Control Algorithm of Electric Vehicle in Coasting Mode Based on Driving Feeling

Coasting in gear is a common driving mode for the conventional vehicle equipped with the internal combustion engine（ICE）, and the assistant braking function of ICE is utilized to decelerate the vehicle in this mode. However, the electric vehicle（EV） does not have this feature in the coasting mode due to the relatively small inertia of the driving motor, so it will cause the driver cannot obtain the similar driving feeling to that of the conventional vehicle, and even a traffic accident may occur if the driver cannot immediately adapt to the changes. In this paper, the coasting control for EV is researched based on the driving feeling. A conventional vehicle equipped with continuously variable transmission（CVT） is taken as the reference vehicle, and the combined simulation model of EV is established based on AVL CRUISE and MATLAB/Simulink. The torque characteristic of the CVT output shaft is measured in coasting mode, and the data are smoothed and fitted to a polynomial curve. For the EV in coasting mode, if the state of charge（SOC） of the battery is below 95%, the polynomial curve is used as the control target for the torque characteristic of the driving motor, otherwise, the required torque is replaced by hydraulic braking torque to keep the same deceleration. The co-simulation of Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow and AVL CRUISE, as well as the hardware-in-loop experiment combined with d SPACE are carried out to verify the effectiveness and the real-time performance of the control algorithm. The results show that the EV with coasting braking control system has similar driving feeling to that of the reference vehicle, meanwhile, the battery SOC can be increased by 0.036% and 0.021% in the initial speed of 100 km/h and 50 km/h, respectively. The proposed control algorithm for EV is beneficial to improve the driving feeling in coasting mode, and it also makes the EV has the assistant braking function.

Experimental Study on Occupant's Thermal Responses under the Non-uniform Conditions in Vehicle Cabin during the Heating Period

The existing investigations on thermal comfort mostly focus on the thermal environment conditions, especially of the air-flow field and the temperature distributions in vehicle cabin. Less attention appears to direct to the thermal comfort or thermal sensation of occupants, even to the relationship between thermal conditions and thermal sensation. In this paper, a series of experiments were designed and conducted for understanding the non-uniform conditions and the occupant＇s thermal responses in vehicle cabin during the heating period. To accurately assess the transient temperature distribution in cabin in common daily condition, the air temperature at a number of positions is measured in a full size vehicle cabin under natural winter environment in South China by using a discrete thermocouples network. The occupant body is divided into nine segments, the skin temperature at each segment and the occupant＇s local thermal sensation at the head, body, upper limb and lower limb are monitored continuously. The skin temperature is observed by using a discrete thermocouples network, and the local thermal sensation is evaluated by using a seven-point thermal comfort survey questionnaire proposed by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc（ASHRAE） Standard. The relationship between the skin temperature and the thermal sensation is discussed and regressed by statistics method. The results show that the interior air temperature is highly non-uniform over the vehicle cabin. The locations where the occupants sit have a significant effect on the occupant＇s thermal responses, including the skin temperature and the thermal sensation. The skin temperaWa-e and thermal sensation are quite different between body segments due to the effect of non-uniform conditions, clothing resistance, and the human thermal regulating system. A quantitative relationship between the thermal sensation and the skin temperature at each body segment of occupant in real life traffic is presented. The investigation result indicates that the skin temperature is a robust index to evaluate the thermal sensation. Applying the skin temperature to designing and controlling parameters of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning（HVAC） system may benefit the thermal comfort and reducing energy consumption.