IT Infrastructure: The Workhorses of the Alternative Fuels Team

When students first step into the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) office, they are typically surprised by the number of computers and laptops. Typically the team has five desktops, eight monitors, and three laptops churning on anything from finite element analysis (FEA), to powertrain models.

In the summer of 2011 UWAFT realized that it needed to update its computing power for EcoCAR 2. Competition level sponsors such as dSPACE, Siemens Unigraphics, MathWorks, AVL, Vector and CD-Adapco provided each team with cutting edge software.  Three more desktops were added to the UWAFT’s lineup: a new Computer-Aided Design (CAD) workstation, an HIL/modeling computer and a Linux server.

The CAD workstation uses a solid state hard drive to allow for faster loading of CAD model files. A very powerful graphics card and 32 GB of RAM were also added. The benefit of this powerful machine is the ability to manage large CAD files quickly. The machine is also used for FEA analysis using Unigraphics NX-NASTRAN and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using CD-Adapco’s Star-CCM+.

 

The HIL/modeling computer built by the team is not as powerful as the CAD machine. It is normally used to compile models for dSPACE’s Mid-Sized Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Simulator. The modeling computer has a very large hard drive (over 2 terabytes) to save all of the results of the HIL simulations. In years two and three, this machine will also be used to review and compare drive cycle data using Mathwork’s MATLAB and AVL Drive.

The final machine UWAFT built is a Linux Server. Running Ubuntu, the machine operates as the central file storage machine for the office, using an FTP server. This computer also hosts several of the team’s license servers for various software packages. Laptops are used throughout the office and garage with 90% of them being Lenovo ThinkPads (the team swears by them!). The laptops are used extensively during years two and three for referencing documentation and building vehicle code. Some people call us computer nerds… but we just call it another day in the office.

UWAFT Partners with GM for Earth Week Presentations

For Earth Week, the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) partnered with Dan Mepham from General Motors (GM) to conduct a series of presentations to high school students at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario. Over 150 students and teachers were present across a total of three presentations, where a PowerPoint presentation was conducted by UWAFT’s Outreach Coordinator followed by a demonstration session of a 2012 Chevrolet Volt by Dan Mepham.

Students from grades 9-12 gathered in the school’s automotive shop where they were taken through a presentation about UWAFT, EcoCAR 2, hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technologies, the team’s vehicle architecture and the importance of science, math and technology as well as types of careers available in the automotive industry; both technical and non-technical oriented.

Mark Goody, Outreach Coordinator, presenting to students

At the beginning of each presentation, a poll was taken to establish students’ baseline knowledge of HEVs. Across all three presentations, an average of only 15 percent of the students confidentially knew what a HEV was. However, after being polled at the end of each presentation, a whopping average of 80 percent of the students confirmed that they then knew what a HEV was, illustrating that the presentation was effective. It is important to measure before and after change in knowledge to determine whether or not the presentation taught the students and if any changes need to be made for future presentations. Altogether, UWAFT is extremely happy with the amount the students learned!

Students then gathered around the Chevrolet Volt where Dan Mepham performed a demonstration of how the car works, what features it has, and how the battery is recharged by a standard wall outlet. Students were very engaged and asked plenty of questions relating to the vehicle, how it works and the benefits of driving electric. Doors of the Volt then opened and students had the opportunity to sit inside to view the interior design and features of the sleek vehicle.

Building a better battery pack with A123, CD-Adapco and Dana-Long Manufacturing

A key part of the EcoCAR 2 learning experience is designing the main traction battery. With competition level sponsor A123 Systems Inc . having provided each team with a battery system, the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) needed to prove their battery design is safe and robust. One of the key elements of the battery design is the thermal performance.  UWAFT quickly realized that good thermal performance will be critical to achieving every joule and kW from the main traction battery. A cooler battery allows for more power and a longer lifetime.

UWAFT turned to Dana-Long Manufacturing to provide cold-plates that would extract heat from the modules. The cold-plates feed water through them, providing a cooling surface for the batteries. These plates are custom made for UWAFT and the A123 module geometry. Before the plates could be used, the team needed to analyze if the plates could perform under the most extreme conditions – a hot summer day in Yuma, Arizona – where the team expects to be in either year two or three of EcoCAR 2 finals.

