TU Graz - Institute of Electrical Measurement and Measurement Signal Processing

Automotive and industrial sensor design

Several sensor principles developed at EMT were brought to volume products in cooperation with industrial partners. Sensor design for monitoring the fill level and flow of fuels aims for the development of robust sensor systems that can be built at affordable costs. For this reason, non-contacting principles (i.e. pneumatic, optical, capacitive) are favoured and methods are proposed that exploit sensor components already available in the vehicle to minimize required constructional changes in the tank system.

Power electronics and hybrid vehicle technology

Research activities concerning modern vehicle concepts and alternative fuels are focused on the following topics:

• Powertrain modelling for conventional and hybrid vehicles
• Design and evaluation of future energy storage (e.g. flywheel systems)
• Modelling and characterization of automotive energy storage systems
• Power converter design and optimization

Modelling of the automotive powertrain and energy storage components is performed to simulate the entire onboard energy supply system. This allows for the creation of realistic load profiles that can be used to assess the behaviour of particular onboard components over the entire life-time. Current research on energy storage components includes both development and evaluation of battery models characterizing the entire life-time of batteries as well as the current charge condition. The models are parameterized/ verified by experimental methods assessing fundamental physical quantities (e.g. pressure, temperature).

In addition to device modelling, alternative energy storage devices are developed and evaluated at the Institute: Current research is focused on the increase of the specific energy and power density of electromechanical flywheel systems applied for passenger cars and public transport. This includes the enhancement of the efficiency of the active magnetic parts as well as the application of modern composite materials allowing for an increased rotational speed. In order to optimize the flywheel power converter circuitry, the expertise of the Institute in the field of power electronics is exploited. In this area, we provide support for our industrial partners in both power converter simulation and design, ranging from thermal optimization and EMC compliance verification for electronic circuits to the development of control strategies with regard to modern powertrain topologies.