Powertrain Fuel Consumption Modeling and Benchmark Analysis of a Parallel P4 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Using Dynamic Programming

The goal of this work is to develop a hybrid electric vehicle model that is suitable for use in a dynamic programming algorithm that provides the benchmark for optimal control of the hybrid powertrain. The benchmark analysis employs dynamic programming by backward induction to determine the globally optimal solution by solving the energy management problem starting at the final timestep and proceeding backwards in time. This method requires the development of a backwards facing model that propagates the wheel speed of the vehicle for the given drive cycle through the driveline components to determine the operating points of the powertrain. Although dynamic programming only searches the solution space within the feasible regions of operation, the benchmarking model must be solved for every admissible state at every timestep leading to strict requirements for runtime and memory. The backward facing model employs the quasi-static assumption of powertrain operation to reduce the fidelity of the model to accommodate these requirements. Verification and validation testing of the dynamic programming algorithm is conducted to ensure successful operation of the algorithm and to assess the validity of the determined control policy against a high-fidelity forward-facing vehicle model with a percent difference of fuel consumption of 1.2%. The benchmark analysis is conducted over multiple drive cycles to determine the optimal control policy that provides a benchmark for real-time algorithm development and determines control trends that can be used to improve existing algorithms. The optimal combined charge sustaining fuel economy of the vehicle is determined by the dynamic programming algorithm to be 32.99 MPG, a 52.6% increase over the stock 3.6 L 2019 Chevrolet Blazer.

Implementation of Radial Basis Function Artificial Neural Network into an Adaptive Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy for Optimized Control of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Continued increases in the emission of greenhouse gases by passenger vehicles have accelerated the production of hybrid electric vehicles. With this increase in production, there has been a parallel demand for continuously improving strategies of hybrid electric vehicle control. The goal of an ideal control strategy is to maximize fuel economy while minimizing emissions. Methods exist by which the globally optimal control strategy may be found. However, these methods are not applicable in real-world driving applications since these methods require a priori knowledge of the upcoming drive cycle. Real-time control strategies use the global optimal as a benchmark against which performance can be evaluated. The goal of this work is to use a previously defined strategy that has been shown to closely approximate the global optimal and implement a radial basis function (RBF) artificial neural network (ANN) that dynamically adapts the strategy based on past driving conditions. The strategy used is the Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS), which uses an equivalence factor to define the control strategy and the power train component torque split. An equivalence factor that is optimal for a single drive cycle can be found offline with a priori knowledge of the drive cycle. The RBF-ANN is used to dynamically update the equivalence factor by examining a past time window of driving characteristics. A total of 30 sets of training data (drive cycles) are used to train the RBF-ANN. For the majority of drive cycles examined, the RBF-ANN implementation is shown to produce fuel economy values that are within ±2.5% of the fuel economy obtained with the optimal equivalence factor. The advantage of the RBF-ANN is that it does not require a priori drive cycle knowledge and is able to be implemented in real-time while meeting or exceeding the performance of the optimal ECMS. Recommendations are made on how the RBF-ANN could be improved to produce better results across a greater array of driving conditions.