Retrofit Kit: methodologies and tools for data logging and data processing of the Digital Triplets

The automotive industry is investing more and more resources in the production of Electric vehicles (EV’s) for many different reasons: the main one is the reduction of pollution caused by fossil fuels. Thanks to economic incentives promoted by governments and the improvement of the technologies used in these vehicles, EV’s are becoming worldwide diffused. According to this, the aim of the Retrofit Kit projects is to develop a kit that allows to convert a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle into electric powered one. This has many advantages, as the fact that owners can extend the life of their existing vehicles, converting them into electrical ones and reducing the environmental impact of the production of the new ones. The main components of the Retrofit Kit are an electric motor, a battery pack, a charger, and a control unit. To develop the retrofit kit the Extended V-Cycle methodology is adopted: it provides a structured process for software development and testing. This is important because the projects must satisfy safety requirements and it has to attain optimal performances. The retrofit kit is based on the development of the Virtual, Semi-Real and Real Prototype, i.e. the Digital Triplets. The aim of the thesis project is, with the guide of the Extended V-Cycle, the alignment of the Digital Triplets through the study of methodologies and tools for data logging and processing, thanks to the presence of the CAN Network. The Virtual Prototype is implemented as a Modular Technical Model. It simulates the environment, the vehicle and the user, trough different modules, i.e. the Environment, the Plant, the Control Logic, the HMI and the User. This is a pure simulation phase: every physical component is modelled with mathematical equations. The communication among the different model is possible thanks to the virtual CAN Network. Already from this phase is possible to do the data logging and processing. In the Semi-Real Prototype, i.e. the test bench, the powertrain, the control logic and the user interface become real, while the vehicle body is still simulated. In this Prototype the CAN Network is physical and it is the basis of all the communication and problems detection. At the end, in the Real Prototype the CAN Network is used to collect data and analyze them to evaluate the vehicle’s performance in different test conditions. With some specific software is also possible to monitor in real time the behaviors of different signals based on the user needs. In conclusion, the use of the CAN network is fundamental to follow the different phases of the Extended V-Cycle. One of the most important step, that the communication trough the CAN Network allows to do in an efficient way, is the Validation one. It is crucial because it enables to do improvements in the parameters identification of the Prototypes and as a consequence, an always better alignment of the Digital Triplets can be obtain, that is the main objective of this thesis work.