ENGS 89/90 Reports

Year of Graduation

2024

Project Advisor

Charles Sullivan

Instructor

Solomon Diamond

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

The Battery Discharge Apparatus (BDA) is a resistive load design to safely dissipate power from Dartmouth Formula Racing’s (DFR) 250V battery used to power their car. Every competition, DFR is normally forced to test their battery weeks or even days before the competition, which prevents them from debugging any issues with their battery management system (BMS) before this time. This load is controlled by a safety circuit which enables proper shutdown and fault detection by processing thermal, current, interlock, and BMS sensor inputs. An AD2 can be utilized to switch between resistive loads, allowing the apparatus to dissipate 0kW, 10kW, 30kW, or 40kW from DFR’s battery. The BDA is designed to operate according to the predicted power dissipation cycles in the SAE Formula Hybrid+Electric Competition Endurance Event, thus allowing DFR to simulate the event which will place the most stress on the battery in a safe environment. Included in the design is a cart for holding the battery and interface boxes, granting quick mobility should a serious fault should occur and allowing the design to connect to a variety of wire gauges. Since DFR places an emphasis on allowing students to learn and apply their knowledge, an emphasis was placed on modularity and utilizing components DFR was familiar with. The end result of this project was a prototype that met DFR’s required specifications and extensive documentation so that future DFR engineers could learn about and safely operate the BDA.

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