Argonne wins Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology
Transfer
ARGONNE, Ill. (June 12, 2007) — A computer software program that helps developers
of alternative vehicles, developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne
National Laboratory, has won a national award for technology development.
Each year, the Federal
Laboratory Consortium (FLC), which comprises more than
600 federal laboratories and research centers, recognizes laboratory employees
who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring federally
developed technology to the marketplace.
This year, Argonne received an FLC
Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for the Powertrain
System Analysis Toolkit, developed by Aymeric Rousseau, Phillip
Sharer, and Sylvain Pagerit of Argonne's Center for Transportation Research
supported by Lee Slezak and the U.S. Department of Energy's FreedomCAR
and Vehicle Technologies Program.
Argonne's Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) enables automotive designers
to overcome time and cost constraints for advanced vehicle design, such as
hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. Because it would be impossible to build and
test every different powertrain option manually, PSAT provides the modeling
and simulation capabilities for automotive designers to quickly examine the
multitudes of possible configurations and understand the impacts on vehicle
performance and fuel economy.
The main strategy in developing PSAT was to make the software as flexible
and user-friendly as possible. So the development team strengthened PSAT's
analytical capabilities, increased the number of powertrain configurations
that PSAT could simulate — currently more than 400 — and improved
the model to ensure effortless integration of virtually any proprietary models,
controls and driving cycles. These efforts help explain why, just two years
after being made available for licensing, PSAT became the most widely held
software ever licensed by Argonne.
Aymeric Rousseau, PSAT team lead at Argonne, said, "PSAT can simulate
an unrivaled number of pre-defined vehicle configurations and offers a wide
range of analysis tools to facilitate the understanding of complex powertrains.
The software helps engineers choose which technology to use before touching
any hardware, making decisions faster and more cost effective. These benefits
translate to the consumer by lowering the cost of ownership and improving mileage."
In the long term, the PSAT developers expect their software will help foster
the development of advanced vehicle technologies, such as hybrid electric vehicles
(HEVs), plug-in HEVs, fuel cell and hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and contribute
to eventual petroleum independence by transportation sectors worldwide.
Sponsored by the Department of Energy, development of PSAT began in 1995 as
a collaborative effort with USCAR partners
Ford, General
Motors, and DaimlerChrysler in response to the need for a common
advanced powertrain modeling software that could realistically simulate fuel
economy and performance. The software was initially released in 2003 and was
recognized as an R&D 100 award winner
in 2004. PSAT is currently used by more than 300 researchers worldwide in more
than 60 companies and universities. It has been selected by DOE as its' primary
vehicle simulation tool to support its FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership Program
and to provide guidance future research orientation.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology.
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic
and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne
researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities,
and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific
problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for
a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed
by UChicago
Argonne, LLC for
the U.S.
Department of Energy's Office
of Science.
For more information, please
contact Eleanor Taylor (630/252-5510 or media@anl.gov)
at Argonne.
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