Analysis and Experimental Implementation of a Heuristic Strategy for Onboard Energy Management of a Hybrid Solar Vehicle

This paper focuses on the simulation analysis and the experimental implementation of a Rule-Based (RB) control strategy for on-board energy management of a Hybrid Solar Vehicle (HSV), consisting in a series hybrid electric vehicle assisted by photovoltaic panels. The RB strategy consists of two tasks: one external, which determines the final battery State of Charge (SOC) to be reached at the end of the driving schedule to allow full exploitation of solar energy during parking phase; the other internal, whose aim is to define the optimal Electric Generator (ICE-EG) power trajectory and SOC oscillation around the final value. This control strategy has been implemented in a real time NI® cRIO control unit, thus allowing to perform experimental tests for energy management validation on a real HSV prototype developed at the University of Salerno.