The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling power of a hybrid vehicle in consideration of driving environment, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for controlling power of a hybrid vehicle implemented to enable real-time application while having adaptability to various driving environment.
A hybrid vehicle has two power sources: an engine and a motor. The engine has low fuel consumption per energy at medium and high output, and the motor has high efficiency throughout the driving range. Power control of the hybrid vehicle should be performed in consideration of the efficiency characteristics of these two power sources. Since the power control strategy has a major effect on the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, it is very important to derive a power control strategy for optimal fuel efficiency performance. The conventional optimal power control problem is to minimize the total fuel consumption for all the time defined in the driving environment, maintain the total battery energy used at 0, and find the engine torque Te satisfying the required torque condition, that is, T=Te+Tm. However, since such approach requires information regarding the required torque at all times, the optimal power control problem as above is a problem that can only be solved when the driving environment are predefined. In general hybrid vehicle power control, future driving information cannot be known, so the above optimal power control problem cannot be solved in real time, and there is a problem that it cannot be used immediately in deriving a power control strategy.
The present invention was devised to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for controlling power of a hybrid vehicle which derives optimum fuel efficiency performance in any driving environment through power control that considers the current driving environment in real time.
In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a method for controlling power of a hybrid vehicle in consideration of the driving environment, comprising the steps of: (a) calculating a weight (hereinafter, ‘equivalent factor’) multiplied by a battery power in equivalent fuel consumption defined as a sum of an instantaneous fuel consumption and a weighted battery power; (b) calculating, when the equivalent fuel consumption is defined differently based on a specific reference value of a driver's required power (hereinafter, ‘required power’) as a boundary, the specific reference value (hereinafter, ‘power threshold’); (c) calculating torque commands for an engine and a motor using the equivalent factor and the power threshold; and, (d) transmitting the calculated engine torque command to an engine control unit and the calculated motor torque command to a motor control unit.
The step (a) may include the steps of: (a1) receiving, as input, required torque (Tk), engine speed (we,k), and battery power (Pb,k) of previous step (k=n−1) respectively from a pedal map, an engine control unit, and a battery management system; (a2) calculating a fuel margin ((Δ{dot over (m)}f,k) of the previous step (k=n−1) by Δ{dot over (m)}f,k={dot over (m)}f,k(ωe,k,Te,k)−{dot over (m)}f,k(ωe,k,Tk); (a3) summing up the fuel margin of all previous steps (k=1 to k=n-1); (a4) summing up the battery power (Pb,k) of all previous steps (k=1 to k=n-1); and, (a5) calculating the equivalent factor of current step (k=n) from summed up values of steps (a3) and (a4), wherein Te,k is an engine torque command at step k.
The step a5 is preferably calculated by
Or, the step (a5) may be calculated by
where y is a forgetting factor to reduce weight on past information.
The required torque (Tn−1), the engine speed (ωe,n−1) and the battery power (Pb,n−1) of the previous step, and the fuel margin (Δmf,n−1) of the previous step are preferably stored in a storage device, wherein the value stored in the storage device is used as Te,n−1* in step (a2)
The step (b) may include the steps of: (b1) calculating an SOC error of current step (k=n) by eSOC,n=SOCn− SOC0; and, (b2) calculating the power threshold of the current step that satisfies battery energy condition by using the eSOC,n.
The battery energy condition is preferably given as ft
The power threshold of the current step in step (b2) is preferably calculated by
where the Pth,0 is an initial set value of the power threshold and Kp, KI are coefficients of eSOC,n and
respectively.
The step (c) may include the steps of: (c1) calculating an optimum engine torque of current step using the equivalent factor calculated in step (a) and the power threshold calculated in step (b); (c2) calculating a motor torque of the current step.
The optimum engine torque of the current step (k=n) of the step (c1) is preferably determined as an engine torque value that minimizes the equivalent fuel consumption ({dot over (m)}eq,n) of the current step by
where Wm,n is a motor speed of the current step, and Pn is the required power of the current step.
The equivalent fuel consumption ({dot over (m)}eq,n) of the current step is preferably calculated by
Between the step (c1) and the step (c2), the method may further comprise the step of: (c11) limiting the calculated engine torque within a specific range, wherein, in the step (c11), a final engine torque command is determined by
where Temin is minimum reference value of engine torque, and Temax is maximum reference value of engine torque.
A motor torque command of the current step in step (c2) is preferable calculated by Tm,n*=Tn−Te,n*.
