Vehicle Propulsion Systems


Book Description

The authors of this text have written a comprehensive introduction to the modeling and optimization problems encountered when designing new propulsion systems for passenger cars. It is intended for persons interested in the analysis and optimization of vehicle propulsion systems. Its focus is on the control-oriented mathematical description of the physical processes and on the model-based optimization of the system structure and of the supervisory control algorithms.




Energy Efficient Non-Road Hybrid Electric Vehicles


Book Description

This book analyzes the main problems in the real-time control of parallel hybrid electric powertrains in non-road applications that work in continuous high dynamic operation. It also provides practical insights into maximizing the energy efficiency and drivability of such powertrains. It introduces an energy-management control structure, which considers all the physical powertrain constraints and uses novel methodologies to predict the future load requirements to optimize the controller output in terms of the entire work cycle of a non-road vehicle. The load prediction includes a methodology for short-term loads as well as cycle detection methodology for an entire load cycle. In this way, the energy efficiency can be maximized, and fuel consumption and exhaust emissions simultaneously reduced. Readers gain deep insights into the topics that need to be considered in designing an energy and battery management system for non-road vehicles. It also becomes clear that only a combination of management systems can significantly increase the performance of a controller.




Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels


Book Description

For a century, almost all light-duty vehicles (LDVs) have been powered by internal combustion engines operating on petroleum fuels. Energy security concerns about petroleum imports and the effect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on global climate are driving interest in alternatives. Transitions to Alternative Vehicles and Fuels assesses the potential for reducing petroleum consumption and GHG emissions by 80 percent across the U.S. LDV fleet by 2050, relative to 2005. This report examines the current capability and estimated future performance and costs for each vehicle type and non-petroleum-based fuel technology as options that could significantly contribute to these goals. By analyzing scenarios that combine various fuel and vehicle pathways, the report also identifies barriers to implementation of these technologies and suggests policies to achieve the desired reductions. Several scenarios are promising, but strong, and effective policies such as research and development, subsidies, energy taxes, or regulations will be necessary to overcome barriers, such as cost and consumer choice.




Hybrid Electric Vehicles


Book Description

This SpringerBrief deals with the control and optimization problem in hybrid electric vehicles. Given that there are two (or more) energy sources (i.e., battery and fuel) in hybrid vehicles, it shows the reader how to implement an energy-management strategy that decides how much of the vehicle’s power is provided by each source instant by instant. Hybrid Electric Vehicles: •introduces methods for modeling energy flow in hybrid electric vehicles; •presents a standard mathematical formulation of the optimal control problem; •discusses different optimization and control strategies for energy management, integrating the most recent research results; and •carries out an overall comparison of the different control strategies presented. Chapter by chapter, a case study is thoroughly developed, providing illustrative numerical examples that show the basic principles applied to real-world situations. The brief is intended as a straightforward tool for learning quickly about state-of-the-art energy-management strategies. It is particularly well-suited to the needs of graduate students and engineers already familiar with the basics of hybrid vehicles but who wish to learn more about their control strategies.




Assessment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Light-Duty Vehicles


Book Description

Various combinations of commercially available technologies could greatly reduce fuel consumption in passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and other light-duty vehicles without compromising vehicle performance or safety. Assessment of Technologies for Improving Light Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy estimates the potential fuel savings and costs to consumers of available technology combinations for three types of engines: spark-ignition gasoline, compression-ignition diesel, and hybrid. According to its estimates, adopting the full combination of improved technologies in medium and large cars and pickup trucks with spark-ignition engines could reduce fuel consumption by 29 percent at an additional cost of $2,200 to the consumer. Replacing spark-ignition engines with diesel engines and components would yield fuel savings of about 37 percent at an added cost of approximately $5,900 per vehicle, and replacing spark-ignition engines with hybrid engines and components would reduce fuel consumption by 43 percent at an increase of $6,000 per vehicle. The book focuses on fuel consumption-the amount of fuel consumed in a given driving distance-because energy savings are directly related to the amount of fuel used. In contrast, fuel economy measures how far a vehicle will travel with a gallon of fuel. Because fuel consumption data indicate money saved on fuel purchases and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, the book finds that vehicle stickers should provide consumers with fuel consumption data in addition to fuel economy information.




Transitions to Alternative Transportation Technologies


Book Description

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) could alleviate the nation's dependence on oil and reduce U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas. Industry-and government-sponsored research programs have made very impressive technical progress over the past several years, and several companies are currently introducing pre-commercial vehicles and hydrogen fueling stations in limited markets. However, to achieve wide hydrogen vehicle penetration, further technological advances are required for commercial viability, and vehicle manufacturer and hydrogen supplier activities must be coordinated. In particular, costs must be reduced, new automotive manufacturing technologies commercialized, and adequate supplies of hydrogen produced and made available to motorists. These efforts will require considerable resources, especially federal and private sector funding. This book estimates the resources that will be needed to bring HFCVs to the point of competitive self-sustainability in the marketplace. It also estimates the impact on oil consumption and carbon dioxide emissions as HFCVs become a large fraction of the light-duty vehicle fleet.




