International Journal of Powertrains 

About: International Journal of Powertrains is an academic journal published by Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Computer science & Powertrain. It has an ISSN identifier of 1742-4275. Over the lifetime, 148 publications have been published receiving 781 citations. The journal is also known as: International journal of power trains & IJPT.

A spur gear mesh interface damping model based on elastohydrodynamic contact behaviour

Abstract: In this study, the damping mechanism at the interface of the mating spur gear teeth is investigated. The dynamic behaviour of a spur gear pair is represented by a two Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) nonlinear model with the damping provided by the instantaneous tribological behaviour of the tooth contacts. The shear stress distributions along the tooth surfaces are incorporated with the dynamic model to formulate the periodic gear mesh viscous damping. With the assumption the radii of curvature of the contact surfaces can be represented by the ones at the pitch point, a simplified expression for the damping ratio is formulated.

State-of-the-art electrified powertrains - hybrid, plug-in, and electric vehicles

Abstract: Automotive electrification has become the centre of current transportation technology especially in the age of surging petroleum fuel prices and rising social awareness of vehicle emissions. A range of electrified powertrains from micro hybrid to full electric have been implemented in a wide variety of vehicle platforms from subcompacts to heavy-duty trucks and buses. The main focus of this paper is to comprehensively review the state-of-the-art electrified powertrains that have been developed and commercialised in the North American automotive industry. Vehicles are categorised based on different powertrain configurations and electrification levels. The powertrain structure and operating modes are also analysed in detail. In addition, a comprehensive database of electrified powertrains and their components is created. Electrified powertrains and the corresponding conventional powertrains are compared in terms of vehicle efficiency, powertrain complexity, and pump-to-wheel CO2 emissions.

A novel clutchless multiple-speed transmission for electric axles

Abstract: Fully electric vehicles and range-extended electric vehicles can be characterised by a multitude of possible powertrain layouts, many of them currently under investigation and comparison. This contribution presents a novel clutchless seamless four-speed transmission system which can be concurrently driven by two electric motor drives, for use in fully electric vehicles or electric axles for through-the-road parallel hybrid electric vehicles. The transmission system allows the electric motors to work in their high efficiency region for a longer period during a typical driving schedule. This paper describes the layout of the novel transmission system, the equations for modelling its dynamics and the criteria for the selection of the best gearshift maps for energy efficiency. Finally, an energy consumption and performance comparison between the novel drivetrain, a conventional single-speed electric drivetrain and a double-speed electric drivetrain is discussed in detail for two case study vehicles.

A near–optimal rule–based energy management strategy for medium duty hybrid truck

Abstract: This paper covers the design and implementation of a rule-based energy management strategy for a medium duty hybrid truck. In this paper, a procedure for the design of a near-optimal energy management strategy is presented. The procedure utilises the dynamic programming (DP) algorithm to find the optimal control strategy that minimises the fuel consumption over a given driving mission. Through the analysis of the behaviour of DP control actions, near-optimal rules are extracted and tuned to design a rule-based strategy for charge sustaining operation which, unlike DP control signals, is implementable on-board of the vehicle. Drivability metrics such as frequent clutching and engine on/off behaviour are also included in the control design based on the implementation of the DP under different drivability scenarios. The performance of the proposed energy management control strategy is studied by using a proposed longitudinal vehicle model of a pre-transmission parallel medium duty hybrid truck with a clutch. The proposed near-optimal rule-based strategy, benchmarked against the optimal DP solution, shows performance within 3% of the global optimal one.

Vehicle dynamics control with energy recuperation based on control allocation for independent wheel motors and brake system

Abstract: This work proposes an optimal control allocation method for the brake system and the wheel motors of an electric vehicle. The realisation of the method is proposed for vehicle dynamics control and energy recuperation. The control allocation takes into account temperature of electric motors, SOC and voltage of battery, vehicle velocity, fault situations, wheel slip, and vehicle subsystem prioritisation depending on parameters of vehicle dynamics. To illustrate the functional properties of the control allocation method, the corresponding simulation study is performed for the straight-line braking and ‘sine with dwell’ cornering. The simulations use a number of mathematical models including the 14 DoF model of vehicle motion and the models of electric vehicle systems. The simulation results confirmed effectiveness of the proposed approach both for regenerative braking and vehicle stability.