Competition level sponsor CD-Adapco Star-CCM+ was deployed to analyze the performance of the cold-plates. Star-CCM+ is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package that can simulate fluid flow and heat transfer. By using Start-CCM+, UWAFT avoided using an expensive and complex thermal test bench. Parameters such as flow rate could also be changed quickly and the results compared easily. CD-Adapco staff also provided invaluable training and advice at the Winter Workshop that helped the team set-up the cold-plate simulation. The team is confident in its design and is ready to test it out in the heat of Yuma!

Public School Students ‘Eat Up’ EcoCAR 2 Presentation by UWAFT

On the evening of March 12th, 2012, the University of Waterloo opened its doors to local elementary school students for the Faculty of Engineering’s annual Engineering Explorations night. Thousands of grade 6-8 students and their parents descended upon Waterloo Engineering to experience the faculty by viewing a mix of displays in a tour of the various departments. The three main objectives of Explorations are to excite students about engineering and technology in hopes of sparking an interest in continuing their math and science studies throughout high school, to provide the public with an opportunity to see what engineers do at the University of Waterloo, and to promote the Faculty of Engineering.

The University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) had a booth set up and engaged in interactive presentations to groups of students and their parents about UWAFT, EcoCAR 2, and advanced vehicle technologies. “The students asked many questions about UWAFT, EcoCAR 2 and even alternative fuels, so we knew they were well engaged during these discussions” said Rachael Morin, Director of Youth Outreach. This exemplified their interest in UWAFT‘s project goals such as reducing fuel consumption, tailpipe emissions and well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions. According to Mark Goody, Director of Outreach “many students were actually very knowledgeable about the problems that exist from society’s dependence on fossil fuels, the environmental risks associated with their extraction, and the environmental damage caused by their emissions.”

UWAFT was very happy to give young students and their parents an opportunity to learn more about advanced vehicle technologies and the EcoCAR 2 program. Getting students interested in engineering and science is important as it ensures that there will be a next generation of passionate students, dedicated towards solving real-world problems that society is currently facing.

Director of Outreach Mark Goody setting up Carbon Calculator game

UWAFT Collaborates with EcoCAR 2 Sponsor FleetCarma

University of Waterloo Collaborates with FleetCarma to Design a Vehicle that Meets Customer Needs!

When a group of engineers set out to design a vehicle, especially a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle where fuel economy is paramount, there is a lot more to think about than the look and feel. In order to connect with the consumer it is important to understand them, and more importantly their driving habits, so that the specific needs of consumers can be met in the most efficient way possible. What better way to apply this design philosophy than using the driving habits recorded in over 171,675 km of driving data provided by FleetCarma.

EcoCAR 2:Plugging In To the Future is three-year collegiate student engineering competition that builds on a 23-year history of advanced vehicle competitions. It is established by US Department of Energy and General Motors and is the only program of its kind. Fifteen universities across North America are challenged to re-engineer a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu to minimize energy consumption and reduce emissions without compromising consumer acceptability, performance or safety. EcoCAR 2 provides students with hands on automotive engineering experience as well as exposure to world-class organizations and industry standard tools.

 

The University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) is a student team comprised of undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. UWAFT’s primary mandate is to research, design and implement advanced vehicle technologies using existing gasoline-powered vehicle platforms. In addition to technical research and development, UWAFT educates the public about alternative fuels and hybrid technologies, while raising environmental awareness through public outreach events and social media.

As part of the competition, each team is required to design a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. When UWAFT began to design its EcoCAR, the team looked over all the combinations of fuel types, motor sizes and architectures, and quickly realized there were thousands of different options. The challenge that faced team was determining the appropriate combination of engine, motors, energy sources and energy storage systems that would meet the majority of customers needs. That’s when the team turned to FleetCarma.

