Analysis of efficiency and simulation modelling for hybrid buses with microturbines

This article explains a method for analysing the performance of series-hybrid buses, which run on energy supplied to an electric drive motor through a motor generator system and a battery pack. In the examined system, the possibility of substituting the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) with a microturbine is considered. Research provided for the identification of requirements and the subsequent implementation of a simulation model, that allowed, on the basis of adoptable or adopted project choices, for determining the possible outcomes resulting from maintaining the energy balance on different premeditated trip profiles. In other words, the simulation gave rise to the conditions in which the energy supplied by the heating system and the energy of the batteries were sufficient for completing the vehicle´s entire trip, in respect of established performance. From these results, the power train´s characteristics and the related control logic could be defined for a new generation of reduced-emission hybrid buses. In the course of this paper, several results obtained through simulation cycles will be presented, making reference to project data and standard charts purposely obtained, in terms of speed, accelerations, and slopes. This general purpose type model shown very interesting results referred to the estimated SOC (gel lead accumulators / batteries) recharge level, which shows a 5% as maximum measured gap compared with obtained data.