According to other aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling power of a hybrid vehicle in consideration of the driving environment, comprising: an equivalent factor calculation unit for calculating a weight (hereinafter, ‘equivalent factor’) multiplied by a battery power in equivalent fuel consumption defined as a sum of an instantaneous fuel consumption and a weighted battery power; a power threshold calculation unit for calculating, when the equivalent fuel consumption is defined differently based on a specific reference value of a driver's required power (hereinafter, ‘required power’) as a boundary, the specific reference value (hereinafter, ‘power threshold’); and, power control decision unit for calculating a torque command for an engine and a motor using the equivalent factor and the power threshold, and for transmitting the calculated engine torque command to an engine control unit and the calculated motor torque command to a motor control unit.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for controlling power of a hybrid vehicle in consideration of the driving environment, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory for storing computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions stored in the at least one memory, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: (a) calculating a weight (hereinafter, ‘equivalent factor’) multiplied by a battery power in equivalent fuel consumption defined as a sum of an instantaneous fuel consumption and a weighted battery power; (b) calculating, when the equivalent fuel consumption is defined differently based on a specific reference value of a driver's required power (hereinafter, ‘required power’) as a boundary, the specific reference value (hereinafter, ‘power threshold’); (c) calculating torque commands for an engine and a motor using the equivalent factor and the power threshold; and, (d) transmitting the calculated engine torque command to an engine control unit and the calculated motor torque command to a motor control unit.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to the description of the present invention, it will be noted that the terms and wordings used in the specification and the claims should not be construed as general and lexical meanings, but should be construed as the meanings and concepts that agree with the technical spirits of the present invention, based on the principle stating that the concepts of the terms may be properly defined by the inventor(s) to describe the invention in the best manner. Therefore, because the examples described in the specification and the configurations illustrated in the drawings are merely for the preferred embodiments of the present invention but cannot represent all the technical sprints of the present invention, it should be understood that various equivalents and modifications that may replace them can be present.
As shown in
As described above, the conventional optimal power control problem is a global optimization problem. That is, it is to find the engine torque Te that minimizes the total fuel consumption, maintains the total used battery energy at 0, and satisfies the required torque condition, i.e., T=Te+Tm for all times defined in the driving environment 10. In this case, since the required torque information is required at all times, the optimal power control problem as above is a problem to be solved only in a situation in which the driving environment 10 is predefined. Since future driving information cannot be known in general hybrid vehicle power control, it can be seen that the above optimal power control problem cannot be solved in real time, and thus cannot be directly utilized in deriving a power control strategy.
When this global optimization problem is referred to as ‘problem 1’, problem 1 is to find Te(t) that minimizes ∫t
This problem 1 can be solved by converting it to ‘problem 2’, which is an instantaneous optimization problem, and problem 2 is to obtain Te(t) that minimizes {dot over (m)}f(t)+λPb(t) by the power control determination unit 230, where T(t)=Te(t)+Tm(t).
Problem 2 aims to minimize the equivalent fuel consumption {dot over (m)}f(t)+λPb(t), which is the [weighted] sum of instantaneous fuel consumption and weighted battery power, and allows the two energy sources to be used in a balanced way by adding battery power to the objective function. With this device, the existing battery energy condition ∫t
Power control based on problem 2 generally has lower fuel efficiency compared to power control based on problem 1, but similar results to problem 1 may be obtained depending on the setting of the equivalent factor A that determines the ratio of instantaneous fuel consumption and battery power usage. Therefore, the setting of the equivalent factor is very important.
The equivalent factor calculated by the equivalent factor calculator 220 may be obtained by λ(t)=λ0+Kpesoc(t)+Kl∫t
This is a method of calculating the equivalent factor through PI (proportional-integral) control so that the state of charge (SOC) does not deviate significantly from the initial value (SOC(t0)). Through this calculation method, the battery energy condition in problem 1 can be indirectly satisfied. Since the equivalent factor, which is a constant that satisfies the battery energy condition for a given driving environment, is uniquely determined, it can be seen that the equivalent factor obtained by this calculation method indirectly includes information about the driving environment.
However, as shown in the exemplary graph of
The power control method in consideration of the driving environment 10 of the hybrid vehicle of the present invention is an improved power control method that is based on an equivalent fuel consumption minimization strategy and can be implemented in real time while having adaptability to various driving environment. Since the present invention is related to a power control apparatus and a method applicable to all types of hybrid vehicles having two or more power sources, such as a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, a fuel cell hybrid vehicle, and the like, it can be utilized as a general power control methodology for a hybrid vehicle.
