Developing the IM01!

It all started in March 2012. The idea of building a platform to demonstrate all high tech research all together in a single sexy showcase. InMotion was born. We believed that if you combine all this research you could build a series-hybrid car that outperforms a formula 1 car while being able to do this for 24hrs and in a clean way. But is this even possible? Is it technologically possible to beat a formula 1 car with an electric or hybrid racecar? This is where the PDEngs stepped in.

In their 2 year Post-Master study they are given various assignments on faculties spread on the campus of the TU. This way they have a lot more valuable project experience before entering industry. For their 3 month assignment at the Electromechanics and Power Electronics group (EPE) from Electrical Engineering they were given the task to research the topology of the IM01. So let’s find out some more about what they did!

Laptime simulation

On 4 Oct, that is last Thursday, they showed their results. Not to go too much into details they did some clever things though. One of these things is that they used google maps data including the elevation and even tire marks to create a digital track to do simulations on. With this digital track it is possible to simulate a lap around the Circuit de la Sarthe, best known for the 24Hr of Le Mans. Given a certain combination and sizing of electric motors, batteries, power convertors and a hot spot generator they could tell us a lap time and even after how many laps the car would need refueling.

Instead of the regular batteries, the IM01 will use supercaps. In more conventional words a large capacitor to store only the energy recuperated from regenerative braking. This means the car is able to drive for a very long time, without needing to replace battery packs. This is because supercaps have a very high power density opposed to for instance Lithium Polymer batteries which have a large energy density instead.

So with of-the-shelve components it is possible to reach a lap time of 2:55 on the Circuit de la Sarthe. That’s just 10 seconds slower than a Formula 1 car, with a hybrid-electric powertrain! Research at InMotion is in full progress to design more customized components to lower that laptime even more.

Special thanks go out to the 7 PDEng trainees (on the left), Prof Dr. E Lomonova, Aleksandar Borisavljevic (on the right), and Johan Paulides for this great project. This sets large steps in making the dream of InMotion reality!

Thanks for reading our blog posts and do not forget to visit our Website! http://inmotion.tue.nl/