METRIC MIND ENGINEERING |
| EVisionTM is sophisticated instrument which allows to monitor, accurately
measure and record many parameters related to a traction battery. It is designed primarily
for use in an electric vehicle, but since it is a battery performance instrument, it
can be used in an electric boat, bus, motorcycle, any type of hybrid vehicle, or in
general in any application (including stationary) where its battery parameters have to be
monitored. As a vehicle instrument, it meant to replace e-meter type of gadget and thus provide many more functions and flexible user configurable display options while getting rid of numerous e-meter shortcomings. EVisionTM not only acts as a "fuel gauge" of an EV or HEV, but also tracks (and logs with external PC) about 15 different parameters. Any three parameters can be displayed at once - two using digital readout (two 3 digit 7-segment LED displays) and one - using 25 segments analog bar. User can assign any of about 15 parameters to any of 3 displays where respective unit identifires are available, creating custom "page". 20 pages are stored in memory and selectable at the touch of remote button. In addition, EVisionTM is equipped with stock analog fuel gauge driver allowing using existing fuel gauge on the dash as traction battery SOC monitor. The instrument is powered from the traction battery pack via internal isolated DC-DC converter and does not require any external power to function. It will monitor and display status of auxiliary 12V battery any vehicle typically equipped with, but does not need 12V battery to be present at all. EVisionTM is fitted with galvanically isolated RS232C serial port for capturing streaming data and uploading/downloading configuration files. All parameters and values are date stamped and continuously streamed out in NMEA ASCII format whether acknowledged/captured or not. Corresponding PC software is included. GUI to download configuration is written for PC, Mac and Linux platforms. however it is only an interface for serial port download handler such as Windows hyperterminal, therefore identical job can be performed using any terminal software such as Z-terminal for Mac or any serial comm. pack for Linux. Here is the testimonial of the first beta tester John Wayland who installed and evaluated EVisionTM in his White Zombie - world's quickest street legal electric drag racing vehicle. Specification for pilot pre-production units is listed below. Measured and displayed parameters: Traction battery
Auxiliary 12V battery
Vehicle
Instrument
Optional functions are:
EVisionTM consists of at least 4 sub-blocks - main controller, HMI (remote user interface via rotary encoder) shunt measurement PCB and external or in-dash display. Optional speed sensor is required for efficiency and distance estimation calculations. Inter-component communication is implemented via CAN bus. Front end measurement hardware is based on BRUSA Ah counter shunt and measurement PCB to maintain backward compatibility with legacy BRUSA Ah counters. Thus existing BRUSA Ah counter owners can keep their measurement board with shunt and upgrade only EVisionTM display and main controller. Display comes in 2 flavors: external in a spherical enclosure and internal - without enclosure (for in-dash integration). 12V auxiliary battery voltage is monitored, but not used to power EVisionTM. In fact 12V power doesn't have to be present for proper instrument operation. The power is supplied directly from the main traction pack and the power consumed is about 2 W in running mode and about 300 mW in sleep mode. On this example of external display, vehicle efficiency (Wh/mile - US version) is configured for upper display, battery power (kW) - for lower display and battery relative state of charge (%SOC) - for the analog bar, acting as a fuel gauge. Relative SOC level is also outputted through the analog gauge driver as PWM signal. 1 US models use Imperial units (distance - miles, speed - MPH, tire pressure - PSI). EU models use metric units (distance - kilometers, speed - km/h, pressure - bars). Currently temperature is always expressed in °C. Computed values and correct units such as Wh/mile for US or Wh/km for EU are displayed accordingly. 2 Speed sensor required 3 Tire pressure sensors required M2-RG-US scheduled to be released to pilot production in Q3 2007. M2-RG-EU. M2-BW-US and M2-BW-EU planned to follow in 2008. Not all the features listed may be available immediately. PC software and EVisionTM firmware may need to be upgraded to enable all the features. Upgrades are free and downloadable from this web site. Inquire about particular feature set and limitations of current production model. Expansion module and associated functionality is not currently available. Features currently disabled in pilot production units and pending implementation:
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