Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2020, Mechanical Engineering

The Ohio State EcoCAR team is a student project team at The Ohio State University providing real-world engineering experience and learning opportunities to engineering students. The EcoCAR Mobility Challenge is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and The Mathworks and challenges twelve universities across the United States and Canada to redesign and reengineer a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer into a hybrid-electric vehicle. The goal of the competition is for students to develop and implement technologies to reduce the vehicle's environmental impact while maintaining performance and to enhance the vehicle with connected and automated technologies for a future in the mobility-as-a-service market. The transition from conventional to hybrid vehicle requires the addition of several hybrid powertrain components, including electric motors, power inverters, and a high voltage battery. These new components have thermal cooling requirements and require the integration of a dedicated thermal management system to prevent components from overheating and to maintain optimal operating temperature. This work models the thermal systems of the internal combustion engine and hybrid powertrain components to provide estimates for component temperatures during steady-state operation and predetermined drive cycles. The GT-Suite modeling software package from Gamma Technologies was chosen to model the two thermal systems because of its extensive library of pre-validated automotive grade component models. This library allowed component models to be built quickly and without extensive data collection. The thermal system models were integrated with a full-vehicle model of the OSU EcoCAR team's vehicle in Simulink. This work seeks to provide a reasonable approximation of the integrated thermal systems in the OSU EcoCAR vehicle, with provisions to update and calibrate the model in the future. The model provides both steady-state and drive cycle feedb (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Shawn Midlam-Mohler (Advisor); Giorgio Rizzoni (Committee Member) Subjects: Engineering; Mechanical Engineering