Design and Development of Motor Control Unit (MCU) for EVs

Background

In the rapidly evolving Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, the need for an efficient Motor Controller ECU (Electronic Control Unit) is paramount to ensure enhanced safety, reliability, and performance. ​

Tata Elxsi, in partnership with Renesas Electronics, embarked on a collaborative effort under the Next Generation EV Innovation Center (NEVIC).​

 We worked on developing a versatile Motor Control Unit (MCU) for electric vehicles designed to accommodate a broad spectrum of motors and position sensors. This initiative not only showcases our innovation prowess, but it also sets a new benchmark for technological excellence in the EV industry.

Challenge

Meeting the surging demand for Electric Vehicles has put significant pressure on OEMs to expedite their product development and launch. ​

The intricacy of incorporating advanced motor control algorithms, optimizing performance, and ensuring compatibility with diverse position sensor types, throttle, and brake modules available in the market poses a challenge.​

Furthermore, there is additional complexity added by the laborious and complex procedure of motor testing with position sensor and phase-wire sequence, angle offset, and calibration for various throttle and brake modules.

Solution

Tata Elxsi and Renesas jointly developed this Motor Control Unit (MCU) on RH850C1M controller platform with all essential features for the motor control, safety and performance.

​ The solution featured a built-in motor control strategy along with multiple driving modes, Torque and speed control, cruise control, Flux weakening, thermal derating, and comprehensive fault detection and fault handling capabilities, ensuring compliance with safety and performance requirements. 

​ Furthermore, a high degree of flexibility is offered with adjustable pulse width modulations, automatic throttle, brake and angle offset calibration, and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the system configuration.

​ The modular and scalable design enabled seamless integration across diverse EV applications, including 2W,3W,4W and above.

Services rendered

• Scalable Architecture​
• Multiple motor control methods
• ​ Configurable motor types and sensor types
• ​ System configuration through GUI
• ​ Multiple Operating Modes
• ​ Derating and performance optimization​
• Fault detection and Fault handling
• ​ Diagnostics and Calibration