OPTIMAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT FOR AN AIR/ELECTRIC HYBRID SCOOTER

In view of environmental protection, this paper aims at developing a hybrid air/electric simulator with performance data retrieved from a designed test bench. This experimental bench includes a four-blade air motor and a servo motor for the purpose of measuring the performance curves and output characteristics. The Matlab/Simulink software package was utilised to construct a simulator for analysing the vehicle performance, which consisted of modules of air motor, servo motor, lithium battery, transmission, energy management strategy, and driving patterns. Three control laws, the rule-based control, fuzzy control and equivalent consumption minimisation strategy (ECMS), were developed for air/electric energy management. Based on the developed test bench and the simulator, the parameter calibration and rule modification were easily conducted. Simulation results show that the variation of key parameters, the output performance, and the energy consumption can be precisely analysed. This well-developed simulation and methodology for performance verification can significantly reduce the development time and cost by trial-and-error experiments.