Vehicle control unit for drivetrains exclusively from power electronics technology demonstrators

Power electronics technology demontrators for electric vehicle drivetrains are primarily designed to demonstrate the feasibility of novel technical approaches rather than for simple integration into vehicle communication networks. Documentation related to integration issues is often limited. Communication protocols are heterogeneous and tend to change frequently during the development process. Higher level software functions are often not fully implemented in the electronic control unit firmwares. This paper presents the design and implementation of a vehicle control unit software, that is based on a rapid prototyping approach. The software design is flexible and modular enough to cope with the specific characteristics of technology demonstrators. Its features enable to test and recursively integrate these components into a vehicle. The software was employed to integrate a complete powertrain, exclusively composed of power electronics technology demonstrators, into a converted sports car.