Dynamic-modeling-and-analysis-for-improving-energy-efficient-prototype-performance
Dynamic-modeling-and-analysis-for-improving-energy-efficient-prototype-performance
ISSN 2229-5518
Abstract— Contemporary engineering seeks the optimization of processes, new technologies, and the saving of resources, aiming at
environmental sustainability. In the field of automotive engineering, universities around the world are working on research and extension
projects so that new ideas can emerge in the area. This is the case of the Shell Eco-marathon competition, which aims to design ultra-
efficient automotive prototypes. Thus, this work sought to carry out the dynamic modeling and analysis of the use of a suspension system in
an ultra-efficient automotive prototype, aiming at the use of automotive technologies for the consequent increase in its energy efficiency. The
research was consolidated referencing two virtual models: the original (without a suspension system) and the proposed one (with a
suspension system). With numerical simulations, it was possible to carry out vehicle dynamic analysis for both models, such as rollover and
energy efficiency. With suspension system parameters, the most significant results were obtained in the rollover analysis, which indicated a
reduction of more than 50% in the force acting on the tire in some critical situations. In the case of the energy efficiency, it was evaluated an
energy saving of almost 40% in brake situations compared with original configuration, proving the advantage of the use of this mechanism
in ultra-efficient prototypes.
Index Terms— Automotive, Design, Shell Eco-marathon, Suspension, Ultra-energy-efficient cars, Vehicle rollover, Vibration
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1 INTRODUCTION
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nergy efficiency is a topic widely addressed in the indus- achieve the greatest distance per gallon of fuel. The first official
try, as it seeks maximum performance using the least competition took place in France, in 1985, and was attended by
amount of energy possible. The automotive sector follows thousands of students and scientists from more than 20 Euro-
the same path, as it is based on innovative solutions, such as the pean countries. Today, it takes place annually on 4 different
development of electric and hybrid vehicles (electric and inter- continents and has the presence of more than 100 teams per
nal combustion engines acting simultaneously), the use of light stage [7]. There are two classes of vehicles within the Shell Eco-
materials and the improvement of aerodynamics, for example marathon: prototype and urban concept, which are divided into
described by [1] and [2]. Universities and research institutes three categories: electric battery [8], hydrogen fuel cell [9] and
also work on research projects so that new developments can internal combustion engine (gasoline, diesel or ethanol).
emerge in the automobile world [3]. Among the various exam-
ples, it is possible to mention the energy efficiency prototypes, Energy-efficient prototypes, or also known as ultra-efficient
which use clean energy technologies and have an extremely prototypes, Fig 1, are automotive vehicles designed to achieve
low consumption for its operation. As one of the main projects, the maximum possible energy efficiency. That is, travel long
we can mention the energy efficiency teams, which aim to distances while consuming less fuel [10]. To achieve such re-
model and develop a virtual design [4], [5], and manufacture sults, some innovations must be applied to prototypes, a feature
automotive prototypes [6] that travel the maximum distance that makes them different when compared to commercial urban
while consuming the least amount of fuel possible. One of the vehicles. As main innovations, it is the use of 3 wheels (two
most known competition is Shell Eco-marathon (SEM). In the front and one rear) instead of 4, extremely aerodynamic geom-
case of SEM, the prototypes must travel a fixed distance by con- etry almost without turbulences as described by [11], availabil-
suming the least amount of energy. ity for only one passenger (Fig 2) and the presence of light ma-
terials in its structural composition [12]. Sawulski and
This is a worldwide energy efficiency competition spon- Ławrynczuk [13] and Omar et al. [14] worked in optimized con-
sored by Shell, in which the participants are students from trol strategy related to powertrain low fuel consumption as an
schools and universities in different countries around the automated vehicle engine and motor control, respectively, to
world. The teams aim to develop automotive vehicles that achieve an improved performance of this kind of vehicles.
