Development of Ground Level Simulation Tool for Automotive Applications

This paper describes the ground system model and algorithm for a ground level simulation tool. First, the modeling of an automotive ground system will be discussed and the algorithm for a simulation tool will be explained. We divided the model into a ground tree and a ground body. The ground tree model consists of resistance formed by the wires that connect the load to ground point with various structures and the ground body model consists of resistance between ground points in the car body. The wires with large current, such as engine ground cable, was modeled in detail by dividing the resistance into wire, bolt, and clamping resistance, in order to simulate the effect of increased contact resistance after durability test. The algorithm of the ground level simulation tool was designed to adjust the currents of the alternator, battery, and ground points in order to evaluate the various driving and load conditions. The simulation tool uses a SPICE engine to simulate the model and calculate current and voltage at loads and ground points. Using a data base of actual vehicle measurements for inputs to in the simulation tool comparisons of the results of simulation to actual measurements were enabled. The average difference was 1.95% and maximum difference was 6.9%.