Estimation of the ECMS Equivalent Factor Bounds for Hybrid Electric Vehicles

The strategy for energy management (EM) of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has a considerable impact on the vehicle fuel economy. One well-known EM strategy is the equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) that is a form of Pontryagin's minimum principle (PMP). PMP proves under certain conditions that ECMS yields the maximum fuel economy. However, even if the required conditions are met, the optimal value of the costate still has to be estimated. Many approaches have been suggested for estimating the optimal value of the costate, or the equivalent factor for using battery power in the ECMS cost function. Instead of direct estimation of ECMS optimal equivalent factor, this brief derives estimations for the upper and lower bounds of the optimal equivalent factor. The derived bounds are functions of the HEV configuration and independent of the drivecycle, verified by simulation results. The knowledge about these bounds can be employed in designing new types of adaptive ECMSs (A-ECMSs). To demonstrate the application of the bounds, this brief introduces a new A-ECMS. Finally, the simulation results are presented comparing the fuel economy of the introduced A-ECMS with the fuel economies of an existing A-ECMS and global optimal controller.