Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Series-Parallel Hybrid Electric Buses

In the trend of urgent demand of energy saving for public transportation, the series-parallel plug-in hybrid electric bus (SPPHEB) with energy saving potential is proposed. The fuel economy of hybrid power train depends to a significant degree on its control strategy, and then an energy management strategy based on nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) is obtained for better fuel economy performance. Firstly, the quasi-static model of the plant is described and the reference curve of the state of charge (SOC) and the predictive torque are formulated and illustrated. Then the NMPC framework for SPPHEB, which explored the torque prediction method in the prediction domain and the prediction method of the reference SOC trajectory on the whole working condition, is introduced and completed by adopting dynamic programming (DP) algorithm to solve the nonlinear optimization problem. Finally, the NMPC strategy is simulated in Simulink, and its optimization performance is compared with other strategies such as DP, equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) and charge-depleting and charge-sustaining (CDCS). The simulation result is that compared with the CDCS strategy, NMPC strategy shows an economic improvement by 18.86%, and 10.36% improvement compared with the ECMS strategy. The good performance of the NMPC strategy is due in part to the consideration of the reference SOC trajectory mechanism and the prediction of the expected torque. The NMPC-based EMS considered both optimization performance and computation burden, which may provide a prospect for further practical application of real vehicles.