Integrating energy and thermal management of hybrid trucks

Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) have appeared to be not only beneficial for applications in commercial vehicles driving in city environments, but also for long-distance applications. For vehicles including a large (electric) power consumer, like a reefer, typically 5% fuel reduction is possible with rule-based energy management strategies. In this paper, it is demonstrated that an additional fuel saving (1-2%) is possible with advanced control concepts, utilizing the symbiotic advantages in the energy and thermal domain. For that purpose, optimal control techniques are used to develop an integrated Energy Management System (EMS). Here, the thermal behaviour of the battery and that of the internal combustion engine are incorporated in the EMS. Simulations with a EURO-VI vehicle model show the applicability of the optimal control framework and illustrate the physical characteristics of the derived control concept