Implementation of Radial Basis Function Artificial Neural Network into an Adaptive Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy for Optimized Control of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Continued increases in the emission of greenhouse gases by passenger vehicles has accelerated the production of hybrid electric vehicles. With this increase in production, there has been a parallel demand for continuously improving strategies of hybrid electric vehicle control. The goal of an ideal control strategy is to maximize fuel economy while minimizing emissions. The design and implementation of an optimized control strategy is a complex challenge. Methods exist by which the globally optimal control strategy may be found. However, these methods are not applicable in real-world driving applications since these methods require a priori knowledge of the upcoming drive cycle. Real-time control strategies use the global optimal as a benchmark against which performance can be evaluated. Real-time strategies incorporate methods such as drive cycle prediction algorithms, parameter feedback, driving pattern recognition algorithms, etc. The goal of this work is to use a previously defined strategy which has been shown to closely approximate the global optimal and implement a radial basis function (RBF) artificial neural network (ANN) that dynamically adapts the strategy based on past driving conditions. The strategy used is the Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) [1], which uses an equivalence factor to define the control strategy. The equivalence factor essentially defines the torque split between the electric motor and internal combustion engine. Consequently, the equivalence factor greatly affects fuel economy. An equivalence factor that is optimal (with respect to fuel economy) for a single drive cycle can be found offline – with a priori knowledge of the drive cycle. The RBF ANN is used to dynamically update the equivalence factor by examining a past time window of driving characteristics. A total of 30 sets of training data are used to train the RBF ANN, each set contains characteristics from a different drive cycle. Each drive cycle is characterized by 9 parameters. For each drive cycle, the optimal equivalence factor is determined and included in the training data. The performance of the RBF ANN is evaluated against the fuel economy obtained with the optimal equivalence factor from the ECMS. For the majority of drive cycles examined, the RBF ANN implementation is shown to produce fuel economy values that are within +/- 2.5% of the fuel economy obtained with the optimal equivalence factor. The advantage of the RBF ANN is that it does not require a priori drive cycle knowledge and is able to be implemented real time while meeting or exceeding the performance of the optimal ECMS. Recommendations are made on how the RBF ANN could be improved to produce better results across a greater array of driving conditions