Analysis of the Electric Propulsion and Thermal Management System according to the Working Load of 55kW Agricultural Electric Tractor

In this study, a co-simulation environment capable of simultaneously analyzing the powertrain and thermal management systems was developed to ensure efficient thermal management performance of a 55-kW class agricultural electric tractor. The powertrain analysis model calculates the energy consumption according to vehicle power demand while deriving loss characteristics, which are provided as inputs to the thermal management system model. The thermal management system model performs thermal analysis by incorporating the loss characteristics of the powertrain. For model validation, load and temperature data were obtained during plowing operations using the 55-kW electric tractor, and a minimum prediction accuracy of 90.8% was achieved through comparison with the simulation results. The developed analysis model enables preliminary verification of system design for improving the performance and energy efficiency of the electric tractor at the simulation level.