Energy balance of the optimised CVT-hybrid-driveline

Funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) and some industry partners like GM Powertrain Europe, ZF, EPCOS the Optimised CVT-Hybrid was developed at Technische Universität München in close collaboration with the industry and is currently under scientific investigation. Designed as a parallel hybrid vehicle the Optimised CVT-Hybrid combines a series-production diesel engine with a small electric motor. The core element of the driveline is a two-range continuously variable transmission (iVi-transmission), which is based on a chain variator. By a special shifting process without interruption of traction force the ratio range of the chain variator is used twice; thereby a wide transmission-ratio spread is achieved by low complexity. Thus the transmission provides a large pull-away ratio for the small electric motor and a fuel-efficient overdrive ratio for the ic-engine. Instead of heavy and space-consuming accumulators a small efficient package of double layer capacitors (UltraCaps) is used for electric energy and power storage. The driveline management is done by an optimised vehicle controller. Within the scope of the research project two prototype drivelines were manufactured. One driveline is integrated into an Opel Vectra Caravan and is available for investigations at the roller dynamometer and in the actual road traffic. The second hybrid driveline is assembled at the powertrain test rig of the FZG for detailed analysis of system behaviour and fuel consumption. Based on measurements of standardised driving cycles system behaviour, fuel consumption and a detailed energy balance of the Optimised CVT-Hybrid are presented. In comparison to the series-production vehicle the fuel savings are shown.