Fuel optimal control of parallel hybrid electric vehicles

Abstract

A mathematical model for fuel optimal control and its corresponding dynamic programming (DP) recursive equation were established for an existing parallel hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). Two augmented cost functions for gear shifting and engine stop-starting were designed to limit their frequency. To overcome the problem of numerical DP dimensionality, an algorithm to restrict the exploring region was proposed. The algorithm significantly reduced the computational complexity. The system model was converted into real-time simulation code by using MATLAB/RTW to improve computation efficiency. Comparison between the results of a chassis dynamometer test, simulation, and DP proves that the proposed method can compute the performance limitation of the HEV within an acceptable time period and can be used to evaluate and optimize the control strategy.

Keywords

hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) / fuel economy / control strategy / optimal control / dynamic programming