Advanced controls and modeling of a hybrid vehicle

The Texas Tech University Advanced Vehicle Engineering Team has been working in vehicle competitions for 20 years. From that experience the team designed a hybrid vehicle to compete in the Challenge X Competition and the EcoCAR Competition. The Challenge X competition was designed around General Motors' Equinox, which was donated by General Motors. From that platform the team went into the design, implementation, testing and calibration of the vehicle in order to design a low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicle of the future. The vehicle was a mild hybrid 2007 Saturn Geenline Vue. In this way, Texas Tech and its sponsors can give back to the community and help the environment and global economy. After the completion of the Challenge X Competition, the EcoCAR Competition began in 2008, which followed in the Challenge X Competition's footsteps. The EcoCAR design team is currently in the designing phase of the project; it is during this stage of the project that the design team will decide with what vehicle architecture the team will submit for competition. This thesis discusses the steps taken in the implementation of the Challenge X vehicle for years 3 and 4 of the competition. Also, it has the initial design architectures for the EcoCAR competition and the team structure that will enable the team to function to the best of its ability.