Design Optimization of the Electrically Peaking Hybrid (ELPH) Vehicle

Download or read book Design Optimization of the Electrically Peaking Hybrid (ELPH) Vehicle written by M. Ehsani and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Electrically Peaking Hybrid (ELPH) is a parallel hybrid electric vehicle propulsion concept that was invented at Texas A & M University, by the advanced vehicle systems research group. Over the past six years, design methodologies, component development, and system optimization work has been going on for this invention. This project was a first attempt in integrating the above developments into an optimized design of an ELPH passenger car. Design specifications were chosen for a full size passenger car, performing as well as any conventional car, over the EPA-FTP-75 combined city/highway drive cycles. The results of this design project were two propulsion systems. Both were appropriate for commercial production, from the point of view of cost, availability of the technologies, and components. One utilized regenerative braking and the other did not. Substantial fuel savings and emissions reductions resulted from simulating these designs on the FTP-75 drive cycle. For example, our ELPH full size car, with regenerative braking, was capable of delivering over 50 miles per gallon in city driving, with corresponding reductions in its emissions. This project established the viability of the ELPH concept and the design methodologies, in computer simulations. More work remains to be done on investigating more advanced power plants, such as fuel cells, and more advanced components, such as switched reluctance motor drives, for the designs. Furthermore, the design optimization can be carried out to more detailed levels, for prototyping and production.