Measurement of Fuel Consumption for an Off-road Vehicle With Conventional and Hybrid Powertrain

Abstract

The hybrid powertrain of an off-road vehicle allows reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. For a small off-road vehicle, the development of a prototype hybrid powertrain has been achieved. One of the possibilities to quantify the efficiency of hybridization consists of comparing the fuel consumption for the vehicle with conventional powertrain and for the same vehicle with prototype hybrid transmission. The comparison has been made through experimental investigation of fuel consumption. Fuel consumption measurements have been performed using portable equipment with high-precision volumetric flowmeters. A data acquisition system with specially developed LabVIEW applications has been mounted on-board the vehicle for real-time measurement of fuel flow. During road rolling, the measuring system has also allowed real-time monitoring and adjustment of vehicle speed according to the NEDC (New European Drive Cycle). Vehicle speed measurement in road conditions has been performed using an optical speed transducer. For the vehicle with conventional powertrain, the measurement of fuel consumption has been performed both in real road conditions and on the chassis dynamometer, at variable speed according to the urban drive cycle NEDC. For the vehicle with hybrid powertrain, the measurement of fuel consumption has been performed on the chassis dynamometer, at variable speed according to the urban drive cycle NEDC. The hybrid powertrain measurement results have been compared to those obtained for the vehicle with conventional powertrain, and a decrease of fuel consumption has been ascertained.