Urban and extra-urban hybrid vehicles: a technological review

Pollution derived from transportation systems is a worldwide, timelier issue than ever. The abatement actions of harmful substances in the air are on the agenda and they are necessary today to safeguard our welfare and that of the planet. Environmental pollution in large cities is approximately 20% due to the transportation system. In addition, private traffic contributes greatly to city pollution. Further, “vehicle operating life” is most often exceeded and vehicle emissions do not comply with European antipollution standards. It becomes mandatory to find a solution that respects the environment and, realize an appropriate transportation service to the customers. New technologies related to hybrid –electric engines are making great strides in reducing emissions, and the funds allocated by public authorities should be addressed. In addition, the use (implementation) of new technologies is also convenient from an economic point of view. In fact, by implementing the use of hybrid vehicles, fuel consumption can be reduced. The different hybrid configurations presented refer to such a series architecture, developed by the researchers and Research and Development groups. Regarding energy flows, different strategy logic or vehicle management units have been illustrated. Various configurations and vehicles were studied by simulating different driving cycles, both European approval and homologation and customer ones (typically municipal and university). The simulations have provided guidance on the optimal proposed configuration and information on the component to be used

Field Oriented Sliding Mode Control of Surface-Mounted Permanent Magnet AC Motors: Theory and Applications to Electrified Vehicles

Permanent magnet ac motors have been extensively utilized for adjustable-speed traction motor drives, due to their inherent advantages including higher power density, superior efficiency and reliability, more precise and rapid torque control, larger power factor, longer bearing, and insulation life-time. Without any proportional-and-integral (PI) controllers, this paper introduces novel first- and higher-order field-oriented sliding mode control schemes. Compared with the traditional PI-based vector control techniques, it is shown that the proposed field oriented sliding mode control methods improve the dynamic torque and speed response, and enhance the robustness to parameter variations, modeling uncertainties, and external load perturbations. While both first- and higher-order controllers display excellent performance, computer simulations show that the higher-order field-oriented sliding mode scheme offers better performance by reducing the chattering phenomenon, which is presented in the first-order scheme. The higher-order field-oriented sliding mode controller, based on the hierarchical use of supertwisting algorithm, is then implemented with a Texas Instruments TMS320F28335 DSP hardware platform to prototype the surface-mounted permanent magnet ac motor drive. Last, computer simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed field-oriented sliding mode control approach is able to effectively meet the speed and torque requirements of a heavy-duty electrified vehicle during the EPA urban driving schedule

Adaptive Traction, Torque, and Power Control Strategies for Extended-Range Electric Vehicles

Modern hybrid electric and pure electric vehicles are highly dependent on control algorithms to provide seamless safe and reliable operation under any driving condition, regardless of driver behavior. Three unique and independently operating supervisory control algorithms are introduced to improve reliability and vehicle performance on a series-hybrid electric vehicle with an all-wheel drive all-electric drivetrain. All three algorithms dynamically control or limit the amount of torque that can be delivered to the wheels through an all-electric drivetrain, consisting of two independently controlled brushless-direct current (BLDC) electric machines. Each algorithm was developed and validated following a standard iterative engineering development process which places a heavy emphasis on modeling and simulation to validate the algorithms before they are tested on the physical system. A comparison of simulated and in-vehicle test results is presented, emphasizing the importance of modeling and simulation in the design process

Component Optimization of a Parallel P4 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Utilizing an Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy

Advancements in battery and electric motor technology have driven the development of hybrid electric vehicles to improve fuel economy. Hybrid electric vehicles can utilize an internal combustion engine and an electric motor in many configurations, requiring the development of advanced energy management strategies for a range of component configurations. The Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) is an advanced energy management strategy that can be calculated in-vehicle in real-time operation. This energy management strategy uses an equivalence factor to equate electrical to mechanical power when performing the torque split determination between the internal combustion engine and electric motor. This equivalence factor is determined from offline vehicle simulations using a sensitivity analysis to provide optimized fuel economy results, while maintaining a target state of charge of the battery. The goal of this work is to analyze how the algorithm operates with the WVU Chevy Blazer to find an optimal equivalence factor that can maintain a strict charge sustaining window of operation for the high voltage battery, while improving the fuel economy based on dynamic programing results calculated for this vehicle architecture. Different electric motor sizes are then explored by changing the max torque and max power to analyze how the equivalence factor changes to operate the ECMS algorithm. This research mainly focused on utilizing both the UDDS drive cycle and HwFET drive cycle to determine the effectiveness of the ECMS algorithm. The results show that as the max torque and max power of the electric motor increased, the equivalence factor found for the UDDS drive cycle and the HwFET drive cycle converged to similar value. The convergence of the equivalence factor allowed the ECMS algorithm to better maintain the target state of charge of the battery while maintaining the fuel economy and improving the fuel economy for the UDDS drive cycle and HwFET drive cycle, respectively

Energy recovery strategy for regenerative braking system of intelligent four-wheel independent drive electric vehicles