The core of the present invention is to utilize the driver's required torque (T) information in the “driving environment analysis unit” that analyzes the current driving environment 10. The driver determines the required torque according to the observation of the driving environment 10 and applies the requested value to the accelerator or brake pedal, and the information from the accelerator or brake pedal is converted into the required torque T through the pedal map 310. By directly utilizing the required torque (T) information, the characteristics of the current driving environment 10 are accurately analyzed.
The characteristics of the driving environment are defined by two control parameters: equivalent factor (A) calculated by the equivalent factor calculation unit 321 of the driving environment analysis unit 320 and the power threshold value (Pth) calculated by the power threshold value calculation unit 322 of the driving environment analysis unit 320. The torque command (Tm*, Te*) of the motor and the engine is determined in the “power control determination unit 330” by using these two control parameters and the driver's requested torque information.
Referring to
Hereinafter, a method of calculating the equivalent factor λ will be described in detail with reference to
The present invention redefines equivalent fuel consumption.
That is, in the conventional equivalent fuel consumption minimization strategy, the equivalent fuel consumption (meq) is defined by adding the instantaneous fuel consumption amount (mf) and the weighted value of the battery power (Pb). This can be expressed as follows. Here, the weight A is the equivalent factor.
{dot over (m)}eq={dot over (m)}f+λPb
On the other hand, in the present invention, the equivalent fuel consumption is defined differently according to the value of the driver's demand power P, and it is expressed as follows.
Here, the driver's demanded power P is defined as the product of the driver's demanded torque T and the powertrain speed, that is, the motor speed Wm, and is thus expressed as P=T·Wm.
According to Equation 1, when the required power is equal to or greater than the power threshold (Pth), the equivalent fuel consumption is defined as ({dot over (m)}f+λPb) as the conventional equivalent fuel consumption, and when the required power is less than the power threshold (Pth), the equivalent fuel consumption is defined only with the instantaneous fuel consumption ({dot over (m)}f).
The key to hybrid power control is to 1) produce electric energy (regenerative braking mode, recharging mode), and 2) optimize the use of this electric energy (EV mode, assist mode) to minimize fuel consumption.
In the first core of electric energy production, electric energy can be obtained from vehicle kinetic energy without cost in the regenerative braking mode. However, in the recharging mode, electric energy is produced by the engine torque margin, which causes additional fuel consumption. Therefore, for the electric energy production in the recharge mode, it is necessary to analyze the profit and loss from the energy point of view.
Instantaneous fuel consumption ({dot over (m)}f) can be expressed as a function of engine speed (we) and engine torque (Te), and tends to be proportional to engine torque (Te). That is, it becomes {dot over (m)}f(ωe,Te)∝Te.
Δ{dot over (m)}f={dot over (m)}f(ωe,Te*)−{dot over (m)}f(ωe,T) [Equation 2]
The fuel margin (Δ{dot over (m)}f) is defined as the difference between the instantaneous fuel consumption ({dot over (m)}f(ωe,Te*)) at the engine torque (Te*) determined as shown in Equation (2) and the instantaneous fuel consumption ({dot over (m)}f(ωe,T)) at the required torque (T). Referring to
The equivalent fuel consumption is expressed as Equation (3).
where {dot over (m)}eq(ωe,T)={dot over (m)}f(ωe,T) and meq(ωe,ΔT)=Δ{dot over (m)}f+λPb.
In Equation 3, {dot over (m)}eq(we,T) is equivalent fuel consumption for the required torque, and {dot over (m)}eq(ωe,ΔT) means additional equivalent fuel consumption by recharging.
If the additional equivalent fuel consumption due to recharging is 0, the electric energy production by recharging is performed without energy loss in terms of equivalent fuel consumption, which means that electric energy production is possible without any cost in the same way as regenerative braking. The equivalent factor derived from the condition should be used for power control.
That is, by making the condition of Equation 4 to be satisfied, the equivalent factor λ of Equation 5 is calculated therefrom. At this time, Equation 5 represents the equivalent factor calculated for one driving condition, and the calculating method of the equivalent factor in which all the driving environment from the start of driving (k=1) to the previous step (k=n−1) are taken into account as an average is shown in Equation (6).
Furthermore, in order to appropriately change the equivalent factor according to a change in the driving environment, the forgetting factor (λ) is applied to reduce the weight for the past information in the equivalent factor calculation, and it can be expressed as Equation 7.
