FORMULA STUDENT ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Name- Kedar Sawant

E&TC, TCET
Mobile-7738613458
[email protected]

Abstract —I am a part of Mavericks Racing team and

II. PARTS UNDER ELECTRIC
we are making an electric car for partake in 6th
Formula Imperial. Formula Imperial is a national event  Battery
where students from various college showcase their IC,  BMS
hybrid or electric car. There are various static events  IMD
and dynamic events such as acceleration, endurance,
 Shutdown system
race, autonomous. We endeavored to produce a semi-
autonomous driving four wheeled car which is made by  Motor
only few teams in India.  Motor controller
We are going to discuss various parts of electric
car and also specify the parameters of the parts
Keywords —Electric car, battery, battery management used in the vehicle.
system, Lithium Ion battery, Brushless DC motor, IMD,
Motor Controller A. Battery
I. PARTS OF ELECTRIC CAR You give life to what you give energy to. Here, life is
given to our electric vehicle by our battery which
 chassis
gives it the energy. The battery requirement stated in
 suspension the FSAE rule book says the battery chemistry should
 breaking not be any acid format and can be any lithium
 steering chemistry. So we choose lithium ion chemistry
 Differential because high energy density means greater power in a
 electric smaller package. The lithium Ion provides power
 autonomous driving 160% greater than NiMH, 220% greater than NiCad.
Lithium Ion has higher voltage so a stronger current is
provide which allows it to power stronger devices. As
compared to other battery chemistries it has longer
life shell which is only 5% discharge loss per month.
The battery of electric vehicle is divided into two
parts.
 GLVS (Grounded low Voltage System)
 TS (Tractive System)
1) TS
The TS of the vehicle is defined as every part that is
electrically connected to the motor and TS Battery.
The TS voltage is up to 600VDC.
2) GLVS
Diagram I. Chassis of the Formula Electric Vehicle The GLVS is the part which deals with low electric
such as lights, shutdown system and IMD. GLVS is
The Chassis, suspension, breaking and steering were also used as controlling voltage of the higher voltaged
designed by the mechanical department with high TS.
precision and careful calculations. We will be 3) Selection of parameters of Battery pack
focusing on only the electric and autonomous parts, From past races of our team the data of acceleration,
but the above mentioned parts cannot be ignored. top speed, max torque and energy at every straight
and turns of the track were used. This data then was
simulated with the specifications of our motor used over a certain level and as soon as it reaches the
which was used to calculate the specifications of threshold it activates the latch and stop the charging
battery and also the battery capacity. automatically. During very high intensity rounds the
motor is ran at a very high speed than dropped to low
TABLE I CONFIGURATION OF BATTERY PACK speed and this keeps on happening, so at such times
Voltage 72V the battery voltage varies from time to time and this
Current 200Amps causes the individual cells of battery to have different
Total Capacity 2.5kWh
voltage values. The BMS manages this problem by
balancing the batteries by giving voltage to the
4) How to calculate the number of cells required
batteries of low voltage from batteries of high voltage.
Let us assume that the nominal voltage of a cell is 2v.
This process is called cell balancing. The BMS also
So when the batteries are connected in series the
initializes the shutdown latch when the battery falls
voltage increases. Example when two batteries of 2v
under the lower threshold.
are connected in series we get 4v.
C. IMD (Insulation Measuring Device)
IMD is a safety device which measures the overall
insulation of the car. The IMD measures the insulation
between the GLVS and TS and is connected to the
So the nominal voltage of Lithium Ion battery is 3.7v,
chassis. All the grounds of the circuit is connected to
so we have connected 20 batteries in parallel.
chassis via the IMD. When any insulation of wire is
Now when these batteries are connected in parallel the
damaged it causes short and this is detected by the
current of the batteries are increased. So if we assume
IMD. The IMD latch will activate which will in turn
current of a single cell to be I amps and two cells are
shutdown the GLVS.
taken in parallel we get 2I.
D. Shutdown system
The shutdown system is a circuit which consists of
series of kill switch, master switch, latching Circuit
and relays. The working of shutdown circuit should be
Using these principles upon deciding the voltage, such that with the help of GLVS the tractive system
current and capacity of battery pack we were able to should shutdown causing the car to cut the electrical
calculate the no of cells in our battery pack. Because power and stop. Failure of any part of the vehicle can
of this we were also able to calculate the weight of the cause great damage to other parts as well as the
battery pack which helped us in more accurate vehicle. In worst cases can harm the driver. The
simulations. shutdown circuit is crucial during such failure and can
reduce any further damage. The shutdown circuit
TABLE II. CELL CONFIGURATION OF BATTERY PACK works in combination of many parts which is made in
Nominal voltage of a single 3.7v compliance with the terms of the rule book.
cell
Nominal current of a single 1200mah
cell
No of cells in parallel 20
No of cells in series 17
Total no of cells 20x17=340 cells