Regenerative braking system can recovery energy in various electric vehicles. Considering large computation load of global optimization methods, most researches adopt instantaneous or local algorithms to optimize the recuperation energy, and incline to study straight deceleration processes. However, uncertain drivers' intentions limit the potential exploration of economy improvement, and simple test conditions do not reflect the complexity of actual driving cycles. Herein, an innovative control architecture is designed for intelligent vehicles to overcome these challenges to some extent. Compared with traditional vehicles, driverless ones would eliminate drivers' interferences, and have more freedoms to optimize energy recovery, route tracking and dynamics stability. Specifically, a series regenerative braking system is designed, and then a three‐level control architecture is first proposed to coordinate three performances. In the top layer, some rules with maximum recuperation energy is exploited off‐line for optimising the velocity and control commands on‐line. In the middle layer, local algorithm is used to track the commands and complex routes for optimal energy from a global perspective. In the bottom layer, hydraulic and regenerative toques are allocated. Tests are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design and control schemes

Implementation Of Fuzzy Logic Control Into An Equivalent Minimization Strategy For Adaptive Energy Management Of A Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle

As government agencies continue to tighten emissions regulations due to the continued increase in greenhouse gas production, automotive industries are seeking to produce increasingly efficient vehicle technology. Electric vehicles have been introduced by the industry, showing promising signs of reducing emissions production in the automotive sector. However, many consumers may be hesitant to purchase fully electric vehicles due to several uncertainty variables including available charging stations. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) have been introduced to reduce problems while improving fuel economy. HEVs have led to the demand of creating more advanced controls software to consider multiple components for propulsive power in a vehicle. A large section in the software development process is the implementation of an optimal energy management strategy meant to improve the overall fuel efficiency of the vehicle. Optimal strategies can be implemented when driving conditions are known a prior. The Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) is an optimal control strategy that uses an equivalence factor to equate electrical to mechanical power when performing torque split determination between the internal combustion engine and electric motor for propulsive and regenerative torque. This equivalence factor is determined from offline vehicle simulations using a sensitivity analysis to provide optimal fuel economy results while maintaining predetermined high voltage battery state of charge (SOC) constraints. When the control hierarchy is modified or different driving styles are applied, the analysis must be redone to update the equivalence factor. The goal of this work is to implement a fuzzy logic controller that dynamically updates the equivalence factor to improve fuel economy, maintain a strict charge sustaining window of operation for the high voltage battery, and reduce computational time required during algorithm development. The adaptive algorithm is validated against global optimum fuel economy and charge sustaining results from a sensitivity analysis performed for multiple drive cycles. Results show a maximum fuel economy improvement of 9.82% when using a mild driving style and a 95% success rate when maintaining an ending SOC within 5% regardless of starting SOC. Recommendations for modification of the fuzzy logic controller are made to produce additional fuel economy and charge sustaining benefits from the parallel hybrid vehicle model

Control of a hybrid electric vehicle with predictive journey estimation

Battery energy management plays a crucial role in fuel economy improvement of charge-sustaining parallel hybrid electric vehicles. Currently available control strategies consider battery state of charge (SOC) and driver’s request through the pedal input in decision-making. This method does not achieve an optimal performance for saving fuel or maintaining appropriate SOC level, especially during the operation in extreme driving conditions or hilly terrain. The objective of this thesis is to develop a control algorithm using forthcoming traffic condition and road elevation, which could be fed from navigation systems. This would enable the controller to predict potential of regenerative charging to capture cost-free energy and intentionally depleting battery energy to assist an engine at high power demand. The starting point for this research is the modelling of a small sport-utility vehicle by the analysis of the vehicles currently available in the market. The result of the analysis is used in order to establish a generic mild hybrid powertrain model, which is subsequently examined to compare the performance of controllers. A baseline is established with a conventional powertrain equipped with a spark ignition direct injection engine and a continuously variable transmission. Hybridisation of this vehicle with an integrated starter alternator and a traditional rule-based control strategy is presented. Parameter optimisation in four standard driving cycles is explained, followed by a detailed energy flow analysis. An additional potential improvement is presented by dynamic programming (DP), which shows a benefit of a predictive control. Based on these results, a predictive control algorithm using fuzzy logic is introduced. The main tools of the controller design are the DP, adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system with subtractive clustering and design of experiment. Using a quasi-static backward simulation model, the performance of the controller is compared with the result from the instantaneous control and the DP. The focus is fuel saving and SOC control at the end of journeys, especially in aggressive driving conditions and a hilly road. The controller shows a good potential to improve fuel economy and tight SOC control in long journey and hilly terrain. Fuel economy improvement and SOC correction are close to the optimal solution by the DP, especially in long trips on steep road where there is a large gap between the baseline controller and the DP. However, there is little benefit in short trips and flat road. It is caused by the low improvement margin of the mild hybrid powertrain and the limited future journey information. To provide a further step to implementation, a software-in-the-loop simulation model is developed. A fully dynamic model of the powertrain and the control algorithm are implemented in AMESim-Simulink co-simulation environment. This shows small deterioration of the control performance by driver’s pedal action, powertrain dynamics and limited computational precision on the controller performance