Development of an advanced electrical system for a solar powered racing vehicle with an emphasis on the battery protection and management system

Abstract

This thesis describes the development of an electrical system for a solar powered racing vehicle with en emphasis on the Battery Protection System (BPS). This battery protection system was designed for the UTSVT’s (University of Texas Solar Vehicles Team) solar powered vehicle, the Samsung Solorean. The system is required due to the dangers of the lithium-ion cobalt battery chemistry. The system monitors the voltage, temperature, and current of each battery module in the 22 module battery pack and will physically isolate the pack from the rest of the vehicle with a high-current electromechanical contactor if any parameter is outside of the safe range. The system can be expanded to monitor any number of series battery cells. The system uses a master-slave microcontroller architecture with a single master microcontroller that interrogates several slave microcontroller boards for readings over a common serial bus. The system uses a new voltage sensing ASIC to monitor cell voltages, along with an analog current output device to measure temperature and a hall-effect device to measure current. The system was a complete success and has allowed the UT solar car to finish the American Solar Challenge cross-country “Rayce.”