Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Chris M. Atkinson.

Abstract

The intent of this study was the design, modeling, and simulation of several high-performance light-duty hybrid electric vehicle powertrains. The design requirements of each proposed configuration are to meet or exceed a set of performance baselines based on a composite set of particular high-performance conventional vehicles presently available, while demonstrating increased fuel efficiency over regulated government cycles.;Several hybrid powertrain configurations were studied; however, the most promising and feasible for production designs were selected for further modeling. All of the proposed designs are post-transmission parallel hybrids for primarily performance reasons, with the auxiliary motive power coming after the transmission, utilizing a modeled spark-ignited, Variable Valve Timing (VVT) equipped internal combustion engine. A control strategy has been developed for the operation of these powertrains for virtually any driving condition---the strategy was not optimized for any particular government regulated cycle. Computer simulations were performed to simulate both the performance and the fuel economy of the proposed vehicle designs.;The simulation results show that the fuel economy of the modeled hybrid vehicles exceeds that of the comparable conventional vehicles, as well as meeting or exceeding the performance requirements of the baseline vehicles by 12--23%. In addition the exhaust gas emissions may be reduced, compared to a conventional vehicle due to hybridization. All modeled components were selected from available off-the-shelf applications, and the selected designs were chosen to be readily mass-produced.

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