Current Research

Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration Enabled Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) for Energy Management

Principal investigators:

Mashrur Chowdhury, Civil Engineering
Pierluigi Pisu, Mechanical Engineering
Pushkin Kacharoo, Director of the Transportation Research Center at University of Nevada

Graduate Students:

Jackeline Rios Torres
Vijay Turlapati
Yiming He

Sponsors:

NSF

Brief abstract: 

The focus of this proposal 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 to predict trip information (e.g. speed and acceleration profiles). The objective of this proposed research is to derive a simple and flexible energy management control strategy for PHEVs based on the trip information derived through VII to optimize fuel consumption, and the total energy used, with the purpose of minimizing the total cost of a trip. At the macro-level, the proposed team will derive a traffic re-routing strategy that allows utilizing maximum road capacity to minimize the daily total energy requirements and the daily total cost for this new PHEV vehicle fleet. 

Impact:

This unique research will greatly enhance true interdisciplinary scholarship by involving participating students in the multidisciplinary aspects of highway travel. This joint effort between the civil and mechanical engineering departments at Clemson University will maximize the potential for utilizing this research in highly relevant aspects of everyday American life to help the nation move towards energy independence. All segments of US society will positively benefit from decreased reliance on oil, decreased production of greenhouse gases, and from the improved economics of energy consumption.

Preliminary Results:

Completed PHEV backward model for Toyota Prius with ECMS Strategy