Equivalent circuit modeling of hybrid electric vehicle drive train

Abstract

The main goals of the advanced vehicles designer are to improve efficiency, to decrease emissions and to meet customer's requirements. The design of such vehicles is challenging and cannot efficiently be achieved without an appropriate tool. The objective of this work is to develop and validate a modeling and design method adapted to advanced vehicles conception. The designer, as a system engineer, needs performances predictions and physical understanding of the system dynamics. In order to achieve this objective, a methodology based on electrical analogies and transducers theory is presented in this work. Using the powerful circuit theory to solve multi-disciplinary problems is not revolutionary, but applied to the design of advanced vehicles, it brings a strong insight and a visual, intuitive interpretation of the set of differential equations. The equivalent circuit obtained from this method offers an elegant alternative to traditional methods and is especially adapted to the study of the interactions between the mechanical and the electrical side of any electromechanical system.