Abstract
M.Ing.
The increase in awareness of the environmental problems resulting from emissions released from
vehicles have forced governments and car manufactures to invest more time in to the designing
a vehicle that is an alternative to petrol driven vehicles. This dissertation aims to introduce a
control strategy to manage the
flow of energy of different power sources that may be found on
a vehicle.
Hybrid vehicles are a possible solution to reducing carbon emissions that play a part in global
warming. In this dissertation, di erent hybrid vehicles are de ned and their components discussed
in detail. The possibility of more than one energy source to power the vehicle introduces
more
exibility in terms of the drivetrain but this increases the complexity of the energy control
management.
The goal is to optimize the energy control management to reduce fuel consumption and therefore
reduce emissions. Operating procedures for the various hybrid con gurations are discussed.
Simulations of the Energy Management System of the hybrid electric vehicle are used to develop
the control optimization algorithm. Various control optimization procedures are discussed. Satisfactory
results from the simulations allow the implementation of the hybrid onto a platform
entered into the South African Solar Challenge 2010, which covered a distance of 4000 km.
The Energy Management system selected for the parallel hybrid electric vehicle demonstrated
fuel savings, which meant a reduction in emissions, which is the goal of any hybrid vehicle.
Further investigations include more intelligent controllers to adjust the parameters of the energy
management controller to allow for adaptation to various driving conditions, e.g. urban and
motorway driving.