Chapters authored
Trends and Hybridization Factor for Heavy-Duty Working Vehicles
Reducing the environmental impact of ground vehicles is one of the most important issues in modern society. Construction and agricultural vehicles contribute to pollution due to their huge power trains, which consume a large amount of petrol and produce many exhaust emissions. In this study, several recently proposed hybrid electric architectures of heavy-duty working vehicles are presented and described. Producers have recently shown considerable attention to similar research, which, however, are still at the initial stages of development. In addition, despite having some similarities with the automotive field, the working machine sector has technical features that require specific studies and the development of specific solutions. In this work, the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid electric solutions are pointed out, focusing on the greater electromechanical complexity of the machines and their components. A specific hybridization factor for working vehicles is introduced, taking into account both the driving and the loading requirements in order to classify and compare the different hybrid solutions.
Part of the book: Hybrid Electric Vehicles
A Review of Hybrid Electric Architectures in Construction, Handling and Agriculture Machines
Recent regulations on pollutant emissions have pushed working machines manufacturers towards research and development efforts to meet the strict limits imposed. For a long time, the use of gas aftertreatment systems have been the most widely accepted solution to reduce the amount of pollutants produced per unit of work done. However, lower emissions limits lead to larger systems and consequently higher difficulties in vehicle integration. Thus, alternative solutions have been studied in the last years to solve the emissions problem using wisely the on-board space. Hybrid electric technologies represent a valuable alternative in this direction. In this work, a review of the current state of the art in the adoption of hybrid and electric technologies on working vehicles is proposed. Due to the high amount of application fields and concepts for special applications, the analysis focused on the three major fields which however includes most of the working machines: Construction, Handling and Agriculture. This work highlights how the requirements of each specific field, strongly affects the design of an optimal hybrid electric architectures.
Part of the book: New Perspectives on Electric Vehicles