B. BMS (Battery Management System)

The battery should be maintained carefully. It should
not be charged over a certain level. It should not be
drained below a certain level, it is called the lower
threshold, and also the battery should not be used
above a certain level for continuous time.
The BMS is essential for a battery. It protects the
battery from all the above problems. When the battery
is being charged the BMS doesn’t allow it to charge
E. Motor
The motor is the part which gives the car final
momentum. It is one of the most essential part of car
and was chosen very carefully. From the data of past
races, we calculated torque and power of the motor.
We choose Brushless DC motor because of high
torque requirement and nominal efficiency of 80%.
Since our vehicle is rear wheel drive and the motor is
positioned at the rear, the motor in our electric car is
directly connected to the wheels via a differential.
During turn the speed of both the wheels should be
managed to avoid skidding, this is done by the DIAGRAM II. CONNECTION OF MOTOR AND MOTOR CONTROLLER
differential. Differential is a mechanical part and is
present in all the vehicles. TABLE IV. SPECIFICATION OF THE MOTOR CONTROLLER

TABLE III. SPECIFICATIONS OF THE MOTOR Manufacturer GOLDEN MOTOR

Model Number VEC500
Manufacturer GOLDEN MOTOR
Maximum Input voltage: 96V
Model Number HPM-10KW
Nominal Input Current: 150A
Motor Type (PM, Induction,
HIGH POWER BLDC
DC Brush…) Output voltage (Vac l-l or Vdc) 72V
Nominal motor voltage (Vrms
72V DC
l-l or Vdc)
G. Charger
Nominal / Peak motor current As important is it to run the vehicle at full capacity it
Nom:160A Peak:200A
(A or A/phase)
is important to charge it properly as well. Selecting a
Nominal / Peak motor power Nom:10000W Peak: 20000W
charger which charges the battery safely is necessary.
Chargers which charge the battery quickly have
F. Motor Controller tendency to heat up the battery and risk the life of
The Motor Controller is the part which controls the battery and damage it. Similarly charger with high
motor. It handles the acceleration, manages the RPM charging time is not suitable for racing events. So we
and provides suitable voltage to the coils. selected a charger which fits between the above
The Brushless DC motor has three poles which mentioned criteria.
require supply which is alternating and phase shifted The charging time is given by T = Ah / A
equally. This alternating and phase shifted supply is Where,
provided to the motor by the motor controller. Now to T = Time hrs.
increase the speed of motor the motor controller Ah = Ampere Hour rating of battery
simply increases the amplitude of the supply keeping A = Current in Amperes
the phase shift same. The motor controller also has the TABLE V BATTERY CHARGING DATA
job to monitor the temperature of the motor and
protect the motor from burning of coils. The motor Charger Manufacturer TENGSHUN
controller is connected to the motor is mentioned in Model Number TS-3620
the circuit below.
Maximum Charging Power: 900W

The following diagram is present in the information GLV/TS isolation location:

(i.e. cell boards, main unit, etc.)
document of the motor and motor controller selected.
Certification? ☒Yes ☐No
Maximum Charging Voltage: 72V
Maximum Charging Current: 45A
Input Voltage: 100-240
Input Current: 6A
 III. WORKING there is a kill switch located at the dashboard. When
The Electric Vehicle works in two modes, self-driven the brake fails there is also a Brake over travel Switch
semi- autonomous and by a driver. which acts as a kill switch. Additionally, there are two
In the driver mode the car is ran at its full potential kill switches located on the sides of the car which can
which can be controlled by the driver as possible. The be easily accessible by the team members in case of
vehicle is started with the help of a key, unlike a IC emergency. There is also a High Voltage Disconnect
engine car there are no vibrations present and the which can be used to disconnect the battery and stop
ignition is signified with the help of a custom made the system. The high voltage Disconnect is made in
buzzer. On the drivers dashboard there are telemetries such a way that it can be disconnected in 10 seconds
which show battery status, speed, torque, IMD status, without the use of tools by anyone.
failure light, and temperature light. There is only
brake and accelerator paddle in the vehicle. When the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
brake paddle is pressed, the throttle is killed. This is
done by the motor controller. Firstly I would like to thank my seniors who took the
On ignition the battery energizes the pre charge relay. efforts of initiating this project. They have maintained
The pre charge relay ensures that the immediate great discipline in the team and have been managing
circuit is pre charged to at least 95% of voltage of the properly.
TS battery. After the circuit is pre charged, the AIR is To the Electronics and telecom as well as Electronics
activated and gives voltage to the motor controller. students who are my fellow team members, who
The presence of AIR ensures that on connecting the have been researching with me all this time a taking
battery the motor controller does not receive the very great efforts in this project they have been with me
high discharge from the battery which is usually even when the times were tough.
present. When the car is shutdown, a discharge relay I would like to also our mentor Ms. Archana
is activated. It performs the action of draining the Deshpande who has helped us in understating few
remaining current present in the motor controller. difficult circuits and guided us in the project and
aided us to procure parts and components.
IV. SAFETY
Safety is of utmost importance in an electric car REFERENCES
because of presence of a very powerful motor along
with a high voltage battery. There are proper and [1]. Electric and hybrid fundamentals- Iqbal Husain
thorough inspections done before the event of the car, [2]. Design and development of the electrical systems
and failing to meet these requirements could lead to in an electric formula SAE race car-Matt Barham.
disqualification. While driving, in case of emergency [3].Paper presented by University of Wisconsin,
Madison.