Innovative Electronic Systems for Vehicular and Nautical Applications

1. Innovative Electronic Systems for Vehicular and Nautical Applications Roberto Saletti, Sergio Saponara, Luca Fanucci, Federico Baronti, Roberto Roncella, Pierangelo Terreni DipartimentoIngegneriadell’Informazione University of Pisa, Italy E-mail: r.saletti@iet.unipi.it APPLEPIES Roma June 11, 2012

2. Outline • Motivations • Electronics for vehicle applications • Embedded systems for automotive applications • Electric and/or hybrid vehicles • Energy Storage Systems • Battery Management Systems • Electronic replacement of mechanical subsystems • AMDS (Advanced Mechatronic Door System) • Electronics for nautical applications • Superyacht market segment (Luxury yacht with LOA > 24m) • Integrated data acquisition systems • Innovative sensors for boat and seawater parameter measurement • Freeboard measurements • Seawater density measurement

3. Motivations • Conference aim and scope • “defining the activities, topics, objectives and research areas of the applications of electronics” • “the application domain – which was once considered as a separate level over the technology – is now a part of the technology itself” • Show on-going activities in the electronic applications’ researchfield at the Universityof Pisa • Show applicationsystemswhere “hardware and software are the different faces of the same coin” • Show examples of applications where electronics is the key factor for progress and improvement

4. Vehicular applications • The most significant improvements in last years vehicular market come from electronics • Control • Combustion control, Emission control, Traction control, Stability control, Drive-by-wire, steer-by-wire, X-by-wire • Safety • Active safety, Multiple Air-bags, Assisted braking systems, Intelligent seat belts, Parking aid and collision avoidance systems • Info-tainments • Vehicle-infrastructure communication, Traffic info, Navigational aids and info, Kids and passengers entertainment • Vehicles contains hundreds of ECUs, communication systems and multiple computer networks

5. Trendsforpresent/future vehicles • Increasedenvironmentalsensibility • More stringentrules and lawsforpollutingemissions • Electric and/or hybrid vehicles • ZEV (Zero-Emission Vehicle) • Replacement of mechanical systems with mixed (mechanical/electronics) ones that give unexpected performance with affordable costs

6. Electric/hybridvehicles • An energystoragesystemsismandatory • Properstorageofenergy • Allowsenergyrecoveryduringbraking • Rechargeablebatteries are the solution • Common rechargeable battery chemistries: • Lead acid • NiCd • NiMH • Li-ion • Li-polymer • Li-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePO4) • … dominant in automotive (engine starter) and industrial applications (power backup and grid-load leveling systems) current choice for hybrid vehicles battery of choice for portable applications:mobile phones, laptops, ecc.

7. Comparison of battery energy densities Source: www.mpoweruk.com • Due to the excellent performance in energy density and power density Lithium chemistry is emerging also in high power applications

8. Lithium chemistry • Very high energy density, no memory effect,very low self-discharge, very high efficiency, etc. • Very sensitive to overcharge and deep discharge and to exceeding specific temperature range • Cell life shortening, …, risk of explosion • Different technologies: • Different choices for electrodes and insulator materials • Lots of ongoing researches … • Battery cells safety is mandatory • Here comes Electronics • Safety is increased by an electronic management system (Battery Management System – BMS)

9. Battery Management System (BMS) • Low-level functions: • Cell voltage and temperature monitoring • Current monitoring • Cell balancing • Communication with a host device • High-level functions: • Maintain each cell of the battery pack within its safe operating range • Estimate SoC (State-of-Charge) and SoH (State-of-Health) • Increase the battery pack lifetime • Manage thermal aspects …and of course very little power consumption(al least when the battery current is zero)

10. BMS: hierarchical platform • Electric vehicle battery (300-400 V) up to 1 kV for distributed energy storage in smart-grids • Roughly 100 or more series-connected high-capacity elementary cells • Battery pack usually partitioned in modules • From 4 to 14 cells per module • BMS architecture reflects thephysical structure of the battery Cell Module Pack

11. BMS: hierarchical platform (cont.) • High flexibility and scalability • Redundancysupport • Dynamic pack reconfigurationthrough the MBS • Module-levelactivebalancing • PMU (Pack Management Unit) • MMU (Module Management Unit) • CMU (CellMonitoringUnit) • PPS (Pack ProtectionSwitch) • MBS (Module Bypass Switch) Vehicle Management System PMU ... MMU MMU ... ... CMU CMU CMU CMU

