SOLICITATION NOTICE
23 -- Licensing Opportunity - ADVISOR (ADvanced VehIcle SimulatOR) Software
- Notice Date
- 6/27/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory - Midwest Research Institute (DOE Contractor), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO, 80401
- ZIP Code
- 80401
- Solicitation Number
- Advisor
- Response Due
- 7/31/2002
- Archive Date
- 8/15/2002
- Point of Contact
- Carol Meyer, Sr. License Administrator, Phone (303) 275-4269, Fax (303) 275-3040, - Carol Meyer, Sr. License Administrator, Phone (303) 275-4269, Fax (303) 275-3040,
- E-Mail Address
-
carol_meyer@nrel.gov, carol_meyer@nrel.gov
- Description
- DESC: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), operated by Midwest Research Institute under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, anticipates negotiating a license agreement with a U.S. company interested in commercializing the ADVISOR (ADvanced VehIcle SimulatOR) software described below. ADVISOR has a large and documented user base (more than 5000), and can be viewed as an industry standard for analyzing system level vehicle issues, advanced propulsion system concepts, and for trading off the benefits and performance of automotive propulsion system components with varying specifications and attributes. To date ADVISOR has been distributed at no cost as an open source file on the worldwide web and its registered users are diverse. They include automotive manufacturers and suppliers, universities and technical institutes, research laboratories, and government organizations. NREL is seeking collaboration with a commercial partner to continue supporting and upgrading ADVISOR as required for the software to achieve success as a commercially available product. NREL intends to continue using ADVISOR in support of the DOE?s transportation program goals. Therefore, we seek to develop and maintain an active and mutually beneficial collaboration with our licensee/partner. NREL has three objectives that we would like to accomplish through the grant of a license: (1) To transfer the code to a private sector partner with a strong interest in increasing the use of the software within the automotive OEM, supplier and design/analysis communities; (2) To receive fair, reasonable and customary monetary compensation for the investment that DOE has made to date in developing ADVISOR to its current level; (3) To increase the current analysis capabilities within the transportation programs at NREL through staff training and acquisition of advanced proprietary automotive modeling and simulation tools provided by our commercial partner. NREL is seeking unique proposals from offerers who are motivated to develop a business plan that: builds upon what ADVISOR has been designed to do; further improves and enhances the code; increases the number and quality of component databases accessible to ADVISOR users; continues to improve the overall product and its packaging through periodic product updates; and links the code with other complimentary commercial software design and analysis tools. To support DOE goals to reduce automotive fuel consumption and emissions, NREL developed ADVISOR. It is essentially an analysis software package capable of providing fast and accurate simulations of a wide variety of vehicle configurations, with an emphasis on advanced powertrains and design optimization for fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. ADVISOR provides a specialized tool for the automotive engineering community to quickly simulate the performance of a large number of vehicle design options, therefore reducing the time and expense involved in building and testing prototypes. ADVISOR is written in the MATLAB/Simulink environment and is easy to use, flexible yet robust, and supported by an analysis package for vehicle modeling. It is primarily used to quantify the fuel economy, performance, and emissions of vehicles that use advanced propulsion system technologies such as fuel cells, batteries, electric motors, and internal combustion engines in hybrid (i.e. multiple power sources) configurations. In processing simulations, ADVISOR uses a unique combination of traditional backward facing models with forward facing feedback that results in fast execution time and accurate performance. An extensive database of vehicle components and configurations is included with ADVISOR. This database includes detailed data on 23 different engines (gasoline and diesel), 25 electric motors, 7 fuel cells, 23 traction batteries (including lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride, lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium, and nickel-zinc), 18 different powertrain control strategies, as well as various exhaust systems, transmissions, torque couplers, wheels and axles, and accessory loads. NREL is not aware of any other vehicle simulation software that contains an equivalent depth of component data. Input data has been collected from industry partners, ADVISOR users throughout the world, and research laboratories. ADVISOR contains a wealth of detailed data, sophisticated component models, and is extremely flexible. It provides a broad range of possibilities for conducting computer simulations of standard vehicle test procedures, as well as many non-standard driving cycles along with the ability to generate special, customized test procedures. Simulations produce many detailed calculations including vehicle dynamics, electrical systems, gas flow rates, and thermal system models that are performed for each individual component during each second of the driving cycle. ADVISOR performs these calculations quickly without sacrificing accuracy. A letter from one user shows that they have achieved accuracy within 4%, when compared to their test data, using ADVISOR to simulate the operation of a hybrid transit bus. Qualifications of potential licensee: Respondents to this announcement should be familiar with the analysis needs of the automotive industry and capable of demonstrating expertise in the design, development and marketing of commercial modeling and simulation software. Respondents should be prepared to produce a business plan or commercialization pathway for ADVISOR that clearly demonstrates their ability to maintain and grow the existing userbase. Companies with the ability to validate models through full-scale or bench testing of components and systems are particularly encouraged to respond to this announcement. Teaming arrangements would be an option to consider for respondents who do not have in-house validation capability. As previously stated, one objective of NREL?s transportation program is to expand and enhance our existing analysis capabilities. Therefore, offerings that include in-kind contributions in the form of limited-use software licenses, access to proprietary databases and staff training are encouraged. In addition, respondents may feel it is necessary to retain NREL ADVISOR development staff to affect a timely and orderly transfer of the technology to the licensee. In that case, the respondents ability to fund the labor necessary to transfer the technology will be considered a component of the overall compensation package for the license. Creative proposals are encouraged, however the respondent will have the burden of demonstrating the present and future values of any in-kind contributions that are included in their offering. THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Organizations interested in commercializing NREL technologies will provide their own financial resources to commercialize the technology. NREL reserves the right to withdraw this announcement of our intent to license ADVISOR if it does not produce responses that substantially address our vision for commercialization. Questions and expressions of interest may be addressed to Richard Bolin, fax # 303-275-3040, or Email: richard_bolin@nrel.gov.
- Place of Performance
- Address: NREL, 1617 Cole Blvd, MS 1635, Golden, CO
- Zip Code: 80401
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 80401
- Record
- SN00100573-W 20020629/020627213126 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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