In the era of Software Defined Vehicles, the complexity and requirements of automotive systems have increased knowingly. EV Thermal management systems have become more complicated while having multiple functions and control strategies within software frameworks. This shift creates new challenges like increased development efforts and long lead time in creating an efficient thermal management system for Electric Vehicles (EV’s) due to battery charging and discharging cycles. For solving these challenges in the early stages of development makes it even more challenging due to the unavailability of key components such as fully developed ECU hardware, High voltage battery pack and the motor.
To address this, a novel framework has been designed that combines virtual simulation with physical emulation at the same time, enabling the testing and validation of thermal control strategies without fully matured system and the ECU hardware. The framework uses the Speedgoat QNX machine as the central controller which hosts the control logics and electro-thermal models developed in Simulink and Simscape. Speedgoat is physically connected to a non-functional vehicle equipped with key thermal components such as a radiator cooling fan, AC compressor, HVAC blower, active grille shutters (AGS), valves etc. The heat load for different conditions is emulated using heater carts and vehicle itself. The entire system is designed to be mobile, allowing it to be placed inside a climatic chamber.
By controlling all the components through Speedgoat and offering an interactive calibration interface for real time calibration, this framework bridges the gap between simulation and physical testing. It helps in accelerating controls development, optimizes thermal control strategies, ensures energy efficiency, reliability, and cost effectiveness in system design.