After all, with reference to the flowchart of
If the previous step (k=n−1) was a recharging mode (S511), the requested torque T, engine speed we, and battery power Pb of the previous step are provided as input (S512). The engine torque command Te* of the previous step is a command given to the ECU by the power control apparatus 300 in consideration of the driving environment of the hybrid vehicle of the present invention, and is stored by the power control apparatus 300. From the required torque T, engine speed we, battery power Pb, and engine torque command Te*, the fuel margin Δ{dot over (m)}f of the previous step is calculated using Equation 2 (S513). Thereafter, the fuel margins Δ{dot over (m)}f of all previous steps (k=1 to k=n−1) are summed up (S514). The fuel margin values in steps k=1 to k=n−2 are already stored in the power control apparatus 300.
In addition, the input battery power Pb of the immediately preceding step (k=n−1) and the stored battery power Pb of the previous steps (k=1 to k=n−2) are summed (S515). From the summed (S514) fuel margin
and the summed (S515) battery power
the equivalent factor λn of the current step (k=n) is calculated by Equation (6) (S516).
Alternatively, as described above, in order for the equivalent factor to change appropriately according to the change of the driving environment, the forgetting factor (y) is applied to reduce the weight for the past information in the equivalent factor calculation, and according to Equation 7, the current step (k=n), an equivalent factor λn can also be calculated.
Values such as current and voltage may be received from the BMS. However, since the battery power Pb is simply calculated by the power control device 300 from this, in
The higher the power threshold, the less frequent the engine intervention, the more battery power is used, and the average battery SOC decreases.
Conversely, as the power threshold is lowered, the frequency of engine intervention increases, reducing the use of battery power, and increasing the battery SOC on average. Accordingly, there is a specific power threshold that satisfies the battery energy condition ∫t
The power threshold can be calculated by any method that satisfies the battery energy condition as described above. As an example thereof, there is a method of calculating the power threshold using the SOC-based PI control, which may be calculated by the equation shown in Equation (8).
In Equation 8, as the current SOC increases, the SOC error eSOC,n increases positively, and the power threshold Pth,n also increases. As described above, since the frequency of engine intervention is reduced, a lot of battery power is used. Accordingly, the battery SOC decreases on average. Conversely, the smaller the current SOC, the smaller the eSOC,n, and the power threshold Pth,n also decreases. As described above, the frequency of engine intervention increases and the use of battery power decreases. Accordingly, the battery SOC increases again on average. This makes it possible to obtain a specific power threshold that satisfies the above-described battery energy condition ∫t
To summarize the power threshold calculation method with reference to
First, the power control determination unit 330 receives the following input: the equivalent factor of the current step (k=n) calculated by the equivalent factor calculation unit 321, and the power threshold of the current step calculated by the power threshold calculation unit 322 (S531). From this, the optimum engine torque of the current step is calculated (S532). The method is as follows.
The equivalent fuel consumption in the current step is expressed as Equation (9).
Where, Pn=Tnωm,n, Pn is the required power at the current step, Pth,n is the power threshold at the current step, Pb,n is the battery power at the current step, λn is the equivalent factor at the current step, Tn is the required torque at the current step, Wm,n is the motor speed at the current step, and {dot over (m)}f,n is the instantaneous fuel consumption at the current step.
Equation 10 is an equation for obtaining the optimum engine torque Te,n* that minimizes the equivalent fuel consumption {dot over (m)}eq,n.
At this time, when the engine torque command Te,n* calculated by Equation 10 (S532) is smaller than the minimum reference value (Temin) or greater than the maximum reference value (Temax) of the engine torque, it is limited to within those values as in Equation 11 (S533). The minimum and maximum values of engine torque are determined by the limits of engine torque and motor torque.
The motor torque command Tm,n* is calculated by Equation 12 as the difference between the requested torque and the engine torque command (S534).
Tm,n*=Tn−Te,n* [Equation 12]
Small delivery trucks are operated under unfavorable conditions of: (1) frequent stops, and accelerations/decelerations, and (2) real-time load fluctuations due to changes in load capacity. This actual driving environment shown in
However, the power control method by the power control apparatus 300 of the present invention having real-time adaptability to any driving environment can be very effectively used in such a small hybrid delivery truck.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2021-0010069 | Jan 2021 | KR | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20110118921 | Park | May 2011 | A1 |
20190389451 | Huang | Dec 2019 | A1 |
20200198495 | Rizzoni | Jun 2020 | A1 |
20200391721 | Wang | Dec 2020 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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102416950 | Jun 2013 | CN |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220242388 A1 | Aug 2022 | US |