Energy Management Trade-off: Virtual Optimization of Hybrid Electric Vehicles

As the attention on hybrid electric vehicle concepts has raised, the complexity of the systems and the number of requirements for simulation and calibration have increased significantly. Hence, virtual methods have been introduced to frontload calibration and validation efforts, while reducing cost and increasing robustness and maturity. However, the applicability of these simulation-based methods depends on the hybrid powertrain and vehicle simulation, the optimization approach, and the objective assessment of the powertrain operating strategy, which defines the cost function to achieve satisfactory calibration optimization results. Therefore, in this paper, a virtual calibration methodology for energy management of HEV vehicles is presented, by employing objective assessment within a closed-loop optimization of a hybrid powertrain co-simulation workflow that contains comprehensive vehicle, powertrain, and HCU models. By using the proposed method, the trade-off between efficiency and driveability optimum calibrations was investigated.