Date of Award

12-2016

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

Patrick N. Currier, Ph.D.

First Committee Member

Marc Compere, Ph.D.

Second Committee Member

Eric J. Coyle, Ph.D.

Abstract

Hybrid vehicles are becoming the future of automobiles leading into the all-electric generation of vehicles. Electric vehicles come with a great increase in torque at lower RPM resulting in the issue of transferring this torque to the ground effectively. In this thesis, a method is presented for limiting wheel slip and targeting the ideal slip ratio for dry asphalt and low friction surfaces at every given time step. A launch control system is developed to further reduce wheel slip on initial acceleration from standstill furthering acceleration rates to sixty miles per hour. A MATLAB Simulink model was built of the powertrain as well as a six degree of freedom vehicle model that has been validated with real testing data from the car. This model was utilized to provide a reliable platform for optimizing control strategies without having to have access to the physical vehicle, thus reducing physical testing. A nine percent increase has been achieved by utilizing traction control and launch control for initial vehicle movement to sixty miles per hour.

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