Plug-in hybrid conversion: As a capstone project and research testbed

An important part of the curriculum in the electrical engineering program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) is the two semester capstone project sequence. During the 2010-2011 academic year, two seniors completed a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) conversion project. The students began by completing the design and system engineering tasks. Secondly, the students designed a set of experiments that evaluated the vehicle´s performance, focusing on the vehicles fuel economy of a stock 2007 Toyota Prius. Following the completion of these experiments, the students converted the Prius to a PHEV using a purchased kit. In the stock system, the battery can only be charged when the vehicle is in operation. The PHEV kit adds battery capacity to increase the electrical power capacity and thus decreasing the load for the internal combustion engine. Plugging in the PHEV to a standard utility AC outlet will allow the kit batteries to charge to full capacity for later use. Reported benefits of completing such a project will increase the fuel economy to over 100 miles per gallon. The project ended with re-evaluation of the PHEV system as compared to the stock system. The platform will be used for future projects at WKU and its joint partner, the University of Louisville. This research testbed will be used for numerous undergraduate and graduate research projects.