In collaboration with the Vehicular Technology Society of IEEE, the VTS challenge is proposed to students. The challenge is to define the best on-board energy management strategy for a fuel cells-powered train equipped with batteries and supercapacitors. Each student is provided with a simulink model of the train and its sources. The student must implement the energy management system in order to:
1. Minimize the costs of hydrogen and electricity consumed;
2. Minimize hydrogen consumption;
3. Increase the service life of the fuel cell and battery.

Each student will have at their disposal some "basic" paths to test and optimize their energy management algorithm. It will also have at its disposal a tool for the calculation of an objective function to be minimized that takes into account the costs of electricity and hydrogen and the useful life of fuel cell and battery. In the first lessons students will be provided with the necessary simulink bases for the challenge together with the train model, test paths and tool for calculating the objective function. After that, students will be left free to develop their own control algorithm and will be supported for any implementation issues. At the end of the activities there will be a race during which the energy management systems will be compared on a single path different from the basic ones provided for calibration and will win the algorithm that will minimize the objective function.

dal March 2021 a May 2021