HYDRAULIC HYBRID SYSTEM

 

Introduction To Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles:

Hybrid vehicles use two sources of power to drive the wheels. In a hydraulic hybrid vehicle (HHV) a regular internal combustion engine and a hydraulic motor are used to power the wheels.

Hydraulic hybrid systems consist of two key components:

• High pressure hydraulic fluid vessels called accumulators, and
• Hydraulic drive pump/motors.

Working of Hydraulic Hybrid Systems:

The accumulators are used to store pressurized fluid. Acting as a motor, the hydraulic drive uses the pressurized fluid (Above 3000 psi) to rotate the wheels. Acting as a pump, the hydraulic drive is used to re-pressurize hydraulic fluid by using the vehicle’s momentum, thereby converting kinetic energy into potential energy. This process of converting kinetic energy from momentum and storing it is called regenerative braking.

The hydraulic system offers great advantages for vehicles operating in stop and go conditions because the system can capture large amounts of energy when the brakes are applied.

The hydraulic components work in conjunction with the primary. Making up the main hydraulic components are two hydraulic accumulator vessels which store hydraulic fluid compressing inert nitrogen gas and one or more hydraulic pump/motor units.

The hydraulic hybrid system is made up of four components.

• The working fluid
• The reservoir
• The pump or motor
• The accumulator

The pump or motor installed in the system extracts kinetic energy during braking. This in turn pumps the working fluid from the reservoir to the accumulator, which eventually gets pressurized. The pressurized working fluid then provides energy to the pump or motor to power the vehicle when it accelerates. There are two types of hydraulic hybrid systems – the parallel hydraulic hybrid system and the series hydraulic hybrid system. In the parallel hydraulic hybrid, the pump is connected to the drive-shafts through a transmission box, while in series hydraulic hybrid, the pump is directly connected to the drive-shaft.

There are two types of HHVs:

• Parallel and
• Series.

Parallel Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles:

In parallel HHVs both the engine and the hydraulic drive system are mechanically coupled to the wheels. The hydraulic pump-motor is then integrated into the driveshaft or differential.

Series Hydraulic Hybrid vehicles:

Series HHVs rely entirely on hydraulic pressure to drive the wheels, which means the engine does not directly provide mechanical power to the wheels. In a series HHV configuration, an engine is attached to a hydraulic engine pump to provide additional fluid pressure to the drive pump/motor when needed.

Advantages:

• Higher fuel efficiency.  (25-45 percent improvement in fuel economy)
• Lower emissions.  (20 to 30 percent)
• Reduced operating costs.
• Better acceleration performance.

DISI ENGINE

In developing the DISI engine, we aimed to cool the interior of the cylinder as much as possible by promoting fuel vaporization and uniform mixing of atomized fuel and air. This produces a high charging efficiency of the air-fuel mixture and a high compression ratio, which results in significant improvements in both torque and fuel efficiency.

Characteristics of the direct injection engine:

• Fuel is injected from a tiny nozzle into a relatively large cylinder, so it has a high latent heat of vaporization, which efficiently cools the air within (in-cylinder cooling effect).

• The air temperature in the cylinder decreases, which means:

• (1) more air may be charged into the combustion chamber, which produces increased torque.

• (2) the engine is less prone to knocking. This contributes to increased torque, and enables a higher compression ratio that also contributes to good fuel efficiency.

In a direct injection engine, however, the fuel skips the waiting period it would have to endure inside a standard engine and instead proceeds straight to the combustion chamber. This allows the fuel to burn more evenly and thoroughly. For the driver, that can translate to better mileage and greater power to the wheels.

In the past, direct injection posed too many technical hurdles to make it worthwhile for mass market gasoline automobiles. But with advances in technology and greater pressure to make cars run more cleanly and efficiently, it looks as if gasoline direct injection — or GDI as it’s referred to in industry lingo — is here to stay. In fact, most of the major car manufacturers make or plan to soon introduce gasoline cars that take advantage of this fuel saving and performance enhancing system.