A review of energy consumption, management, and recovery in automotive systems, with considerations of future trends

Abstract

In response to the current and future energy and environment challenges, the automotive industry is strongly focusing on improving the fuel efficiency of vehicles. Although the electrification of automotive powertrains is clearly the principal path towards sustainable transportation, many opportunities still exist to improve the fuel economy of conventional vehicles. However, some of the technical solutions representing the state of the art in research and advanced development are difficult to benchmark in terms of their potential benefits for fuel consumption improvement. A greater understanding of the fuel energy utilization on the vehicle (here intended as a ‘system’ ) is therefore necessary in order to identify the readily available opportunities for efficiency improvements and, ultimately, to develop automobiles which are more fuel efficient. To this extent, this paper presents a review of the state of the art and technology trends in the field of energy management and recovery for automotive systems, with the primary focus on conventional powertrains. An understanding of the fuel energy utilization and dissipation associated with the vehicle subsystems (the engine, transmission, and chassis) is provided, as well as an overview of the opportunities and potential challenges in improving the fuel economy through system-level energy management, recovery, and harvesting. Finally, an overview of the most important solutions for managing energy dissipation, energy recovery, and harvesting is presented, discussing their potential for fuel economy improvement, technical readiness, and challenges. Wherever possible, projections on fuel economy improvements, based on either experimental data or simulations, are reported to provide opportunity for the assessment and comparison of current and future technologies.

Optimal Complete Vehicle Control for Fuel Efficiency

“…(Chiara & Canova, 2013). Among them the engine cooling system is one of the main sources of parasitic loads.…”

Assessing the potential of prediction in energy management for ancillaries in heavy-duty trucks

“…A recent review of energy management in automotive systems [2] concludes that the coolant system, A/C system, and power steering consume the largest amount of parasitic fuel from the ancillaries. Lyu et al [8] investigate fuel saving potential by optimizing the cooling and ancillary systems of a heavy duty engine and conclude that significant fuel savings can be made by increasing controllability of the cooling fan.…”

Modeling and output feedback control of automotive air conditioning system

“…Several engineering solutions have been introduced to production in the past years to improve the energy conversion efficiency of the powertrain components, such as the engine and transmission [1]. Substantial improvements can be achieved also through the use of advanced control techniques, for instance to optimize the use of the A/C system based on the engine and drivetrain operations [2].…”