Note: this function is available to work on full-time, as well as part-time.
General information
With this project, you will work on a Battery Management System (BMS) that uses active balancing to level the state of charge of cells at high rates, suiting our fast-charging battery pack.
At InMotion, we have a unique use-case in electric endurance racing that requires an active balancing design that is fast, efficient and small. Something that is not yet on the market but is actively being discussed in research papers. Therefore, this project requires us to delf deep into the fundamentals of electronics and converter design and work together with established companies to solve issues at the edge of our current capabilities. Instead of combining existing components, you will help create a system from the ground up that allow batteries to be used in a more sustainable way. With this project, you will directly contribute to the mission of InMotion by inspiring the automotive sector towards a greener future, while at the same time work in a motivated team of fellow engineering studies to push the boundaries in the field of Electrical Engineering.
Function description
To orchestrate the handling of sensor input, safety measures and controlling switching circuits all within a development environment requires us to have adequate software. It needs to be adaptive so that it can be customized for different test setup and conditions. Your task will be to work with MATLAB High-Level Synthesis (HLS) to create Hardware Description Language (HDL) code for chips, including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The actual setup of logic will happen in MATLAB SIMULINK, but it is important to understand the underlying process for debugging purposes.
The first step of the project will be creating a clear overview of the logic processes needed for a Battery Management System (BMS), going from sensor input to State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH). This requires you to relate real-life processes with logic and functions and be able to turn a potentially complex model into a clear overview.
The BMS consists of slaves and masters, the slave software needs to be designed first. You will create a MATLAB HLS for the provided chip and test your software directly with a provided emulator board. During this process there will be continuous testing on real life hardwire to validate your model every step of the way. The master design will be your next challenge, again you will start by creating a MATLAB HLS, but this time for an FPGA with a language like VHDL as its hardware descriptive language. Here you will work on a kind of programming that is meant for creating embedded system which function at high speeds. The overall goal will be to create an entire software setup for controlling our active balancing BMS.
What do you get back?
- The perfect opportunity to get practical experience in the field of electrical engineering/computer science
- The chance to innovate a new system that does not exist yet
- A unique time where you work with a group of ambitious students towards one goal
- A diverse team with whom you often do fun things
- The chance to build a network within the automotive world
- The perfect opportunity to complement your CV with this work experience
- The opportunity to follow different trainings offered by our partners
- Enough freedom, but also set goals to make your year together with your team a success
Interested in joining InMotion but still have some questions? Send an email to hr@inmotion.tue.nl to plan a coffee talk with one of our members! Or do you already know for sure you want to be an engineer for InMotion? Then fill in the vacancy form!
