Increased understanding of hybrid vehicle design through modeling, simulation, and optimization

2010 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Vehicle design is constantly changing and improving due to the technologically driven nature of the automotive industry, particularly in the hybridization and electrification of vehicle drive trains. Through enhanced design vehicle level design constraints can result in the fulfillment of system level design objectives. These constraints may include improved vehicle fuel economy, all electric range, and component costs which can affect system objectives of increased national energy independence, reduced vehicle and societal emissions, and reduced life-cycle costs. In parallel, as computational power increases the ability to accurately represent systems through analytical models improves. This allows for systems engineering which is commonly quicker and less resource consuming than physical testing. As a systems engineering technique, optimization has shown to obtain superior solutions systematically, in opposition to trial-and-error designs of the past. Through the combination of vehicle models, computer numerical simulation, and optimization, overall vehicle systems design can greatly improve. This study defines a connection between the system level objectives for advanced vehicle design and the component- and vehicle-level design process using a multi-level design and simulation modeling environment. The methods and information pathways for vehicle system models are presented and applied to dynamic simulation. Differing vehicle architecture simulations are subjected to a selection of proven optimization algorithms and design objectives such that the performance of the algorithms and vehicle-specific design information and sensitivity is obtained. The necessity of global search optimization and aggregate objective functions are confirmed through exploration of the complex hybrid vehicle design space. Whether the chosen design space is limited to available components or expanded to academic areas, studies can be performed for numerous design objectives and constraints. The combination of design criteria into quantifiable objective functions allows for direct optimization comparison based on any number of design goals. Integrating well-defined objective functions into high performing global optimization search methods provides increased probability of obtaining solutions which represent the most germane designs. Additionally, key interactions between different components in the vehicular system can easily be identified such that ideal directions for gain relative to minimal cost can be achieved. Often times vehicular design processes require lower order representations or consist of time and resource consuming iterations. Through the formulation presented in this study, more details, objectives, and methods become available for comparing advanced vehicles across architectures. The main techniques used for setting up the models, simulations and optimizations are discussed along with results of test runs based on chosen vehicle objectives. Utility for the vehicular design efforts are presented through comparisons of available simulation and future areas of research are suggested

Soft computing based controllers for automotive air conditioning system with variable speed compressor

The inefficient On/Off control for the compressor operation has long been regarded as the major factor contributing to energy loss and poor cabin temperature control of an automotive air conditioning (AAC) system. In this study, two soft computing based controllers, namely the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) based controllers tuned using differential evolution (DE) algorithm and an adaptive neural network based model predictive controller (A-NNMPC), are proposed to be used in the regulation of cabin temperature through proper compressor speed modulation. The implementation of the control schemes in conjunction with DE and neural network aims to improve the AAC performance in terms of reference tracking and power efficiency in comparison to the conventional On/Off operation. An AAC experimental rig equipped with variable speed compressor has been developed for the implementation of the proposed controllers. The dynamics of the AAC system is modelled using a nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous inputs (NARX) neural network. Based on the plant model, the PID gains are offline optimized using the DE algorithm. Experimental results show that the DE tuned PID based controller gives better tracking performance than the Ziegler-Nichols tuning method. For A-NNMPC, the identified NARX model is incorporated as a predictive model in the control system. It is trained in real time throughout the control process and therefore able to adaptively capture the time varying dynamics of the AAC system. Consequently, optimal performance can be achieved even when the operating point is drifted away from the nominal condition. Finally, the comparative assessment indicates clearly that A-NNMPC outperforms its counterparts, followed by DE tuned PID based controller and the On/Off controller. Both proposed control schemes achieve up to 47% power saving over the On/Off operation, indicating that the proposed control schemes can be potential alternatives to replace the On/Off operation in an AAC system

Artificial intelligence models for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump systems

