The focus of this project is to create solutions to reduce US dependence on fossil fuels via anticipated increases in the number of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) for integration with a Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) system. Such VII systems can act as probes, providing detailed traffic data of any VII monitored highway, which can be utilized by infrastructure agents, in addition to receiving data from other sources, to provide real-time trip information to these vehicles. PHEV-VII vehicles utilize these data to predict acceleration profiles in their driving path for use in developing an energy management control strategy. The objective of this research is to derive a simple and flexible energy management control strategy for PHEVs based on its predicted trip information to optimize fuel consumption and the total energy used, to minimize the total cost of a trip. The research team will create a traffic rerouting strategy, through a weighted multi-objective cost function, which allows utilizing maximum road capacity to minimize the daily total energy requirements, travel times and the daily total cost for this new PHEV vehicle fleet. The project pursues fundamental research to develop a sound mathematical, computational, and technological strategy to create an energy management framework of PHEVs using predicted trip information provided in real-time. The project involves (i) developing a framework for a comprehensive integration of PHEVs with VII that is part of a flexible in-vehicle energy management strategy, which uses an instantaneous optimization method; (ii) providing a robust and responsive performance of PHEVs through traffic rerouting strategies; and (iii) creating an integrated modeling, simulation and evaluation framework of energy management, traffic operations and data communications. This project also involves determining the percentage of PHEVs needed to substantially reduce daily fuel consumption as a function of average distance traveled, fuel and electricity and costs.
This research is expected to potentially reduce US reliance on petroleum and other greenhouse gas-producing fuels, reduce pollution, save energy, minimize the long term cost-of-living expenses, and improve driving conditions. This project provides an opportunity to validate and implement integrated energy management of PHEVs with traffic data from VII monitored highways in a real-world setting. It will also address the important challenges of cost constraints, the application to a large number of systems (potentially millions of vehicles), and the need to achieve a degree of robustness consistent with today's consumer expectations. At the most fundamental level, the impact of this research lies in the design of a PHEV system with simultaneous objectives related to in-vehicle energy management and trip predictability. The investigators submit that the significant fundamental knowledge developed through this project will serve as a beginning of future work that will yield results very close to implementable action plans, within years, not decades. The project will involve both graduate students who will be co-advised by the PIs, and undergraduate students via Clemson University's Creative Inquiry initiative, a multisemester commitment to work in a peer group, mentored by a faculty member or a group of faculty members. Students involved in this effort will learn critical thinking skills as well as gain a deep understanding of the methods of on-line roadway traffic management. They will also engage in automotive engineering research with the aim of minimizing the usage of fossil fuel and maximizing the use of alternative fuels, maximizing trip predictability and integrating these disciplines to attain energy sustainability and trip reliability goals.
