Electric Vehicle

FSAE Tractive System

During my Automotive Systems Project class, I was tasked with testing and troubleshooting the Tractive System of an electric FSAE car. My responsibilities included conducting physical inspections, performing high-voltage bench tests, and calibrating the motor. One of the key tasks I undertook was designing, testing, and validating the precharge circuit for the system. This involved ensuring that the circuit was operating safely and effectively before the tractive system was engaged. During bench testing, my team and I discovered that the calibration of the motor resolver was incomplete. To proceed with the next steps of calibration, we needed to obtain the EEPROM gamma values from the motor. Despite this setback, we successfully completed the calibration process. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen issues, a final bench test was not able to be performed. Nonetheless, I gained valuable experience in troubleshooting and testing complex automotive systems, and I am confident that the skills and knowledge I acquired will be valuable in future projects.

While moving the Tractive System, we carefully moved the components onto a cart. All connections were verified multiple times and reconnected at the testing location.

During the first test, the current would not increase past 0.21 A. Since this was the first high-voltage bench test performed on this motor controller, this information gave us a starting point.

Before our second bench test, we identified a few wiring issues and changed the EEPROM values in the GUI software. Thus, we were able to draw a much higher current (5.48 A) with the motor controller.

Since there was no mounting hardware built yet for the motor, to calibrate the motor we needed a hub. Measurements were taken from the drawing of the motor, and the part was designed with SOLIDWORKS.

To confirm fitment before the part was manufactured, I obtained the CAD model of the motor from the manufacturer and constructed an assembly. Next, we used a CNC machine to manufacture the part using aluminum.

In order to calibrate the motor, we needed to spin the motor to 1000-1500 RPM while the motor is not engaged. To do this we used a manual lathe machine. This allowed a precise revolution of 1180 RPM.

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