The significant reduction in the number of parts in an electric vehicle, has led to modular architecture, which gives multiple advantages to an OEM to design and manufacture.
18 Aug 2024 | 6327 Views | By Gopal Musale, Tata Technologies
With increased customer demand for using smart tools due to extensive experience over the last decade with smartphones making life easier, Software-Driven Vehicles (SDVs) are no longer restricted to luxury cars but also include middle-price range vehicles. The usage of SDVs is predominantly increasing in the electric vehicle (EV) sector ...
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With increased customer demand for using smart tools due to extensive experience over the last decade with smartphones making life easier, Software-Driven Vehicles (SDVs) are no longer restricted to luxury cars but also include middle-price range vehicles. The usage of SDVs is predominantly increasing in the electric vehicle (EV) sector versus conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The high demand for SDVs is leading to a modular architecture approach in both the mechanical and electronics domains for OEMs to stay competitive.
Mechanical Domain Architecture
The significant reduction in the number of parts in an electric vehicle, has led to modular architecture, which gives multiple advantages to an OEM to design and manufacture various types of vehicles in different lengths, sizes, and shapes in a short duration.
Electrical and Electronic Domain Architecture
To achieve the simplicity of a smartphone in the automobile domain, zonal and distributed types of EE architecture have evolved related to domains like ADAS, Powertrain, and Passive Safety, which are centred around the domains. Depending on which type of architecture is used by an OEM, the usage of ECUs varies.
Electrical Vehicle Challenges
Even though the EV market is increasing for automobiles, the biggest challenge of high-voltage batteries (HVB) still exists. A simple case of HVB during high or low outside temperatures makes the battery inefficient due to a reduction in range or increased charging times. In short, the challenges of SDVs and their extensive use in EVs require very efficient thermal management, and virtual validation is a well-known domain that is significantly used by OEMs to keep automobiles cool and smart by making Software-Driven Vehicles work efficiently.
Importance Of CAE Simulations In Engineering
In the engineering world, it is a well-known fact and an established process to use Virtual Validation, also called Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), in the development cycle of a new product. The product can range from a small plastic clip to an automobile, industrial heavy machinery, or an aeroplane, which needs to be developed from a concept phase to production. CAE is a discipline that guides a design team in a product's journey, ensuring it is competitive in terms of weight and manufacturing cost by analyzing techniques in selecting the right material and manufacturability to meet its ultimate function.
With the advent of high-end computing, CAE has become a principal domain with multiple sub-domains evolving to cater to manufacturing simulations, Crash & Safety, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Noise Vibration & Harshness (NVH), Durability, and Multi-body dynamics (MBD). The various disciplines need various mathematical models leading to software like LS-DYNA, ABAQUS, NASTRAN, MSC ADAMS, ALTAIR'S OPTISTRUCT, and Star CCM+, to name a few. Virtual validation plays a significant role in left shifting the development cycle, saving millions of dollars by replacing physical prototypes during the initial stages of product development.
A decade ago, there used to be high-performance computers (HPCs) that would take a good amount of time to simulate a test case scenario. However, due to the advent of fast semiconductor chips, this situation has improved significantly. Earlier, engineering companies, whether OEMs or Engineering Service Providers (ESPs), were either purchasing or leasing HPCs and spending millions of dollars for years to provide speedy products at competitive pricing. The in-house on-premises HPC would incur IT costs to maintain the server running 24/7 and electricity costs to keep the HPC machine cool to avoid overheating, leading to downtime.
Cloud computing is the new trend where large software companies are ready to provide services to OEMs and ESPs alike. This changes the entire landscape of HPC and CAE offerings. Cloud services reduce significant investment and logistics costs, giving OEMs a competitive advantage.
Future Of Virtual Validation and Software Driven Vehicles
Both virtual validation and SDVs are going to take advantage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) tools, which will help OEMs left shift the development cycle. In the coming decade, the usage of these tools will be as high as 60%, making automobiles safer and smarter. Thus, most of the passive safety features today will be part of active safety services due to smarter automobiles, be they passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles.
OEMs are also finding multiverse computer platforms with many advantages, like digital twinning and Universal Scene Description (USD), which will allow IT, CAD, CAM, and CAE engineers to access various design models simultaneously, leading to fast solutions. This provides a huge advantage to be competitive as a product developer, as logistics are simplified. Exciting times are yet to come with SDVs involving SOTA and FOTA, making the automobile not just a means of transportation but a more adaptive entity that will evolve and adapt to the users' needs, providing a delightful experience to the customer.
Gopal Musale is Vice President and Global Head, Virtual Validation Centre Of Excellence, ER&D Tata Technologies. Views expressed are his own.