Automotive manufacturers are facing increasing pressure from legislative bodies and consumers to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of vehicles. This has led to many automotive manufacturers starting production of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV's) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV's). Another method that helps to reduce the environmental effect of transportation is EcoRouting.
The standard Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation offers route alternatives between user specified origin and destination. This technology provides multiple routes to the user and focuses on reducing the travel time to reach to the destination. EcoRouting is the method to determine a route that minimizes vehicle energy consumption, unlike traditional routing methods that minimize travel time. An EcoRouting system has been developed as a part of this thesis that takes in information such as speed limits, the number of stop lights, and the road grade to calculate the energy consumption of a vehicle along a route.
A synthesis methodology is introduced that takes into consideration the distance between the origin and destination, the acceleration rate of the vehicle, cruise speed and jerk rate as inputs to simulate driver behavior on a given route. A new approach is presented in this thesis that weighs the energy consumption for different routes and chooses the route with the least energy consumption, subject to a constraint on travel time. A cost function for quantifying the effect of travel time is introduced that assists in choosing the EcoRoute with an acceptable limit on the travel time required to reach the destination.
The analysis of the EcoRouting system with minimum number of conditional stops and maximum number of conditional stops is done in this thesis. The effect on energy consumption with the presence and absence of road-grade information along a route is also studied. A sensitivity study is performed to observe the change in energy consumption of the vehicle with a change in acceleration rates and road grade. Three routing scenarios are presented in this thesis to demonstrate the functionality of EcoRouting. The EcoRouting model presented in this thesis is also validated against an external EcoRouting research paper and the energy consumption along three routes is calculated. The EcoRoute solution is found to vary with the information given to the variable acceleration rate model. The synthesis and the results that are obtained show that parameters such as acceleration, deceleration, and road grade affect the overall energy consumption of a vehicle and are helpful in determining the EcoRoute. / Master of Science / The automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation throughout the world in terms of regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption. There is a significant amount of research being done on reducing emissions of cars while maintaining safety, performance and consumer acceptability of vehicles with an emphasis on cost and innovation. Vehicle manufacturers have started manufacturing Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV’s) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV’s) with a focus on reducing petroleum use.
While a lot of work is being done on manufacturing cars that help reduce emissions, significant research is also being conducted to help navigate cars in an energy efficient manner. EcoRouting is defined as the method that helps to route cars efficiently and conserve energy.
EcoRouting helps to increase fuel efficiency without any modifications to the vehicle powertrain and can be customized to any vehicle. A simulation study to analyze the effects of EcoRouting in different driving conditions with an emphasis on the effects of road grade and stop lights on energy consumption is presented. The EcoRoute solution is found to vary with the road grade, the maximum allowed acceleration, and the number of conditional traffic lights. The synthesis and the results that are obtained show that external parameters such as road grades, speed limits, and stop lights affect the overall energy consumption of a vehicle and that EcoRouting can significantly reduce vehicle energy consumption.
The EcoRouting research done in this thesis focuses mainly on analyzing the effect of changes in road grade and accelerations on the energy consumption of a vehicle. A sensitivity study is performed to study the change in energy consumption of a vehicle with a change in road grade and acceleration. It is found that the net difference in elevation between the origin and the destination plays a significant role in determining the energy consumption of a vehicle. This thesis also focuses on formulating a cost function for the maximum permissible travel time required to reach the destination and shows how travel time is an important metric to determine an EcoRoute. Three case studies are presented which provide a demonstration of the discussed methods and typify a working EcoRouting model.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78678 |
| Date | 07 August 2017 |
| Creators | Warpe, Hrusheekesh Sunil |
| Contributors | Electrical and Computer Engineering, Baumann, William T., Abbott, A. Lynn, Nelson, Douglas J. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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