FleetCarma is a division of CrossChasm Technologies Inc. The majority of the team at FleetCarma has graduated from previous advanced vehicle competitions, similar to EcoCAR 2. The co-founder and CEO of CrossChasm, Matt Stevens, was co-team captain of UWAFT from 2004-2006 and participated in Challenge X. Chris Shum was a member of UWAFT during EcoCAR: The Next Challenge and currently works at CrossChasm on the controls engineering team. These two individuals are just a few examples of the opportunities EcoCAR 2 provides to participants.

FleetCarma offers a system to fleet managers to help them make better-informed purchasing decisions when expanding or updating their fleets. The process involves connecting the data logger to current gasoline powered fleet vehicles for approximately three weeks to collect data on driving distances, locations and driving habits. The information collected is then applied to a vehicle model that simulates how an electric vehicle would perform under the exact same driving habits of the fleet. This information provides the fleet manager with the ability to determine the total cost of ownership of the proposed electric vehicles prior to incorporating them into their fleet.

FleetCarma’s technology helped UWAFT refine the development process to make more informed decisions on vehicle architecture and powertrain components. Their collection process resulted in over 171 000 km worth of driving data, which is equivalent to driving from Vancouver to Halifax 28 times. From this data UWAFT was able to process key metrics including; average speed, trip distance, acceleration, power and load requirements. This data was then used to determine driving habits of a broad customer segment. For example, Canadians do not exceed 150km/h top speed and 80% of Canadians drive 70 km or less per day. The collected patterns allowed UWAFT to form a set of technical performance targets that were subsequently incorporated into the design process as guides. The data indicated that we required a design that would allow drivers to travel a minimum of 70 km per trip and therefore UWAFT picked a battery that could support this distance without needing to be recharged. Through UWAFT’s partnership with FleetCarma, UWAFT was able to translate driving habits into technical specifications, which ultimately allowed UWAFT to build a vehicle that meets the documented needs of customers.

FleetCarma is breaking ground in the electric vehicle industry and EcoCAR 2 is proud to have them on board. Their system helps organizations reduce their vehicle cost, fuel consumption and emissions to advance the adoption of electric vehicles now and into the future.

UWAFT’s Outreach Team Examines Consumer Attitudes and Behaviours Related to AFVs in Waterloo Region

Despite the variety of automotive manufacturers that offer alternatively fuelled options, the uptake of alternatively fuelled vehicles has been slow. Consumer expectations play a critical role when analyzing why alternatively fuelled vehicles have been so slow in penetrating the market.

UWAFT’s Outreach Team consists of five University of Waterloo Environment and Business students, who have been working on their fourth year research project over the past eight months while participating in the EcoCAR 2 competition.

The group, Synchronous Solutions, consists of Bob Michniak, Rachael Morin, Denis Pankov, Kyle Pinto and Eva Mathieu.

They wanted to explore the apparent gap that exists between consumer attitudes toward green products and their willingness to actually purchase such items. Specifically, consumers’ willingness to purchase green products is higher than the sales of those products indicate. Investigating this relationship for large purchases such as vehicles could provide insights on how to better market them to consumers.

Synchronous Solutions developed a survey that was distributed to consumers within the Region of Waterloo as well as available on the UWAFT website here. A total of 111 surveys were completed over February and March of 2012. The group noted some limitations of their findings, which included issues with the sample population being over representative of both females and students compared to the Canadian population.

The following graphs show some of the most interesting findings that the group obtained from their surveys. The first graph shows each respondent’s ranking of deterrents if they were considering an AFV purchase. Clearly, price is the most prevalent deterrent.

Figure 1 - If you were considering an AFV, what deterrents would be likely to stop you? (%)

The second graph compares how often consumers question the validity of environmental claims to the likeliness that they would trust the environmental claims of a vehicle if 3rd party certification was required. The graph indicates that those who question claims ‘All the time’ or ‘No, not if there’s a 3rd party certification’ would be the most likely to trust 3rd party certification of a vehicle’s environmental claims.

