Innovation
EVs can get range boost with German firm’s temperature prediction tech for electric motor
A German company’s latest technology enhances the temperature prediction accuracy of electric motors. This can help increase performance and efficiency of electric vehicles without compromising reliability.
ZF’s TempAI is an AI-based solution that improves electric motors temperature forecast accuracy by over 15 percent, enabling significantly more precise thermal utilization of the electric machine.
AI-based technology is ready for series production
The company revealed that the AI-based technology is ready for series production and available for the new generation of ZF electric motors.
ZF highlighted that the TempAI is based on a platform that automatically generates physically based models from measurement data and makes them operational in a very short time. Existing control units are sufficient, as the AI models used require low computing resources. This leads to very cost-efficient implementation in series production, according to the company.
“This technology enables us to further increase the efficiency and reliability of our drives. At the same time, TempAI demonstrates how data-driven development can be not only faster, but also more sustainable and more powerful,” said Dr. Stefan Sicklinger, Head of AI, Digital Engineering, and Validation in R&D, ZF.
It’s also being claimed that the more precise temperature prediction enables more targeted control right up to the thermal operating limit.
Method could deliver up to 6% more peak power
The result could deliver up to six percent more peak power and a verifiable increase in efficiency in the WLTP cycle, the global standard for realistic driving emissions. During dynamic driving – as for example, on the Nürburgring Nordschleife – energy consumption is reduced by 6 to 18 percent, depending on the load point, according to a press release.
ZF’s TempAI also offers ecological and economic advantages. The optimized thermal design allows significant quantities of heavy rare earths to be saved.
AI helps to record processes inside the electric motor
The company underlined that during the development of electric drives, AI helps to understand and record processes inside the electric motor, for which there is no physically reliable model for cost or time reasons. The challenge is that the temperature inside a rotor can only be measured directly during operation at high cost.
However, there is a wealth of measurement data that is systematically recorded during extensive functional tests on the test bench and later in the test vehicles. This includes temperature values from the environment, such as from the oil pan, and the rotor speeds, according to the press release.
ZF also revealed that the various possible operating points and their temporal progression result in millions of data points. These depend on whether and when drivers call up full power or coast along at walking pace.
Source: interestingengineering.com
