Abstract
The brief presents some principles of the ON/OFF operational strategy applied to energy management of a hybrid internal combustion engine (ICE) based auxiliary power unit (APU). It is shown that significant reduction of fuel consumption (78% for the example system presented) and maintenance expenses (80% operation time decrease was attained by the system) may be achieved by such a strategy, shifting the system operation point towards corresponding optimal region. The side effect of aggravated amount of starting events is cured by employing an actively balanced supercapacitor (SC)-based emergency starter (SCS). The SCS operates as short-time energy storage device, charging from the battery at a low rate and then providing a current burst required for proper internal combustion engine starting. Current sensorless method of automatic connection (based on bus voltage sensing) and disconnection (based on sensing the voltage across bidirectional MOSFET-based switch) of the SCS is also proposed. The proposed circuitry, successfully validated by experiments, may be arbitrarily scaled up or down according to application rating.
Highlights
Armored combat vehicles and heavy trucks are among major transportation fuel consumers, equipped with horsepower-rich internal combustion engines (ICEs) rated up to several megawatts
In case the main ICE is OFF for long periods of time, yet significant electrical load is present, the battery pack is quickly depleted, calling for ICE start followed by nearly-idle operation to supply the required electrical power [1]
The brief revealed that ON/OFF operational strategy applied to ICE-based auxiliary power unit (APU) might significantly reduce fuel consumption and period between successive maintenances
Summary
Armored combat vehicles and heavy trucks are among major transportation fuel consumers, equipped with horsepower-rich (typically diesel) internal combustion engines (ICEs) rated up to several megawatts. As a solution to these shortcomings, small auxiliary power units (APUs), shown, are often installed in heavy vehicles, where frequent mechanical propulsion inactivity under significant auxiliary electrical loads is expected. Such APUs automatically come into operation when the main ICE is OFF. ON/OFF operational strategy [10] does not require detailed system information, and while not being optimal, proposes excellent trade-off between simplicity and performance In this brief, ON/OFF APU operation is examined instead of the continuous one, significantly reducing fuel consumption while prolonging the period between successive maintenances. Experimental verification of the proposed ON–OFF operation of ICE-based APU with SC-based emergency starter (SCS) reveals the method feasibility
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