Figure 2 - How often do you question the validity of environmental claims on products compared to likeliness of trust in the environmental claims of a vehicle if 3rd party certification was required (%)

Synchronous Solutions’ Recommendations:

• Explore 3rd party certification for all vehicles and which metrics would be most useful
• Analyze the price premium on AFVs to determine how or if they can be adjusted to not deter purchases while maintaining profitability
• Better communication of AFV technology costs and benefits is needed for consumers
• Improved sampling technique for any further research on the topic

A full copy of their report is available here.

MathWorks Makes Designing a Car Easy!

Team Captain, Gurhari Singh working on laptop in UWAFT's garage

(Photo taken by Josh Lo, Controls Team Co-Lead)

Designing a vehicle can be a very difficult task. Just ask General Motors (GM) where they employ thousands of highly-skilled engineers who design each and every aspect of the vehicle that you drive. Now, image designing a vehicle with less than a hundred university students. This is the challenge that the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) had to face when researching and designing its EcoCAR 2 vehicle. Luckily for UWAFT, much of the preliminary design work was already done by GM - leaving UWAFT responsible for redesigning the powertrain.

Redesigning the powertrain is still a challenging task and given many students have never worked on a vehicle before, tools were needed to help make the task easier. That is where the MathWorks’ MATLAB came into use. MathWorks donated their powerful MATLAB, Simulink and Stateflow software to UWAFT. This software, along with Argonne National Laboratory’s Autonomie allowed UWAFT team members to virtually build and test various powertrains. The tests conducted on these software models included acceleration of the vehicle, fuel consumption estimations, thermal analysis and much more. These models could also be pushed to their maximum limit and be ‘broken’ in the software world. This is much more cost-effective and safer than breaking physical prototypes. The resulting powertrain that was selected was a Series Plug-In Hybrid with two electric traction motors.

The beauty of MATLAB and Simulink actually comes after the architecture selection stage. Simulink, which is a graphical block diagramming tool, can also be used to program the vehicle controllers. This means that students do not need to learn another programming language and can easily transfer models developed in the powertrain selection stage, to the controller development stage, thus saving time and money. MATLAB can also be used to analyze large amounts of data by using automated scripts. These scripts can quickly analyze hundreds of hours worth of drive cycles and allow for students to quickly quantify the performance of the vehicle. From saving time and money during the modeling selection phase, to quickly analyzing experimental data, MathWorks’ tools made UWAFT's job much easier!

Engineering Explorations at University of Waterloo

On the evening of March 12th, 2012, the University of Waterloo opened its doors to local elementary school students for the Faculty of Engineering's annual Engineering Explorations night. Thousands of grade 6-8 students and their parents descended upon Waterloo Engineering to experience the faculty by viewing a mix of displays in a tour of the various departments. The three main objectives of Explorations are to excite students about engineering and technology in hopes of sparking an interest in continuing their math and science studies throughout high school, to provide the public with an opportunity to see what engineers do at the University of Waterloo, and to promote the Faculty of Engineering.

The University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) had a booth set up and engaged in interactive presentations to groups of students and their parents about UWAFT, EcoCAR 2, and advanced vehicle technologies. "The students asked many questions about UWAFT, EcoCAR 2 and even alternative fuels, so we knew they were well engaged during these discussions" said Rachael Morin, Director of Youth Outreach. This exemplified their interest in UWAFT's project goals such as reducing fuel consumption, tailpipe emissions and well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions. According to Mark Goody, Director of Outreach "many students were actually very knowledgeable about the problems that exist from society's dependence on fossil fuels, the environmental risks associated with their extraction, and the environmental damage caused by their emissions."

UWAFT was very happy to give young students and their parents an opportunity to learn more about advanced vehicle technologies and the EcoCAR 2 program. Getting students interested in engineering and science is important as it ensures that there will be a next generation of passionate students, dedicated towards solving real-world problems that society is currently facing.

UWAFT 5km Earth Hour Run/Walk

Saturday March 31, 2012 at 3:30pm

Waterloo Park, Waterloo

The 1st Annual UWAFT Earth Hour 5km Run will kick off Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo’s Earth Hour activities. All of the race proceeds will go towards UWAFTs participation in EcoCAR2: Plugging into the Future. Come support UWAFT in making a change in our Earth’s environment by encouraging alternative fuel options that reduce the amount of emissions released into the environment.

