Regenerative Suspension System for Electric Vehicles

全球从内燃机向电动汽车的转变正在顺利进行，而且是不可避免的。根据加拿大电动汽车技术路线图(EvTRM)的一份文件[1]，“到2018年，加拿大道路上将至少有50万辆可在高速公路上行驶的插电式电动汽车。”这一可用于高速公路的电池电动、插电式和其他混合动力汽车的战略愿景为加拿大大学、行业和政府确定了实现这一目标的许多挑战和机遇。根据evTRM的数据，尽管拥有丰富的可再生电力的加拿大正在与其他国家竞相采用电动汽车，但它在研究和商业化方面并未保持竞争优势。美国、欧洲共同体和亚洲国家在制定雄心勃勃的目标和投资以实现这些目标方面已经超过了加拿大-在让电动汽车上路和建立一个新的汽车行业方面。为了在这一领域获得竞争优势，需要从学术研究开始，一直到成功商业化，以实现这一不断增长的行业的全部好处的协调努力。全球专注于提高电动汽车性能的研发努力发现，电池性能是关键瓶颈，阻碍了这项技术的完全或立即接受。如今的电池组价格昂贵，只能储存相对较少的能量。在目前的环境下，电动汽车无法满足北美长途日常通勤需求，在PI看来，这是通用汽车雪佛兰Volt消亡的关键原因。通用汽车目前的努力是在2015-2016年间重新设计和推出这款车[2]。虽然通过开发新材料来提高电池功率的研究工作正在如火如荼地进行，但能量收集技术可以在扩大电池功率和车辆运行里程方面发挥关键作用。目前开发的关键能量收集技术是基于再生制动的。虽然这项技术对于经常使用刹车的城市驾驶更有意义，但在北美日常通勤的主要部分--稳态高速公路运营期间，再生刹车对电池充电的效率较低。我对当前提案的愿景是通过一个可行的研究计划，通过有效地捕捉悬挂系统中否则被浪费的振动能量，开发一种独特的创新能量收集技术。该系统预计将获得足够的电力来为电池充电，同时还可以用作主动行驶、操纵和必要时的稳定性控制的致动器。我特别感兴趣的是实现一种硬件/软件智能系统，在长途(低幅度、高加速)高速公路驾驶期间从悬架中获取能量。这项拟议的研究将利用我在传感器和执行器方面的机电一体化研究专业知识，以及我在非线性动力学和控制系统方面的成熟理论背景，来实现带宽增强型再生悬挂系统。拟议的研究计划将包括各种相互关联的项目，以支持HQP并最终帮助加拿大这一领域的初创公司(仅温哥华就有三家)，这些公司有好的想法，但资源有限。这里讨论的想法代表了最终将导致开创性进展的原创和创新概念。这项五年研究计划的成果是一个预商业化的原型悬挂系统，可以有效地在发电和控制模式之间切换。

The global transition from internal combustion engine to electric drive vehicles is well on its way, and is inevitable. According to a document by the Electric Vehicle Technology Roadmap (evTRM) for Canada [1], “by 2018, there will be at least 500,000 highway-capable plug-in electric-drive vehicles on Canadian roads.” This strategic vision for highway-capable battery-electric, plug-in and other hybrid-electric vehicles has identified many challenges and opportunities for Canadian universities, industry and government to meet this goal. While Canada, with abundance of renewable electric power, is in a race with other countries towards adopting electric cars, according to evTRM, it has not maintained a competitive advantage in research and commercialization. United States, European community and Asian countries have overtaken Canada in setting aggressive goals and investments to achieve them—in getting electric vehicles on the road and establishment of a new auto industry. In order to gain a competitive advantage in this area, a coordinate effort is required that starts from academic research, moving all the way to successful commercialization to realize the full benefits of this growing industry.Global R&D efforts focusing on enhancing the performance of electric drive vehicles have identified battery performance as the key bottleneck, hindering the complete or immediate embracement of this technology. Today’s battery packs are expensive and are only able to store a relatively low amount of energy. In the current setting, an electric car does not meet the North American long haul daily commute demands, and this, in the PI’s opinion, has been the key reason for demise of GM’s Chevrolet Volt. GM’s current effort is to redesign and launch this vehicle in 2015-2016 [2].While research effort into improving battery power is in full gear through the development of new materials, the energy harvesting technology can play a crucial role in extending battery power and vehicle operational range. The key energy harvesting technology currently exploited is based on regenerative braking. Although this technology makes more sense for city driving where brakes are more often used, regenerative brakes are less effective in charging the battery during steady-state highway operation—the main portion of an average North American daily commute.My vision for the current proposal is to develop – through a viable research program – a unique and innovative energy harvesting technology by efficiently capturing the vibratory energy in the suspension system that otherwise is wasted. The system is envisaged to harvest sufficient power to charge a battery while being also used as an actuator for active ride, handling and stability control when necessary. My particular interest is to arrive at a hardware/software intelligent system to harvest energy from the suspension during long haul (low-amplitude high-acceleration) highway driving. The proposed research will utilize my mechatronic research expertise in sensors and actuators, as well as my well established theoretical background in nonlinear dynamics and control systems, to arrive at a bandwidth enhanced regenerative suspension system. The proposed research program will include various interconnected projects that support HQPs and ultimately assist the Canadian start-up companies in this area (three in Vancouver alone), with good ideas but limited resources. The ideas discussed herein represent original and innovative concepts that will ultimately lead to groundbreaking advances. The outcome of this five year research program is a pre-commercialization prototype suspension system that efficiently switches between energy generation and control modes.