Abstract

Today's combustion engines have low efficiency and a large amount of useful energy converts to heat as waste in different type of vehicles. Improving the dynamics of the car body, injection system, the shape of the internal engine components and manipulating the fuel compositions have had influence on fuel economy, but still less than 50% of energy in the fuel is converted to useful mechanical power. Since the lost energy escapes through the exhaust system as heat, taking advantage of thermoelectricity, part of that energy can be converted to useful electrical energy, improving the overall efficiency. However, the output voltage from a thermoelectric generator is a function of hot and cold side temperature and since, the electrical system of the vehicle operates with constant voltage, the use of a power converter is necessary. In this paper, simulation and experimental results of such a high-efficiency converter(94-96%), designed for thermoelectric generators on heavy duty vehicles is presented and discussed. "p"QC 20150904

Abstract

This article presents the approach used for the design optimization of heavy vehicles such as urban buses and"br" delivery trucks as a part or the ORCA European Project. A methodology to find the optimal combination of"br" hardware components and energy management strategy is presented and the use cases where it will be applied are"br" described."br" To achieve the optimal results, the vehicles need to be modeled with an appropriated methodology that allows for"br" both performance evaluation and energy consumption assessment in short times. To achieve both objectives, the"br" “forward” vehicle modeling, together with static or “low fidelity” models is proposed. Several simulation examples"br" in both electric and conventional mode are given. These models will be used to assess several potential vehicles"br" design, assess their performance, consumption and eventually estimate the total cost of ownership.