Take the time to check out the UWAFT booth located at the race, where you can learn further about the teams progress in the EcoCAR2: Plugging into the Future competition or to get further information on participating on the UWAFT team.

Date and Location:

Saturday March 31, 2012 at 3:30pm in Waterloo Park; 100 Westmount North, Waterloo. Starting line located at Picnic Shelter, West side of park.

Registration and Pledge Forms are available on the UWAFT website here.

UWAFT’s Human Machine Interface is Driven by Freescale

Freescale Headquarters in Austin, Texas

If you own a vehicle, chances are it is powered by a Freescale microchip. Freescale Semiconductor is one of the largest manufacturers of embedded hardware in the world. Almost every aspect of a vehicle is powered by a Freescale unit, including engine controllers, body electronics, driver information systems, critical safety systems and much more. As an EcoCAR 2 platinum-level sponsor, Freescale is supporting the development of a center control stack for all competition teams. Freescale is also donating a touch screen display and i.MX53 computer.

These center control stacks will operate as driver information systems and allow the driver to review the performance of their vehicle. Freescale is also collaborating with General Motors to provide a software interface that allows the control stack to access vehicle systems, such as temperature and ventilation controls. Ultimately this donation gives students a ‘sandbox’ to design the next generation of user-interface for vehicles. These interfaces will be easy to use and minimize distraction for the driver.

The University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) has taken the system one step further by using a QNX real-time operating system on the i.MX53 computer. QNX was started by two Waterloo graduates in the 1980s and has grown significantly. QNX is used to power just about everything, from nuclear power plants to medical equipment. UWAFT will use the center stack to provide critical information about the powertrain during development of the vehicle in year two. During the third year refinement of the vehicle, the display will take on different role. It will provide fuel consumption, charging information and trip details. Hopefully this information will encourage the driver to use a ‘green-foot’ rather than a lead-foot.

Freescale also co-hosted the Winter Workshop in Austin, Texas at their headquarters in February, offering students the opportunity to learn about their Freescale systems, alongside engineers in a hands-on-setting.

Austin Texas - The Winter Workshop Recap

As mentioned in "What a month!" here's the recap from UWAFT's participation in the Winter Workshop...

The University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team kicked off February by attending the EcoCAR 2 Winter Workshop in Austin, Texas. Two of the engineering competition’s sponsors, Freescale and dSPACE, co-hosted the workshop for the 16 teams, which was held at Freescale’s headquarters.

The Winter Workshop was designed to provide the teams with detailed sessions from competition organizers (such as General Motors, the U.S. Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory). Also, sponsors who donated components and software tools to all the teams provided detailed training - dSPACE, A123 Systems, Freescale, AVL Powertrain Engineering, CD-adapco, Siemens, and Vector.

The workshop was also opportunity to put UWAFT and the other teams to the test in their first in-person scored presentations for technical, outreach, and business.

For the technical team, they successfully presented their Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) progress on controlling the stock vehicle in a simulated environment. While the outreach presentations were given to groups of middle school and high school students from the Austin area. There was also a judged youth outreach presentation.

Overall, the Winter Workshop was a hit for everyone involved. Students from each team had plenty of opportunities to network among themselves as well as with representatives from the sponsoring organizations. It also provided an exciting opportunity for the sponsors to learn more about the progress each team as made so far!

UWAFT team at the Winter Workshop pose with the EcoCAR 2 Chevrolet Malibu

What a month!

The month of February has been extremely busy for the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT). Thankfully 2012 is a leap year so we have an extra day to catch our breath!

At the beginning of February several members of our team attending the Winter Workshop for the EcoCAR 2 competition. A recap post of the workshop will follow...

Upon their return from the Austin, Texas each of the teams in the competition launched their official websites. If you haven't already, check out UWAFT's site at www.uwaft.com.

Following the website launch, the awards for best website were announced February 10th on the Green Garage Blog. The University of Waterloo placed 3rd! The first place prize went to Penn State's website. You can read the announcement here. Congratulations to Denis Pankov, Director of Social Media and everyone on the team that helped him to structure, format, and edit the content of our site.

