Application of the “Contact Convoy” Concept to Hybrid Electric Vehicles

This paper applies an intelligent intervehicle device (termed a “bridging damper”) to a convoy of in-contact vehicles. The field of application is backup for future automated highways and operation of novel guided systems using vehicle-following control. The vehicle represented in computer simulations is a parallel hybrid electric automobile. Using the Advanced Vehicle SimulatOR (ADVISOR) model, the vehicle representation is tuned to achieve matching of the overall force and power characteristics and the same performance over an urban driving cycle. The model for which a dedicated Matlab Toolbox was constructed is described. Simulation results compare the vehicle-following control on its own with a passive damper and a “quasi-active” damper that is controlled in collaboration with the vehicle's drivetrain. Using transient disturbances in the form of wind gusts and short gradients, power peaks and longitudinal ride quality (Vibration Dose Value) are used to evaluate the performance.