Fuel Minimisation for a Vehicle Equipped with a Flywheel and Battery on a Three-Dimensional Track

TL;DR

This paper presents an optimal control approach to minimize fuel consumption in a hybrid vehicle with a flywheel and battery navigating arbitrary 3D routes, demonstrating benefits of multiple energy storage systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optimal control methodology that accounts for 3D terrain and multiple energy sources to reduce fuel use in hybrid vehicles.

Findings

Optimal control reduces fuel consumption compared to baseline methods.

Using multiple auxiliary energy storage systems improves efficiency.

A lower-bound estimate of fuel consumption is provided.

Abstract

An optimal control based methodology is proposed for minimising the combustible fuel consumption of a hybrid vehicle equipped with an internal combustion engine, a high-speed flywheel and a battery. The three-dimensionality of the road is recognised by the optimal control calculations. Fuel efficiency is achieved by optimally exploiting the primary and secondary energy sources and controlling the vehicle so that the fuel consumption is minimised for a given, but arbitrary three-dimensional route. A time-of-arrival constraint rather than a driving cycle is used. The benefits of using multiple auxiliary storage systems are demonstrated and a lower-bound estimate of the fuel consumption is presented.