Then it was Reading Week. A week for our team members to go home or travel, continue working on EcoCAR 2/UWAFT and of course catch up on reading!

With March just a day away, UWAFT is now busier then ever as Year 1 of the competition draws nearer to its end. Look out for more frequent and exciting updates from UWAFT. And don't forget to check us out on any of the following sites. Feedback, comments, questions, likes, and tweets are all welcomed and appreciated!

Facebook - UWAFT

Twitter- UWAFT

YouTube - UWAFT

Flickr - UWAFT

Linkedin

Commercializing Innovation with UWAFT

Recently, the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) participated in The Canadian Institute’s Forum on Commercializing Cleantech in Toronto, Ontario. The Forum consisted of a series of panel discussions filled with a variety of distinguished industry and government representatives. The event began with a keynote address by Albert Behr, President of Behr and Associates Inc. – a consulting firm that specializes in the commercialization of ‘clean’ technology. Concluding the event was the Honourable Glen Murray, Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation, who spoke about due diligence and the cleantech regulatory framework in Canada.

Outreach Coordinator Mark Goody

Team Captain Gurhari Singh and Outreach Coordinator Mark Goody represented UWAFT during the two day event. Unlike past events, which have been focused on campus and community outreach, the forum on Commercializing Cleantech was an industry-based conference. It provided UWAFT with significant learning and networking opportunities. It was also an ideal environment to speak with potential sponsors for UWAFT!

In addition to acquiring valuable business knowledge and industry contacts, Singh and Goody had the opportunity to promote the team and the EcoCAR 2 competition. Alternative fuel technology was a large part of the conference and it is clear that Canada’s industry and government are committed to building a more sustainable transportation future!

Detroit - North American Auto Show

An insightful review of cars at the North American Auto Show in Detroit (January 2012) by John DeCicco, Professor of Practice at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and Research Professor at the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute at University of Michigan.



Which car do you think is the most innovative?

When the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) began to select its powertrain for EcoCAR2, they turned to FleetCarma to develop a data-driven selection process. FleetCarma, EcoCAR 2′s newest Silver Sponsor, offers tools designed to help fleet managers select the right vehicle for any fleet application. They work with fleet managers to analyze the cost effectiveness of potential replacement vehicles over their entire service lives.

Fleet managers who want to go green understand that they need to consider the Total Cost of Ownership to make decisions regarding vehicle purchases. For example, they weigh the higher initial cost of an electric vehicle (EV) versus its operational savings down the road. They also want to know whether an EV will be capable of doing the job with enough range and charge capabilities.

The FleetCarma system is a unique way to determine the right vehicle for a job because it uses a simple-to-install OBD data logger to capture duty cycle and operational needs. That usage pattern is then fed to FleetCarma’s backend system, where it is run through a number of simulations depending on which vehicles are being considered for purchase. The results include the vehicle’s real-world fuel consumption and provide detailed analysis of potential replacement vehicles. In a nutshell, the system determines whether any electric vehicle will (a) do the job that is required and (b) offer worthwhile cost saving and emission reduction benefits.

FleetCarma’s head office is located in Waterloo, Ontario and the company employs several UWAFT alumni. UWAFT maintains an active relationship with the company, so the team was excited to use FleetCarma’s system to help select and test powertrain configurations and components for its EcoCAR 2 vehicle. UWAFT deployed FleetCarma’s data loggers on various vehicles to capture real-world drive cycles. These cycles were then reviewed for statistics such as daily driving distance, duration and driver aggressiveness. In total over 171,000 km of driving distance was captured, which resulted in 4,900 hours’ worth of driving data. These cycles were also fed into more than 20 vehicle models, where the projected real-world fuel consumption was measured and compared. For UWAFT, this helped design a vehicle that would achieve the best possible real-world fuel consumption and energy and emissions reductions

Stay tuned as UWAFT and the rest of the EcoCAR 2 teams announce their chosen vehicle architectures during the Winter Workshop in just three weeks!