Artificial intelligence (AI) models for refrigeration, heat pumps, and air conditioners have emerged in recent decades. The universal approximation accuracy and prediction performances of various AI structures like feedforward neural networks, radial basis function neural networks, adaptive neuro�fuzzy inference and recurrent neural networks are encouraging interest. This review discusses existing topographies of neural network models for RHVAC system modelling, energy prediction and fault(s), and detection and diagnosis. Studies show that AI structures require standardization and improvement for tuning hyperparameters (like weight, bias, activation functions, number of hidden layers and neurons). The selection of activation functions, validation, and learning algorithms depends on author’s suitability for a particular application. Backpropagation, error trial selection of the number of hidden layer, and hidden layers’ neurons, and Levenberg–Marquardt learning algorithms, remain prevalent methodologies for developing AI structures. The major limitations to the application of AI models in RHVAC systems include exploding or/and vanishing gradients, interpretability, and accuracy trade off, and training saturation and limited sensitivity. This review aims to give up-to-date applications of different AI architectures in RHVAC systems and to identify the associated limitations and prospect

Optimization and control of a dual-loop EGR system in a modern diesel engine

Focusing on the author's research aspects, the intelligent optimization algorithm and advanced control methods of the diesel engine's air path have been proposed in this work. In addition, the simulation platform and the HIL test platform are established for research activities on engine optimization and control. In this thesis, it presents an intelligent transient calibration method using the chaos-enhanced accelerated particle swarm optimization (CAPSO) algorithm. It is a model-based optimization approach. The test results show that the proposed method could locate the global optimal results of the controller parameters within good speed under various working conditions. The engine dynamic response is improved and a measurable drop of engine fuel consumption is acquired. The model predictive control (MPC) is selected for the controllers of DLEGR and VGT in the air-path of a diesel engine. Two MPC-based controllers are developed in this work, they are categorized into linear MPC and nonlinear MPC. Compared with conventional PIO controller, the MPC-based controllers show better reference trajectory tracking performance. Besides, an improvement of the engine fuel economy is obtained. The HIL test indicates the two controllers could be implemented on the real engine

OPTIMIZATION APPLIED TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND THERMAL COMFORT OF BUILDINGS: BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS ON TECHNIQUES AND APPLICATIONS

The world's energy demand has raised concerns about supply difficulties, depletion of natural resources and environmental impacts such as destruction of ozone layer, global warming, climate change, among others. Recent studies indicate that energy consumption in buildings represents more than 40% of the world's energy consumption, with more than half of that attributed to air conditioning systems. Specific regulations and control strategies for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems should provide acceptable thermal comfort and reasonable indoor air quality. The evolution of researches in these areas can be evaluated by the organization of scientific production up to now. The objective of this study is to analyze quantitatively what was produced in terms of optimization associated to both energy savings and thermal comfort in buildings. This bibliometric analysis, based on Science Direct and IEEE Xplore databases, correlates common adopted terms to quantify how optimization, especially those associated to computational intelligence, are influencing building projects where thermal comfort and energy saving are taken into account. This research assumes a sample of 76 articles, and provided a statistical evaluation considering authors identification, and both articles and journals that were more cited by researchers in this area

State-of-the-art in aerodynamic shape optimisation methods

Aerodynamic optimisation has become an indispensable component for any aerodynamic design over the past 60 years, with applications to aircraft, cars, trains, bridges, wind turbines, internal pipe flows, and cavities, among others, and is thus relevant in many facets of technology. With advancements in computational power, automated design optimisation procedures have become more competent, however, there is an ambiguity and bias throughout the literature with regards to relative performance of optimisation architectures and employed algorithms. This paper provides a well-balanced critical review of the dominant optimisation approaches that have been integrated with aerodynamic theory for the purpose of shape optimisation. A total of 229 papers, published in more than 120 journals and conference proceedings, have been classified into 6 different optimisation algorithm approaches. The material cited includes some of the most well-established authors and publications in the field of aerodynamic optimisation. This paper aims to eliminate bias toward certain algorithms by analysing the limitations, drawbacks, and the benefits of the most utilised optimisation approaches. This review provides comprehensive but straightforward insight for non-specialists and reference detailing the current state for specialist practitioners