Methodology for Assessment of Alternative Hybrid Electric Vehicle Powertrain System Architectures 2012-01-1010

Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) systems offer significant improvements in vehicle fuel economy and reductions in vehicle generated greenhouse gas emissions. The widely accepted power-split HEV system configuration couples together an internal combustion engine with two electric machines (a motor and a generator) through a planetary gear set. This paper describes a methodology for analysis and optimization of alternative HEV power-split configurations defined by alternative connections between power sources and transaxle. The alternative configurations are identified by a matrix of kinematic equations for connected power sources. Based on the universal kinematic matrix, a generic method for automatically formulating dynamic models is developed. Screening and optimization of alternative configurations involves verification of a set of design requirements which reflect: vehicle continuous operation, e.g. grade test; and vehicle dynamic operation such as acceleration and drivability. Only the former are consider in this paper. The method automatically defines a design parameter space for each configuration which eventually would allow configuration evaluation and optimization, e.g. sizing of power sources or optimization of transaxle gear ratios.