Abstracts

A Concurrent and Comprehensive Product Development methodology for Design of futuristic Hybrid Electric / Fuel Cell Vehicle technology from Indian Perspective

Sushil S. Ramdasi and N.V. Marathe, Automotive Research Association of India

Sustainable mobility leading towards cleaner environment while addressing depletion of fossil fuel issue is imposing a revolutionary change in shifting from conventional power train technology to the mix of many engineering disciplines under one roof. This need along with future stringent norms has already started trend towards extreme downsizing and down speeding of I.C. Engines in the range of 65-80 kW/lit resulting in reduction of CO2 up to 120 g/km. In order to go beyond further than present fuel economy and CO2 emission landmarks achieved, one of the most promising technology emerging out is Hybrid Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicles
A detail survey is carried out on global platform for understanding futuristic trends and technology that is economically viable in the context of Indian Perspective. By keeping this aspect in mind various mobility segments are considered to initiate this technology on pilot platform basis. Two promising options are surfaced out which can become the probable candidates to get implemented with HEV and FCV technology. In the first option, passenger car segment is targeted where engines are mostly operating in sweet spot of fuel economy while negotiating highway based driving cycles within a certain speed band. However typical Indian usage pattern within city driving conditions forces engine to operate in part load conditions. These conditions are mainly responsible for operations of engine in an inefficient BSFC zones which ultimately penalizes fuel economy up to great extent and leads to increase in emissions. On similar lines HCV segment is having wide penetration in the logistics and transportation (Bus) market. This segment is highly price sensitive on fuel economy terms. Electrification will have large influence on overall economics of this sector, provided initial costs are kept under margin.
Theses fact finding resulted in proposing two type of HEV + FCV architectures for both the segments viz. Mild / Full Parallel configurations for Passenger Car HEV and Series HEV or EV powered with Fuel Cell as primary power plant in case of Bus application. In this presentation a systematic approach of Design and Development of HEV for passenger car and HEWV / FCV for Bus application is presented. Apart from depicting overall development process, DFMA / DFMEA and Safety failure modes are discussed in totality. Development of HEV /FCV is an ultimate example of blend of various engineering disciplines under one roof mainly mechanical, electrical / electronic and chemical. Thorough understanding of integration of these technologies is a prerequisite to begin the process. Success of real implementation of these technologies will depend greatly on how the entire product development cycle is handled in more concurrent way than the conventional sequential way.

About the Author(s)
S.S.Ramdasi leads the Engine Design Centre in power train engineering department. He closely interacts with customer to understand technical requirement to meet engineering targets and final deliverables. His main role lies in design of complete engine architecture, layouting of cylinder head, engine block, power and valve train systems in an optimum way, design analysis of engine system and components with the help of classical and advance simulation tools, Integration of entire engine design process with simulation, optimisation and vendor development process to finalise design specifications, design reviews on periodic basis within team mates, customers and vendors. He is also responsible to build technical competency of team mates in various areas and guide them to achieve the same. He is responsible for final design performance and validation with required team integration, co-ordination with other group verticals, vendors and customer.
Trying to build the methodology in design centre where use of advanced classical and mathematical procedures in the design stage of projects will be used to understand basic engineering know how before use of available simulation algorithms. S.S.Ramdasi has worked extensively in building mathematical models for understanding structural dynamics and NVH aspects of valve train, power train and engine block systems. He specialises in the area of Torsional vibrations of multi rotor systems, valve train dynamics, engine balancing, bore deformation analysis and design of valve train ,power train, cylinder head, engine block system & components. Contributed in refining procedure for Bore Deformation Analysis and NVH predictions of engine block structure with the help of CAE. At present building competency in the area of Hybrid Electric & Fuel Cell Vehicle Development and Transfer Path Analysis of systems.

Major projects where engine is designed from concept till prototype development: (Project Leader)

Part of team who developed measurement procedure for measuring formaldehyde emissions from alcohol fuelled S.I. engines using Gas Chromatography.
Hybrid Vehicle Development : Use of vehicle performance simulation algorithm to finalise optimum control strategies for Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Implementation of Direct Torque / Field Orientation Control strategies for optimum electrification, Development of an architecture for parallel hybrid vehicle architecture driven by down sized diesel engine as ICE