12. BMS: Cell Monitoring Unit • Benefits of an intelligent cell: • Local voltage and temperature measurement • Cell identification • Cell history (lifetime, cycle number, etc) • Second market application • Very simple design • A small 8-bit µC w/ 10-bit ADC • Few external components to provide isolated communication with the MMU

13. BMS: CMU design example • CMU implementation with discrete off-the-shelf components CMU prototype applied to a 31 Ah LiPo cell

14. BMS: MMU design example

15. MMU: board prototype Connectors to the CMUs AuxCell Active charge equalizer based on a Buck-Boost Converter with super-capacitor

16. BMS: MBS design example • Isolatedgatedriving • Very low dead-time • Liquidcooledheatsink

17. BMS: MBS design example (cont.) • Battery pack for a fuel-cell hybrid small van(steady state current up to 160 A) • ΔT=70 °C &PDMBS=66W@ Ibattery=160 A • Little efficiencydegradation • e.g. N=11Vcell=3.7 V At maximum load!

18. BMS: hierarchical platform prototype • Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicle (H2FC-HEV) which is being developed at University of Pisa • 14.4 kW hydrogen fuel cell • 155 V - 40 Ah LiPo battery pack M. Ceraoloet al., “Experiencesofrealisation and test of a fuel-cellbasedvehicle,” SPEEDAM 2010

19. BMS: hierarchical platform prototype • Module implementation: • 11 40 Ah LiPo cells • FC-HEV battery built up of 4 modules • 11 CMUs • 1 MMU • 1 MBS • Electronic system with: • Hardware • 14 microcontrollers • FPGA • Power devices • Hall sensors • Temperature sensors • Software/firmware • 3 level hierarchical applications • Low level micro firmware • Medium level micro firmware • High level Labview application

20. BMS: hierarchical platform prototype • Module implementation: • MMU connected to a PC by CAN bus • LabVIEW app emulates the PMU • Testing of BMS functionalities • Screenshot refers to an on-going balancing cycle (see the differences in cell voltages)

21. Electronic replacement of mechanical parts • AdvancedMechatronicsDoor System • E-Latch • Fully electronic vehicle latch • Existingsensors • Electrical motor drive foractuation • Cincheddoor • Electricallyactivateddoorclosure • Electricalcrystalglasscontrolwithanti-pinchcontrol • A challenge for the stringentautomotivespecs

22. Superyacht nautical market • Italy isby far the world largestproducerofsuperyachts • Nautical market hascollapsedbecauseof the global financialcrisis • New impulseisexpectedafter the crisis • New products and applications are expectedto come

23. Electronicsapplicationto Superyacht test • Superyachts are complexsystemsembeddinghundredsofheterogeneous electronic controlled systems • Lack of integration and standardization • Extensive Test & Correction procedure before final delivery to customers • So far, manual registration of the data displayed on the dashboard, combined with feelings of expert drivers

24. Dedicatedacquisition system for Ferretti • Multi-sensor, multi-protocolacquisition system • Integrated and synchronousacquisition @1 Hz from: • Enginesubsystems(CAN SAE-J1939, CANOpen) • Navigationsubsystem (RaymarineSeaTalk, NMEA-0183) • Flap and Trim subsystems (Analog, CANOpen, MODBUS TCP/IP) • Custom two-axis wireless inclinometer • Automaticconfigurationforhundredsof yacht models

25. DAQ features • Unified user interface for data visualization • System guided automatic test procedure • Test results are stored and compared with references • Remote analysis of the test results

26. Useful data

27. Innovative sensorsfornauticalapplications • Freeboardsmeasurementstoprovide information about the yacht weight and trim • Wireless sensor network ofmagnetostrictivelineardisplacementsensors

28. Freeboardsmeasurements

29. Freeboardsmeasurementresults I Data acquiredfromdifferentnodes are strictlyrelated

30. Freeboardsmeasurementresults II The operator’s weight (90 kg) causes a notnegligibleerror! ≈ 20 mm

31. Electronic seawater density meter • Magnetostrictivedisplacementsensorstoread the immersion of a structuresemifloating in seawater • Immersion depends on seawater density

32. Conclusions • Overviewofresearchactivities at the Universityof Pisa on the applicationofElectronics • Mainresearchfields are • Vehicularelectronics • Nauticalapplications • All the examples show a deepinteractionbetween • Hardware • Sensors and data conditioning and conversion • Controllers • Powerdevices • Software • Microcontrollerfirmware • Higherlevel software (C++, Labview, Web applications) • Knowledgeof the application domain ismandatory • Electronic engineers are ever more oftenaskedto tackle and solve multidisciplinary (mechanical, thermal, etc.) issues