Shell Eco-Marathon Electric Vehicle Cruise Control System
Brice Muniz
Electrical Computer Engineering
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Unites States of America
Matthew Nicolas
Electrical Computer Engineering
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Unites States of America
Chowdhury Tanveer Anzoom
Electrical Computer Engineering
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Unites States of America
Abstract
The purpose of this document is to provide a clear summary of the Shell Eco-Marathon Electric Vehicle Cruise Control System project. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) student chapter for Oregon State University (OSU) has sponsored the Senior Capstone Project to replace the current throttle system of the Oregon State Shell Eco-Marathon (SEM) Electric Car. The purpose of the project is to increase its fuel efficiency over the previous design for the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas 2017 competition. This will be completed by incorporating a new throttle, and head up displays which relay speed and remaining power to the driver. This project will be completed by the beginning of the competition which takes place in Detroit, Michigan during April 27, 2017 to April 29, 2017.
Key Words
Efficiency, Cruise Control, Electric Vehicle, HUD
I. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this document is to provide a clear summary of the Shell Eco-Marathon Electric Vehicle Cruise Control System project. This document was designed to be read by the stakeholders and managers of this project in order to determine our understanding and plan for the project. If either is insufficient then the stakeholders and managers can assist us in better understanding and implementing the project.
The purpose of the SEM is to “challenge students around the world to design, build and drive the most energy efficient car” [1] which is relevant “to the technological needs of the national agenda, green, sustainable, and energy efficient” [3]. The competition takes place annually in the city streets of Detroit with the 2017 competition on April 27th to April 29th. Oregon State University participated in the SEM Americas 2016 competition and finished second place in the Battery-Electric Prototype category. As an improvement for this year’s competition the team is looking for methods to increase energy efficiency. In order to increase the efficiency of the Oregon State Shell Electric Vehicle a new system of controlling propulsion is required. The new system will require implementation of a new throttle system with an accelerometer and joule meter to help the driver be more efficient when navigating through the course.
II. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Due to the road conditions of the course the previous implementation of the vehicle’s throttle system led to the driver’s hand moving in a way that caused spikes in force applied to the throttle when going over a pothole or rougher parts of the road. The previous system also had no method to measure how fast or how efficiently the driver was driving and no implementation of a cruise control. Previously the only way to communicate information to the driver the command team held a handwritten sign telling the driver to go faster or slower.
The new system would involve the driver pressing a spring loaded button in order to engage the electric motor to accelerate to at least 17 mph and relay the current speed and power remaining in the battery to the driver and the command team at the start line. A second spring-loaded button will be used to initiate the cruise control to maintain the vehicle’s speed. By incorporating the accelerometer and joule meter with the heads up display (HUD) the driver would be able to know that information at any given moment.
In terms of power consumption the motor draws 1.8 Amp from a “maximum voltage that may not exceed 48 Volts nominal, and 60 Volts max” [2]. In the previous design power was only drawn when the driver engaged the throttle. The new system will however be constantly drawing power in order to power the driver displays and sending that information to the command team. Moreover, the system will also be able to receive information from the command team to assist the driver to maneuver through the course. Therefore, the new system needs to draw as little power as possible to ensure that it overcomes the inefficiencies in the previous design.
III. DESIGN
The system will need to be designed and broken up into separate modules. The first module will be the throttle and cruise control system. The second module is the sensor system that will collect data on speed and remaining power and send that information to the micro controller. The third module will be the HUD that provides the driver with real-time information needed to navigate the course. The final module needs to relay the information on the HUD wirelessly to the command team and receive instructions which will also be displayed on the HUD. Each system needs to draw as little power as possible in order to maximize the efficiency of the vehicle.
The throttle and cruise control which will effectively be acting as a switch to allow the electric battery to power the electric motor. The throttle and cruise control system will communicate with the motor control board in order to provide propulsion for the vehicle. As noted in the SEM official competition rules “this device may consist of a spring loaded hand operated accelerator or foot pedal lever” [4]. To minimize the weight of the vehicle two spring-loaded buttons will be used to engage the throttle and cruise control system.
The throttle and cruise control system will communicate with the sensors of the motor control board in order to gather acceleration and energy consumption information to the driver. The accelerometer will need to be tied through a micro-controller which will relay the speed of the vehicle to a HUD in front of the driver. The joule meter will need to be monitoring the power coming out of the battery and tied into a micro-controller that will calculate how much voltage is left in the battery and relay that message to the drive via the HUD.
The HUD will display information gathered and computed by the micro-controller to the driver. The HUD will either display this information through multiple seven segment displays or a single LCD display. The benefits of seven segment displays is that they are smaller and can be incorporated anywhere, however the driver will need to memorize which seven segments display what information.. The benefits of the LCD is that all the information is on a single device and that it is more efficient, yet an LCD is larger and would need a special mount in order to have it be in an easy position for the driver to see, increasing weight and reducing efficiency.
The final module to increase efficiency is the wireless communication module that will constantly be transmitting the data collected by the sensors and put through the microcontroller to the control team. The control team will then be able to tell the driver to increase or decrease speed using the module in order to assist the driver in maximizing vehicle efficiency.
IV. RISKS
There is always a possibility of risk when designing and implementing a new system. The primary risk is that the new system will not be more efficient than the old system if it ultimately consumes more power than the inefficiencies caused by driver’s lack of information. Other risks include delays due to waiting on deliveries of necessary materials, emails becoming lost or forgotten causing further delays, or miscommunication in input or output values from the components resulting in damage.
V. TIMELINE
The timeline of the project will be the 2016-2017 academic school year. The finished product should be completed by April 27, 2017 which is the first day of competition.
Table 1. Project Timeline
Date / Description1/1/2017 / Finish Designing the System
1/19/2017 / Have First Prototype Built
1/20/2017 / Begin Testing the Prototype
4/26/2017 / Have the System Completed
4/27/2017 / Have the System Installed
05/2017 / Present at Oregon State Engineering Expo
VI. GOALS
The main goal of the project is to design a throttle system that improves the efficiency of the previous vehicle design by:
●Integrating the spring-loaded button throttle.
●Integrating the Cruise Control button
●Integrating the HUD.
●Integrating the Wireless Communication System.
●Having a fully completed system by the 27th of April 2017.
VII. STAKEHOLDERS
Austin Chase Jones
Primary Project Stakeholder
Oregon State University Chapter of American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Covell Hall 210
Donald Heer
Engineering Instructor/ Project Stakeholder
Oregon State University College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Kelley Engineering Center 1117
Rachael Cate
Communications Instructor/ Project Stakeholder
Oregon State University College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Kelley Engineering Center 1097
Duy Xuan Nguyen
Project Manager/ Project Stakeholder
Oregon State University College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Dearborn Hall 211
REFERENCES
[1]"About shell Eco-marathon," in Shell Global. [Online]. Available: Accessed: Oct. 7, 2016.
[2]“Shell Eco-Marathon 2017”, in Shell Global. [Online].Available: marathon-global-rules/_icr_content.stream/ 1472744744388/7b204129356de26d47c9f21e2c8f58e07f3e2e4f266ae7714c8e6b17bb7051e1/sem-2017-rules- chapter-1.pdf. Accessed: Oct. 7, 2016.
[3]“American Society of Mechanical Engineers,” About. [Online].
Available: 16-Oct-2016]
[4] “Rules and competition overview,” Shell Global. [Online]. Available: [Accessed: 18-Oct-2016].
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