Energy-Efficient Driving of Road Vehicles


Book Description

This book elaborates the science and engineering basis for energy-efficient driving in conventional and autonomous cars. After covering the physics of energy-efficient motion in conventional, hybrid, and electric powertrains, the book chiefly focuses on the energy-saving potential of connected and automated vehicles. It reveals how being connected to other vehicles and the infrastructure enables the anticipation of upcoming driving-relevant factors, e.g. hills, curves, slow traffic, state of traffic signals, and movements of nearby vehicles. In turn, automation allows vehicles to adjust their motion more precisely in anticipation of upcoming events, and to save energy. Lastly, the energy-efficient motion of connected and automated vehicles could have a harmonizing effect on mixed traffic, leading to additional energy savings for neighboring vehicles. Building on classical methods of powertrain modeling, optimization, and optimal control, the book further develops the theory of energy-efficient driving. In addition, it presents numerous theoretical and applied case studies that highlight the real-world implications of the theory developed. The book is chiefly intended for undergraduate and graduate engineering students and industry practitioners with a background in mechanical, electrical, or automotive engineering, computer science or robotics.




Hybrid Electric Vehicles


Book Description

The latest developments in the field of hybrid electric vehicles Hybrid Electric Vehicles provides an introduction to hybrid vehicles, which include purely electric, hybrid electric, hybrid hydraulic, fuel cell vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric, and off-road hybrid vehicular systems. It focuses on the power and propulsion systems for these vehicles, including issues related to power and energy management. Other topics covered include hybrid vs. pure electric, HEV system architecture (including plug-in & charging control and hydraulic), off-road and other industrial utility vehicles, safety and EMC, storage technologies, vehicular power and energy management, diagnostics and prognostics, and electromechanical vibration issues. Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Second Edition is a comprehensively updated new edition with four new chapters covering recent advances in hybrid vehicle technology. New areas covered include battery modelling, charger design, and wireless charging. Substantial details have also been included on the architecture of hybrid excavators in the chapter related to special hybrid vehicles. Also included is a chapter providing an overview of hybrid vehicle technology, which offers a perspective on the current debate on sustainability and the environmental impact of hybrid and electric vehicle technology. Completely updated with new chapters Covers recent developments, breakthroughs, and technologies, including new drive topologies Explains HEV fundamentals and applications Offers a holistic perspective on vehicle electrification Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Principles and Applications with Practical Perspectives, Second Edition is a great resource for researchers and practitioners in the automotive industry, as well as for graduate students in automotive engineering.




Cost, Effectiveness, and Deployment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Light-Duty Vehicles


Book Description

The light-duty vehicle fleet is expected to undergo substantial technological changes over the next several decades. New powertrain designs, alternative fuels, advanced materials and significant changes to the vehicle body are being driven by increasingly stringent fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards. By the end of the next decade, cars and light-duty trucks will be more fuel efficient, weigh less, emit less air pollutants, have more safety features, and will be more expensive to purchase relative to current vehicles. Though the gasoline-powered spark ignition engine will continue to be the dominant powertrain configuration even through 2030, such vehicles will be equipped with advanced technologies, materials, electronics and controls, and aerodynamics. And by 2030, the deployment of alternative methods to propel and fuel vehicles and alternative modes of transportation, including autonomous vehicles, will be well underway. What are these new technologies - how will they work, and will some technologies be more effective than others? Written to inform The United States Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards, this new report from the National Research Council is a technical evaluation of costs, benefits, and implementation issues of fuel reduction technologies for next-generation light-duty vehicles. Cost, Effectiveness, and Deployment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Light-Duty Vehicles estimates the cost, potential efficiency improvements, and barriers to commercial deployment of technologies that might be employed from 2020 to 2030. This report describes these promising technologies and makes recommendations for their inclusion on the list of technologies applicable for the 2017-2025 CAFE standards.




Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles


Book Description

Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles evaluates various technologies and methods that could improve the fuel economy of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as tractor-trailers, transit buses, and work trucks. The book also recommends approaches that federal agencies could use to regulate these vehicles' fuel consumption. Currently there are no fuel consumption standards for such vehicles, which account for about 26 percent of the transportation fuel used in the U.S. The miles-per-gallon measure used to regulate the fuel economy of passenger cars. is not appropriate for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which are designed above all to carry loads efficiently. Instead, any regulation of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles should use a metric that reflects the efficiency with which a vehicle moves goods or passengers, such as gallons per ton-mile, a unit that reflects the amount of fuel a vehicle would use to carry a ton of goods one mile. This is called load-specific fuel consumption (LSFC). The book estimates the improvements that various technologies could achieve over the next decade in seven vehicle types. For example, using advanced diesel engines in tractor-trailers could lower their fuel consumption by up to 20 percent by 2020, and improved aerodynamics could yield an 11 percent reduction. Hybrid powertrains could lower the fuel consumption of vehicles that stop frequently, such as garbage trucks and transit buses, by as much 35 percent in the same time frame.