 Universidade Federal de São Carlos
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-1953
Resumo
Electric vehicles comprise an alternative solution for transportation in urban centers, with the advantages in reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality of cities. This fact challenges the engineering design when it must be obtained trade off solutions and substitution of ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles of a certain design category. To explore these challenges, it was made a preliminary design process of a 3 hp powertrain of 4 x 555W dc motors vehicle to obtain guidelines to cope with or surpass the advantages of an ICE drift buggy vehicle. Changings were considered on the powertrain system and on the material structure, from steel alloy in the ICE vehicle to aluminum alloy in the electrical one. The Simulink software (MathWorks) was used for simulation of general behavior of vehicular dynamics of both vehicle types. The analyses showed the importance of considering some design aspects as overall weight reduction, a four-speed transmission to improve performance for electrical vehicles and the problem of batteries specification and quantity. The results showed similar simulated performances for both vehicle types in terms of maximum speed and drive distance range, while the drawbacks were set on the acceleration time to reach the maximum speed.
Palavras-chave: electric vehicle; mechanical performance; modelling; vehicular dynamics