Intelligent Diagnostics and Prognostics of Electric Vehicle Powertrains

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Electric vehicle (EV) technology will soon revolutionize the transportation industry. EV performance depends mainly on the functionality of its powertrain, especially the battery pack and the drive induction motor (IM). The imperfections in the motor will generate EV malfunction, and degrade its power efficiency and drive safety. On the other hand, Lithium ion technology is still in its early stages. No matter how good a battery is, it will degrade over time with every charge/discharge cycle. Due to volatility, flammability and entropy changes, a battery could ignite by overheating. Battery failure will not only result in inconvenience and repair costs, but also risk catastrophic consequences especially in passenger vehicles. Accordingly, the long term objective of this research program is to develop new technology and tools to improve the reliability of intelligent diagnosis and prognosis (IDP) in EV powertrains. The IDP system can be used to monitor the health condition of the drive motors in real-time. It can also effectively estimate battery state of life, improve battery performance, efficiency and lifespan, and optimize vehicle operation. Over the next five years, the specific research themes include: (1) new hybrid techniques will be developed to improve the reliability of bearing fault detection in IMs; (2) An intelligent classifier will be developed for real-time health condition monitoring of drive motors in EVs; (3) A new diagnostic system will be proposed to examine battery state of health; and (4) a hybrid intelligent predictor will be developed to predict the remaining useful life of batteries. Appropriate machine learning algorithms will be proposed to improve the decision-making convergence and robustness of the related intelligent systems. This multidisciplinary research program will provide unique and leading-edge opportunities to train HQP in the related academic fields. Since IMs and batteries are also commonly used in other industrial and domestic applications, the developed IDP technology and tools can not only significantly benefit the EV and hybrid EV industrial sectors in Canada, but can also help with a wide range of industrial and domestic applications using IMs and batteries, boosting the economy, protecting the environment, and enhancing the competitiveness of Canadian companies in the global market.