Hybrid Electric Vehicle Model Predictive Control Torque-Split Strategy Incorporating Engine Transient Characteristics

This paper presents a model predictive control (MPC) torque-split strategy that incorporates diesel engine transient characteristics for parallel hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) powertrains. To improve HEV fuel efficiency, torque split between the diesel engine and the electric motor and the decision as to whether the engine should be on or off are important. For HEV applications where the engines experience frequent transient operations, including start–stop, the effect of the engine transient characteristics on the overall HEV powertrain fuel economy becomes more pronounced. In this paper, by incorporating an experimentally validated real-time-capable transient diesel-engine model into the MPC torque-split method, the engine transient characteristics can be well reflected on the HEV powertrain supervisory control decisions. Simulation studies based on an HEV model with actual system parameters and an experimentally validated diesel-engine model indicate that the proposed MPC supervisory strategy considering diesel engine transient characteristics possesses superior equivalent fuel efficiency while maintaining HEV driving performance.