A procedure for practical prognostics and health monitoring of fully electric vehicles for enhanced safety and reliability

Fully Electric Vehicles (FEVs) for mass production present new challenges for automotive manufacturers. In particular, the relative immaturity of new building blocks such as motors and control components may have an impact on the safety and reliability of FEVs. In this context, one of the main objectives of the European FP7 Electrical Powertrain Health Monitoring for Increased Safety of FEVs (HEMIS) project is to design a Prognostic and Health Management System (PHMS), aiming to increasing the safety and availability of FEVs. This paper describes the practical procedures used to identify the most critical degradation mechanisms which can occur in FEV components, and for the development and verification of the PHMS algorithms. The analysis is focused on two of the most critical components: the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM), and the FEV control capacitor.