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In this work, the influences of various real-timely available energy management strategies on vehicle fuel consumption (VFC) and energy flow of a range-extender electric vehicle were studied The strategies include single-point, multi-point, speed-following, and equivalent consumption minimization strategy. In addition, the dynamic programming method which cannot be used in real time, but can provide the optimal solution for a known drive situation was used for comparison. VFCs and energy flow characteristics with different strategies under Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Cycle (WLTC) were obtained through computer modeling, and the results were verified experimentally on a range-extender test bench. The experimental results are consistent with the modeled ones in general with a maximum deviation of 4.11%, which verifies the accuracy of the simulation models.

An electrochemical impedance spectroscopy battery model based on the porous electrode theory is used in the paper, which can comprehensively depict the internal state of the battery. The effect of battery key parameters (the radius of particle, electrochemical reaction rate constant, solid/electrolyte diffusion coefficient, conductivity) to the simulated impedance spectroscopy are discussed. Based on the EIS analysis, a lithium-ion battery optimized equivalent circuit model is built. The parameters in the equivalent circuit model have more clear physical meaning. The reliability of the optimized equivalent circuit model is verified by compared the model and experiments. The relationship between the external condition and internal resistance could be studied according to the optimized equivalent circuit model. Thus the internal process of the power battery is better understood.

This paper presents a novel lumped parameter model(LPM) and its parameter identification method for the hydraulic engine mount(HEM) with a suspended decoupler. In the new model the decoupler membrane’s variable stiffness caused by being contact with the metallic cage is considered. Therefore, the decoupler membrane in the model can be taken as a spring. As a result, two parameters of the decoupler’s variable stiffness and the equivalent piston area are added. Then the finite element method is employed to analyze the suspended decoupler membrane’s variable stiffness characteristics under the contact state with the metallic cage. A piecewise polynomial is used to fit the decoupler membrane’s variable stiffness. To guarantee the symmetry of the stiffness, the polynomial only keeps the odd power coefficients.

Battery models are often applied to describe the dynamic characteristics of batteries and can be used to predict the state of the battery. Due to the process of charging and discharging, the battery heat generation will cause the inhomogeneity between inner battery temperature and surface temperature. In this paper, a novel battery impedance model, which takes the impact of the battery internal temperature gradient on battery impedance into account, is proposed to improve the battery model performance. Several experiments are designed and conducted for pouch typed battery to investigate the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) characteristics with the artificial temperature gradient (using a heating plate). Experimental results indicate that the battery internal temperature gradient will influence battery EIS regularly.

Wireless charging system for vehicular power batteries is becoming more and more popular. As one of important issues, charging power regulation is indispensable for online control, especially when the distance or angle between chassis and ground changes. This paper proposes a novel power regulation method named Z-Source-Based Pulse-Amplitude-Modulation (ZSB-PAM), which has not been mentioned in the literatures yet. The ZSB-PAM employs a unique impedance network (two pairs of inductors and capacitors connected in X shape) to couple the cascaded H Bridge to the power source. By controlling the shoot-through state of H bridge, the input voltage to H bridge can be boosted, thus the transmitter current can be adjusted, and hence, charging current and power for batteries. A LCL-LCL resonant topology is adopted as the main transfer energy carrier, for it can work with a unity power factor and have the current source characteristic which is suitable for battery charging.

The effectiveness of after-treatment systems depends on the exhaust gas temperature, which is low during cold-start. As a result, Euro III, Euro IV and FTP75 require that the emissions tests include exhaust from the beginning of cold start. It is proved that 50%∼80% of HC and CO emissions are emitted during the cold start and the amount of unburned fuel from the crevices during starting is much higher than that under warmed engine conditions. The piston crevices is the most part of combustion chamber crevices, and results of mathematical simulations show that the piston crevice contribution to HC emissions is expected to increase during cold engine operation. Based on the transient HC test data and the double zone combustion model, this paper presents the study of the crevice HC Mechanism of the first firing cycle at cold start on an LPG SI Engine. A fast-response flame ionization detector (FFID) was employed to measure transient HC emissions of the first firing cycle.

Parallel-connected modules have been widely used in battery packs for electric vehicles nowadays. Unlike series-connected modules, the direct state inconsistency caused by parameter inconsistency in parallel modules is current and temperature non-uniformity, thus resulting in the inconsistency in the speed of aging among cells. Consequently, the evolution pattern of parameter inconsistency is different from that of series-connected modules. Since it’s practically impossible to monitor each cell’s current and temperature information in battery packs, considering cost and energy efficiency, it’s necessary to study how the parameter inconsistency evolves in parallel modules considering the initial parameter distribution, topology design and working condition. In this study, we assigned cells of 18650 format into several groups regarding the degree of capacity and resistance inconsistency. Then all groups are cycled under different environmental temperature and current profile.

