Energy management in hybrid electric vehicle with ICE and Ultracapacitors

This paper depicts in depth a series hybrid vehicle with a generation system based on an internal combustion engine coupled to a permanent magnets synchronous motor. A storage system with high power density, assured by the Ultracapacitors Unit (UC), is able to meet the driver peak power requests to run the vehicle and to store a part of energy from regenerative brakings as well. In this work, the vehicle energy management for a series hybrid electric vehicle is discussed with particular reference to the Generation Unit (GU) and the Electric Energy Storage (EES). The communication system is configured and remotely controlled by means of the Controller Area Network (CAN). For the purpose of obtaining the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) better working efficiency a software supervisor has been developed to manage the GU. Further, first experimental results achieved for the prototype at roll test bench will be shown.