Abstract
KEYWORDS:
Internal Combustion Engine, Hybrid Vehicle, Drive Cycle, Emission
ABSTRACT:
Vehicle powertrain hybridization should result in essential environment protection and fuel economy effects. The laboratory tests with 2-stroke spark ignition Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) have been performed. Conceptual design of test vehicle has been assembled on typical golf cart chassis. In the series configuration, the ICE interacts with electric motor in two modes: as an electric motor and as a generator. ICE control in this case consists on fuel dose and injectors timing alteration. One of the possible control strategies for series Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is a thermostatic strategy consisting in the ICE turning on when the parameter State of Charge (SOC) of storage bartery decreases below a defined limit and ICE turning off after reaching SOC's upper limit. Advanced propulsion systems have to be optimized for maximum energy conversion efficiency. Using effective energy sources could increase this efficiency. Computer simulation tools are used for obtaining the fuel economy and emission factors. Operate in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment, the simulation software determines control parameters for chosen series hybrid vehicle configuration. The selected aspects of a small internal combustion engine control at the variable loads in laboratory and simulation environment as well as the results of computational simulations are presented in this paper.