Review, Modelling and Simulation of Two-Mode Hybrid Vehicle Architecture

Abstract

Hybrid vehicle technology is beginning to make a significant mark in the automotive industry, most notably by the Toyota Prius THS-II and its one-mode technology, but also by two-mode architectures recently introduced. GM-Allison, Renault, and the Timken Company have attempted to capitalize on the advantages over simpler series and parallel architectures that the series-parallel configuration confers on the Prius while also improving the design by allowing the powertrain configuration to physically shift and operate in two different modes depending on the driving load. This work provides an overview of the state-of-the-art in two-mode hybrid vehicle architectures, and demonstrates the performance of this technology in comparison to the market-leading Toyota Prius one-mode hybrid vehicle technology and conventional ICE technology. Simulations in the NREL ADVISOR® software compare the performances of the one- and two-mode architectures against a parallel-full design and the ICE baseline for four different drive cycles and a vehicle with varying weight that simulates a commercial vehicle application. A configuration that is a variation of those designed by GM-Allison was chosen as the representative of the two-mode architectures. The performance metric was fuel economy. The fuel economy was measured over the course of the drive cycles: (1) Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule for Heavy Duty Vehicles (UDDSHDV); (2) New York City Truck (NYCT); (3) City-Suburban Heavy Vehicle Route (CSHVR); and (4) Highway Fuel Economy Test (HWFET). The vehicle model uses a module developed in-house for a Kenworth T400 truck with a payload that varies from empty to completely full. The results demonstrate that the two-mode architecture provides significantly improved performance to that of the conventional non-hybrid design and comparable performance to that of the parallel-full hybrid design. Furthermore, the one-mode design is shown to be sub-optimal for this vehicle type. Development and optimization of the control strategy, which is the direction of the current research, should allow for additional improvement in fuel economy; optimization of vehicular components could result in improvements in acceleration ability, gradeability, and top speed performance, which lags behind the performance capabilities of the conventional powertrain vehicle in these metrics. The study confirms that two-mode architecture presents unique advantages for constantly changing driving cycles and vehicle payloads and represents the future of hybrid vehicle technology.

Analysis and Simulation of a novel HEV using a Single Electric Machine

“…From the above analysis, three main aspects are found to compensate the 534kJ less energy output from the engine of the MMT vehicle: (1) 37.62kJ more braking regenerative energy; (2) 280kJ less loss in the electric machine units; and (3) 225kJ less loss in the battery. Thus, due to the limitation of the single electric machine structure, the MMT vehicle operates the engine in relative lower efficiency region, but achieves less loss from the electric power devices; on the contrary, the "THS II-like" vehicle operates the engine in ideally high efficiency region, but produces more loss from the electric power devices.…”

“…Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), as one kind of new generation vehicles, are considered to offer the best promise in the short to mid-term [1] to solve the problem of global energy shortage and environment pollution. For most of the currently developed HEVs, such as TOYOTA THS, Ford FHS, GM AHS, etc, two electric machines (EMs) are commonly used [2][3][4][5]. One of the two EMs works mostly as a driving motor, the other as a generator.…”

State of the art power management algorithms for hybrid electric vehicles

“…There are varies types of HEV topologies that have been designed by the automotive companies; such as Toyota's series-parallel hybrid system (THS) [1], Honda's single axle parallel integrated motor assist system [2] and General Motors (GM) two-mode hybrid system (Advanced Hybrid System 2 or ASH2) [3]. In addition to major automotive companies many research laboratories have proposed different topologies to achieve best overall efficiency from the drive train.…”

Fuzzy optimization of energy management for power split hybrid electric vehicle based on particle swarm optimization algorithm

“…Both the output split and the input split systems have only one mechanical point. 7 J Kim has made detailed comparisons between the transmission efficiencies of dual planetary structure and single planetary structure. It is indicated that the ideal transmission ratio is easier to be obtained by the dual planetary structure, which leads to the high operation efficiency range of the vehicle.…”