Combustion diagnostics of highly diluted mixtures are essential for the estimation of the combustion quality, and control of combustion timing in advanced combustion systems. In this paper, a novel fast response flame detection technique based on active plasma is introduced and investigated. Different from the conventional ion current sensing used in internal combustion engines, a separate electrode gap is used in the detecting probing. Further, the detecting voltage across the electrode gap is modulated actively using a multi-coil system to be slightly below the breakdown threshold before flame arrival. Once the flame front arrives at the probe, the ions on the flame front tend to decrease the breakdown voltage threshold and trigger a breakdown event. Simultaneous electrical and optical measurements are employed to investigate the flame detecting efficacy via active plasma probing under both quiescent and flow conditions.

Hydrogen safety is of great importance in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems. Anode pressure control has become a focus point in recent years. The differential pressure between anode and cathode in PEMFC system needs to be carefully controlled under a suitable threshold. In practice, the anode pressure is usually controlled about 20–30kPa higher than the cathode pressure to minimize nitrogen crossover and improve cell stability. High differential pressure could lead to irreversible damage in proton exchange membrane. PID control was the dominant method to control the anode pressure in the past. However, the anode pressure’s fluctuation when hydrogen mass flow suddenly changes is a long-term challenge. As the requirements of control precision are increasingly high, the traditional PID control needs to be improved. Several new control algorithms are presented in recent researches, however, mostly are theoretical and experimental.

For balancing Li-ion battery cells connected in series and effectively improving the consistency of the cells, a bi-directional equalization system based on fly-back transformer is proposed. Unlike the passive equalization technology using a resistor or active equalization with expensive DC-DC converter for the balancing among the cells, this equalization circuit consists of the fly-back transformer and RCD circuit, which can easily and cheaply realize the energy transfer between the whole battery module and the cells, and thus achieving bidirectional equalization. In this system, both the primary side and the secondary side of multi-winding transformer are connected to a MOSFET. All MOSFETs are controlled by the PWM signal. The control timing and duty ratio of the PWM control signal are determined through the simulation analysis. Meanwhile, an RCD circuit is applied at the primary side of multi-winding transformer for buffering the peak voltage caused by leakage inductance.

BBW (Brake-by-wire) can increase the vehicle safety performance due to high control accuracy and fast response speed. As one solution of BBW, the novel Integrated-electro-hydraulic brake system (I-EHB) is proposed, which consists of electro-hydraulic booster and hydraulic pressure control unit. The electro-hydraulic booster is activated by an electric motor that driving linear motion mechanism to directly produce the master cylinder pressure. With electro-hydraulic booster as an actuator, the hydraulic pressure control problem is a key issue. Most literatures deal with the pressure control issue based on the feedback pressure signal measured by pressure sensor. As far as the authors are aware, none of the proposed techniques takes into account the pressure sensor unequipped BBW. In this paper, there is no pressure feedback signal, but there is only position feedback signal measured by position sensor for control law design.

Combustion and emission characteristics of diesel and biodiesel blends (soybean methyl ester) were studied in a single-cylinder Direct Injection (DI) engine at different loads and a constant speed. The results show that NOx emission and fuel consumption are increased with increasing biodiesel percentage. Reduction of smoke opacity is significant at higher loads with a higher biodiesel ratio. Compared with the baseline diesel fuel, B20 (20% biodiesel) has a slight increase of NOx emission and similar fuel consumption. Smoke emission of B20 is close to that of diesel fuel. Results of combustion analysis indicate that start of combustion (SOC) for biodiesel blends is earlier than that for diesel. Higher biodiesel percentage results in earlier SOC. Earlier SOC for biodiesel blends is due to advanced injection timing from higher density and bulk modulus and lower ignition delay from higher cetane number.

In this paper, the characteristics of performance and emissions of diesel and biodiesel blends are studied in a four-cylinder DI engine employing common rail injection system. The results show that engine output power is further reduced and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased with the increase of the blend concentration. B100 provides average reduction by 8.6% in power and increase by 11% in BSFC. With respect to the emissions, although NOx emissions were increased with increasing the blend concentration, the increase depends on the load. Filter smoke number is reduced with increasing the blend concentration. At the same time, NO, NO2 and other specific emissions are also investigated. In addition, difference of performance and emission between standard parameters of ECU and modified parameters of ECU is investigated for B10 and B20 based on same output power. The results show that NOx emission and FSN are still lower than baseline diesel.

