Automatic Enumeration of Feasible Kinematic Diagrams for Split Hybrid Configurations With a Single Planetary Gear

Abstract

Most of the prior studies on power-split hybrid electric vehicle's (PS-HEV) design focused on the powertrain configuration optimization. Yet, depicting the selected configuration is highly required for further design steps, ultimately manufacturing. This paper proposes an automatic approach to generate all the feasible kinematic diagrams for a given configuration with a single planetary gear (PG) set. While the powertrain configuration, which is the output of prior studies, illustrates the connection of the powertrain components to the PG, the kinematic diagram is a schematic diagram depicting the connections and arrangements of the components. First, positioning diagrams, specifying the position of the components with respect to each other and to the PG, are used to find all the possible arrangements. Then, given that the positioning diagrams have a one-to-one relationship with the kinematic diagrams, the feasible kinematic diagrams are identified using a set of feasibility rules applicable to the positioning diagrams. Finally, few guidelines are introduced to select good kinematic diagrams that best suit the overall vehicle design. Various configurations were investigated, and three of them including Prius and Voltec first-generation single PG configurations are discussed. The study reveals that the kinematic diagrams that have been patented are only a subset of all the feasible kinematic diagrams, and that even some good kinematic diagrams with better manufacturability are identified using this methodology. Thus, this methodology guarantees the search of the entire design space and the selection of kinematic diagrams that best suit the desired vehicle.

Optimization Design and Analysis for a Single Motor Hybrid Powertrain Configuration with Dual Planetary Gears

“…And the yaw stability of the vehicle is not considered. The driving force F out , driving torque T out and the speed of output shaft ω out for the vehicle are shown in Equations (10) and (11).…”

“…By introducing clutch to change the way of combination and connection between PG nodes and power resource components, the power-split hybrid powertrain configuration possesses multiple operating modes, which greatly increases the probability of high-efficient operation for the vehicle. Therefore, the multi-mode power-split hybrid powertrain configuration based on planetary gear (PG) has enormous potential in improving fuel economy [10,11]. However, the flexible combination and connection of PG lead to a large number of configuration candidates, which make it difficult to simultaneously express the topology and functional characteristics and judge the feasibility and applicability of configurations.…”

Comprehensive Design Methodology of Compound-Split Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Introduction of the Compound Lever as a Design Tool

“…its kinematic diagrams are generated). In fact, the kinematic diagrams are required not only to check its possible realization, but also to verify the physical constraints [37]. The systematic generation of feasible kinematic diagrams for compoundsplit hybrid configurations is the future work of this study.…”

Configuration Synthesis and Performance Analysis of 9-Speed Automatic Transmissions

“…Shanmukhasundaram et al [18] applied the concept of kinematic unit in the representation method of rotation and displacement graphs to synthesize EGTs with up to 7 links. Moreover, scholars [19][20][21] focused on the configurations synthesis of ATs, which is normally used for hybrid electric vehicles. It should be indicated that these devices are expected to play an important role in the energy and environmental conservations in the near future.…”