Toward an Effective Virtual Powertrain Calibration System

Due to stricter emission regulations and more environmental awareness, the powertrain systems are moving toward higher fuel efficiency and lower emissions. In response to these pressing needs, new technologies have been designed and implemented by manufacturers. As a result of increasing complexity of the powertrain systems, their control and optimization become more and more challenging. Virtual powertrain calibration, also known as model-based calibration, has been introduced to transfer a part of test bench testing into a virtual environment, and hence considerably reduce time and cost of product development process while increasing the product quality. Nevertheless, virtual calibration has not yet reached its full potential in industrial applications. Volvo Penta has recently developed a virtual test cell named VIRTEC, which is used in an ongoing pilot project to meet the Stage V emission standards. The integrated powertrain system includes engine, Exhaust Aftertreatment System (EATS), and Engine Management System (EMS). The objective of this paper is to describe the essential aspects required to increase the contribution of virtual testing in powertrain calibration activities. These aspects comprise the following: Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) system, simulation models, and working process for joint virtual and physical testing to facilitate efficient powertrain development process. The current paper describes the design, test and verification of a calibration platform based on the requirements of the project. The future phases in the current project (Virtual Calibration at Volvo Penta) will cover validation of the platform by performing calibrations in industrial scales on the virtual system.