achieve the highest possible fuel efficiency [7]. The idea came
up in 1939 at Shell's research laboratory, in the United States, In Shell Eco-marathon competitions, most of the teams choose
when scientists established a friendly bet to find out who could for projects that contain three wheels. Even so, there are teams
that prefer to use four wheels in their vehicles [15]. Such config-
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uration, however, may increase the weight and the rolling re-
Renan L Knabben, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Rua Dona
Francisca, 8300, 89219-600, Joinville/SC, Brazil, sistance since there will be an extra tire in contact with the
[email protected] ground. According to [16], the configuration with three wheels is
Sergio J Idehara, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Rua Dona the most used for providing a series of advantages. As main, al-
Francisca, 8300, 89219-600, Joinville/SC, Brazil, [email protected] ready cited aerodynamics, the front and side visibility of the pi-
Helton S Gaspar, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Rua Dona
Francisca, 8300, 89219-600, Joinville/SC, Brazil, [email protected] lot, stability and resistance to overturning. However, despite be-
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 12, Issue 1, January-2021 116
ISSN 2229-5518
ing very competent, their embedded technology is relatively sim- for a large number of conditions, such as loaded/ unloaded ve-
ple, a condition that may compromise the handling, comfort and hicle, acceleration/ braking, straight line/ curves and regular/
safety of its users [17]. The use of a light structure, like in the chas- irregular streets. Another primary function of the suspension
sis design, may decrease its stiffness and strength [18]. Kral et al. system, according to [25], is its direct contribution to the perfor-
[19], for instance, discuss that a higher structure stiffness is mance of the vehicle on the road. In curve, relieving the efforts
needed to achieve a correct geometry of the steering system from the lateral dynamics and allowing its execution at higher
when cornering, which can increase the overall weight. Some so- speeds, as well as in a straight line, generating greater stability
lutions are studied to improve the vehicle safety, as the approach and control of the car in the face of efforts caused by accelerations
made in [20] and [21]. The authors developed an Advanced and more intense braking (longitudinal dynamics).
Driver Assistance Systems to improve on driver and vehicle
safety predicting possible collision situations. These mechanisms In the case of energy efficiency prototypes, the focus on the
may avoid more serious injuries on the driver as found by [22]. suspension system is not limited to relieving the excitations aris-
ing from the irregularities of the road, but rather maximizing its
performance in terms of handling, especially in cornering situa-
tions, promoting more stability and avoiding rollover to the ve-
hicle, [26], where the driver can work at higher speeds in such
conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a set of values of
stiffness and damping according to the vehicle dynamics, seek-
ing a gain in efficiency and better control of the prototype by the
pilot. The Fig 3 show a sequence of snapshots taken of an accident
with the EFICEM team prototype during SEM 2019. They exem-
plify the risk of suspension system absence.
Fig. 1. Frontal view of the ultra-efficient prototype design (Federal
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University of Santa Catarina, Eficem).
Fig. 2. One-person ultra-efficient prototype (Federal University of Thus, in this work a theoretical studies and discussions of the
Santa Catarina, Eficem). suspension allocation in the prototype is described, regards to
less reduction of vehicle velocity in cornering maneuvers, based
on the velocity limit to avoid the rollover [27], and improve the
Then, seeking a development of a very light ultra-efficient general vehicle energy efficiency.
prototypes, most teams choose to design vehicles that are too
simple, avoiding the use of common components found in com-
mercial cars. However, given that the main objective of the pro-
ject is to achieve the maximum energy efficiency, the perfor- 2 MATERIAL AND METHODS
mance of the vehicle should be analyzed regardless of its weight. The theoretical considerations and bases used to develop the
Thus, the insertion of certain mechanical components in the pro- mathematical model will be detailed. In order to evaluate the
totype, such as a suspension system, can contribute significantly energy efficiency provided by the suspension system, numeri-
to its final efficiency despite the weight increasing. Carlsen and cal simulations of the vehicle dynamics are performed.
