Development of vehicle powertrain simulation module by interfacing Matlab-ADVISOR to LabVIEW

Vehicle powertrain technology is increasing in complexity with the emergence of alternative and advanced powertrains such as hybrid-electric, full-electric and fuel-cell vehicles. For engineering design and analysis, there are readily available professional computer-aided design and dynamic simulation software. However, these are accessible to engineers and powertrain specialists working directly in the field, requiring in-depth background knowledge. This paper discusses the development of a powertrain simulation module which is capable of demonstrating the benefits and drawbacks of different drivetrains, based on ADVISOR, a vehicle simulation program on Matlab-Simulink platform. By interfacing the Matlab-ADVISOR program to LabVIEW, the final simulation module has a dynamic simulation interface, suitable for an intermediate level of powertrain studies. If the program is deployed to an embedded controller such as National Instruments' sbRIO, it can then be connected to electro-mechanical actuators, for physical modeling and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation.