A Study on the Hydraulic Pump/Motor Control in the Flywheel Hybrid Vehicle

In this study, a novel hybrid vehicle is proposed. The vehicle has a flywheel-engine hybrid system. Flywheels are more effective as energy charge systems than electric batteries in a respect of output power density. However, transmissions to effectively drive flywheels are very complex systems such as CVTs (Continuously Variable Transmissions). In the proposed hybrid vehicle, Constant Pressure System is employed, which is hydraulic power transmission. Using Constant Pressure Systems, hydraulic CVTs are easily realized with variable displacement pumps/motors. In this paper, firstly, the proposed flywheel hybrid vehicle making use of Constant Pressure System is described. Secondly, fuel consumption characteristics of the flywheel hybrid vehicle are experimentally examined with the stationary test facility, which employs a flywheel as a load emulating vehicle inertia. Finally, the experimental results and discussions are described. Fuel consumption of 26km/L is expected for 10 mode driving schedule with vehicle mass of 1500kg.