In a context of growing demand for sustainable transportation worldwide, different technical solutions for Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) are nowadays being investigated as effective ways to improve the efficiency of conventional powertrains and thus to reduce their CO2 and pollutant emissions.
In this framework, the aim of the research activity is to develop a comprehensive methodology to design a hybrid powertrain architecture, the features of its main components, and its Energy Management System (EMS) in a global and interactive perspective, from the early phase of the design process.
Research activities are carried out both through experimental investigations, performed at DENERG Advanced ICEs lab as well as at chassis-dyno labs of major OEMs (such as FCA, GM), powertrain engineering Companies (such as FEV) and research centers, such as the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, and through numerical investigations, by means of close collaboration with research centers such as CAR (Ohio State University) and sw code developers such as Gamma Technologies, for the enhancement of the predicting capabilities of hybrid powertrains numerical simulation tools.
On road tests of commercially available hybrid vehicles for benchmarking and of prototypes complete the portfolio of the experimental activities.
Recent and currently on-going research activities include, by way of example, the following projects:
FEV HYBRID POWERTRAIN
The project "Development of a new generation of powertrain for hybrid and electric vehicles", in collaboration with FEV Italia, is a part of a wider research investigation on future technologies for CO2 emission reduction. The project is currently focussing on:
• Detailed experimental campaign for each powertrain sub-system
• Development of analytical models for hybrid powertrain performance prediction
• Energy management strategy definition
CAYMAN: Computer Aided development of energY MANagement systems for HEVs
Funded by HONDA R&D Europe, in the framework of the 2011 Honda Initiation Grant Europe (HIGE) program. The aim of this work was to define a methodology to develop, through numerical simulation, a sub-optimal hybrid powertrain controller for light-duty vehicle in Series and Complex configurations.
PININFARINA Hybus
Developed by Pininfarina in cooperation with Politecnico di Torino in the framework of AMPERE project. The main targets of Hybus, the new eco-friendly bus, are the study of a modular hybrid propulsion system suitable for urban busses; the conversion of vehicles currently equipped with Euro 0–1–2 engines into buses with serial hybrid power packs; the evaluation in real world driving conditions of the performance of the proposed hybrid architecture.
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