Oma [23] built a vehicle prototype for Shell Eco-Marathon using
suspension system that may improve the control of camber and 2.1 Mathematical modeling
caster angles related to the vehicle dynamics. The study of the movement of a vehicle initiates with its dy-
namic modeling, which involves its degrees of freedom (DOF)
The suspension is one of the main sets of an automotive vehi-
and the determination of its coordinate system. The dynamic
cle, it has the role of ensuring tire/ track contact, providing com- equilibrium equations that govern the system's response can be
fort to users and also safety in the curve driving at higher speeds, expressed in the matrix form, according to following equation:
thus ensuring more stability. As defined by [24], the suspension
is responsible for meeting the driveability and comfort required
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The equation of the model is
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tion, with a given speed 𝑉 and radius 𝑅. In these circumstances the curve) is compared with the product of the displacement of
there is a force (𝐹𝑐𝑝 ) that keeps the vehicle on its path: the unsprung mass (𝑧𝑚1 or 𝑧𝑚2 ) by the tire stiffness (𝑘𝑡 ). If the
magnitude of the terms 𝑧𝑚1 . 𝑘𝑡 or 𝑧𝑚2 . 𝑘𝑡 exceeds the normal
𝑉2 force (𝑁1 or 𝑁2 ), respectively, it is assumed that the tire starts to
𝐹𝑐𝑝 = 𝑚 . (14)
𝑅 lose contact with the track, where it is a rollover possible situa-
tion.
In the non-inertial frame of reference fixed on the vehicle,
a fictitious force acts over its CG towards the centrifugal direc- 2.4 Numerical simulation setup
tion, with the same magnitude of the centripetal force. As con- The simulations, in Matlab environment, are performed by us-
sequence of the resulting force, a positive resultant moment is ing the real conditions of the Shell Eco-marathon Americas cir-
generated (𝑀𝑟 ), which tends to make the prototype overturn. It cuit (Sonnoma Raceway, adapted), Fig. 6. The vehicle velocity
is calculated by multiplying the resulting force by the distance will be considered constant in the track. The virtual model of an
between the center of gravity and the floor, ℎ𝑐𝑔 , [28]. ultra-efficient automotive prototype, Fig 8, was based to obtain
the parameters of the vehicle, where the data is presented in the
𝑉2 Table 1.
𝑀𝑟 = 𝑚 . . ℎ𝑐𝑔 (15)
𝑅
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TABLE 1 At instant t = 23s, the left wheel loses its normal force at a
PARAMETERS OF AN ULTRA-EFFICIENT VIRTUAL MODEL PROTO- value of 933N (Fig 9), while the normal for the static condition
TYPE. is 235N (red line). This is equivalent to a value close to four
times the allowed limit for the prototype to be able to execute
the curve without losing the contact of the tire with the ground.
The situation was even more worrying in the analyzes of the
prototype's right wheel (Fig 10), as in t = 111s, when the wheel
loses its normal force to a maximum value of 1,024N.
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Fig 10. Right Wheel Rollover Analysis of the 3 Degrees of Free-
dom Model.
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Once the variation of the kinetic energy in each of the curves
was calculated for both models, the sum of all values is deter-
Fig 12. Right Wheel Rollover Analysis of the 5 Degrees of Free- mined. Thus, the total energy dissipated in one circuit is ob-
dom Model. tained in Table 3. With the results, it is noted that the 5 DOF
model presents an energy saving of almost 40% referring to the
It is important to emphasize that the main gain of the pro- braking at the entrance of each of the curves shown in Fig 13,
totype with the inclusion of a front suspension system consists when compared to the 3 DOF model. Thus, it is fair to affirm
in the decrease of the magnitude of the force applied on the tire, that the addition of a front suspension system in ultra-efficient
which was reduced by more than 50% in the critical sections of automotive prototypes directly contributes to its energy effi-
the track when compared to the previous model. This allows ciency in curves.
the prototype to drive the curves faster, without the need for
drastic braking, which implies a lower speed resumption at the TABLE 2
PARAMETERS OF 3 AND 5 DOF MODELS.
exit of the curve and, consequently, makes the vehicle more ef-
ficient.
𝑀𝑡 . (𝑉𝑟 ² − 𝑉𝑛 ²)
𝐸𝑘 = (19)
2
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TABLE 3
DISSIPATED KINETIC ENERGY OF 3 AND 5 DOF MODELS.
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