In this paper, characteristics of gas emission and particle size distribution are investigated in a common rail diesel engine fueled with biodiesel blends. Gas emission and particle size distribution are measured by AVL FTIR - SESAM and SMPS respectively. The results show that although biodiesel blends would result in higher NOx emissions, characteristics of NOx emissions were also dependent on the engine load for waste cooking oil methyl ester. Higher blend concentration results in higher NO2 emission after two diesel oxidation catalyst s (DOC). A higher blend concentration leads to lower CO and SO2 emissions. No significant difference of Alkene emission is found among biodiesel blends. The particle size distributions of diesel exhaust aerosol consist of a nucleation mode (NM) with a peak below 50N• m and an accumulation mode with a peak above 50N • m. B100 will result in lower particulates with the absence of NM.

The First Firing Cycle (FFC) is very important at cold-start. Misfiring of the first firing cycle can lead to significant HC emissions and affect the subsequent cycles. This paper presents an investigation of characteristics of transient NO emissions in a small LPG SI engine with electronic gaseous injection system. To determine the optimal excess air coefficient ( λ=[A/F]/[A/F]stoic) of the first firing cycle, the emission of instantaneous NO was proposed as a useful criterion to judge if the combustion is occurred or not. A fast response NO detector- Cambustion fNOx400, based on the chemiluminescence's (CLD) method, has been employed to measure continuous, transient emissions of NO during the first firing cycle in the exhaust port of the engine. At the same time, the transient cylinder pressure, instantaneous crankshaft speed of the engine and engine-out HC emissions were measured and recorded.

High-nickel lithium-ion batteries extend the driving mileage of electric vehicles (EVs) to 600km without much cost increment. However, thermal accidents commonly occur due to their poor thermal stability, such as thermal runaway. To address the issue, a comprehensive analysis of the thermal runaway behavior of high-nickel lithium-ion batteries with different specifications is conducted. The thermal runaway process is divided into five stages based on self-heating generation, voltage drop, safety valve rupture, and thermal runaway triggering for the three tested cells. The three tested cells demonstrate similar behaviors during each stage of the thermal runaway process. However, there are still apparent differences between their characteristics. This study analyses the thermal runaway features from the following aspects: (i) characteristic temperature; (ii) the relationship between sudden voltage drop and characteristic temperatures; (iii) temperature recovery; (iv) thermodynamics.

Battery safety issues have severely limited the rapid development and popularization of electric vehicles. Harsh conditions such as high temperature accelerate the degradation of battery safety. To address this issue, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of high-temperature cyclic aging on lithium-ion battery safety is carried out. In the Accelerating Rate Calorimeter, lithium-ion batteries are performed on adiabatic thermal runaway tests and overcharge tests. Regardless of the fully-charged state or half-charged state, in the adiabatic thermal runaway process, high-temperature cyclic aging reduces the characteristic temperature, and the activation energy from the self-heating temperature to thermal runaway triggering temperature decreases. During the overcharge process, high-temperature cyclic aging increases the voltage plateau and the crest voltage before thermal runaway, and their corresponding charging temperature decreases.

As is known to all, the structure of the chassis has been greatly simplified as the application of in-wheel motor in electric vehicle (EV) and distributed control is allowed. The micro EV can alleviate traffic jams, reduce the demand for motor and battery capacity due to its small size and light weight and accordingly solve the problem that in-wheel motor is limited by inner space of the wheel hub. As a result, this type of micro EV is easier to be recognized by the market. In the micro EV above, two seats are side by side and the battery is placed in the middle of the chassis. Besides, in-wheel motors are mounted on the rear axle and only front axle retains traditional hydraulic braking system. Based on this driving/braking system, distribution of braking torque, system reliability and braking intensity is analyzed in this paper.

A passive thermal management system (TMS) using composite phase change material (PCM) for large-capacity, rectangular lithium-ion batteries is designed. A battery module consisting of six Li-ion cells connected in series was investigated as a basic unit. The passive TMS for the module has three configurations according to the contact area between cells and the composite PCM, i.e., surrounding, front-contacted and side-contacted schemes. Firstly, heat generation rate of the battery cell was calculated using the Bernardi equation based on experimentally measured heat source terms (i.e. the internal resistance and the entropy coefficient). Physical and thermal properties such as density, phase change temperature, latent heat and thermal conductivity of the composite PCM were also obtained by experimental methods. Thereafter, thermal response of the battery modules with the three TMS configurations was simulated using 3D finite element analysis (FEA) modeling in ANSYS Fluent.

A brake pedal stroke simulator for Electro-hydraulic Braking System (EHBS) was developed to ensure the comfort braking pedal feel for the brake-by-wire system. An EHBS with an integrated master cylinder was proposed, and a composite brake pedal stroke simulator was designed for the EHBS, which was comprised of two inline springs and a third parallel one. A normally closed solenoid valve was used to connect the master cylinder booster chamber and the stroke simulator. The suitable brake pedal stroke was achieved by three stages of these springs' compression, whereas the solenoid valve was shutdown to enable mechanical control of the service brakes when electrical faults appeared.