Systems Engineering Approach for Design of an Electric Tractor

The work is centred around evaluating the feasibility of replacing the internal combustion (IC) engine from an existing India off-highway tractor segment of 75hp range with an electric-drive power package while keeping the post-flywheel vehicle drive-train intact. Tractors are considered a multi-utility vehicle in India. Hence, the detailed scope involves benchmarking crucial India tractor application(s), the duty cycle of the targeted segment, ambient requirements, and legislative requirements in finalising the performance targets. Based on well-compiled requirements, the work involves the selection of suitable design parameters for the motor and complementing power-electronics components, thereby forming a package and developing a control strategy for the e-drive package using simulation techniques. This portion of the work involves evaluating the state-of-art control technology from the plethora of techniques available in the field. The scope of the current work only considers model verification of the entire e-drive of the prime mover. However, the work does not consider any form of proto-type preparation and its testing. The work enlists the evaluation metrics employed to estimate the performance feasibility of the e-drive package.