歐洲委員會(huì)的估算和專業(yè)卡車期刊的測(cè)試數(shù)據(jù)顯示,歐洲重型卡車的平均百公里油耗為31-38升(6-8mpg)。這個(gè)耗熱率聽起來很低,但是考慮到一輛大型卡車的重量可以高達(dá)40噸以上,情況就截然不同了。
卡車燃油主要有兩個(gè)用途,一是克服極大的車重,使汽車加速至公路行駛速度,二是牽引卡車上坡。在歐洲的普通道路和高速公路上行駛的數(shù)百萬輛重型卡車所造成的二氧化碳與柴油顆粒排放,占?xì)W盟總排放量的五分之一。
滿載的大型卡車重量極大,因此車輛在減速、下坡、頻繁起停以及其他負(fù)載瞬變過程中所損失的能量,可以通過再生制動(dòng)系統(tǒng)進(jìn)行回收,從而提高燃油經(jīng)濟(jì)性并減少尾氣排放。
位于法國斯特拉斯堡的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)Adgero正在研發(fā)一種混合式儲(chǔ)能增壓系統(tǒng)。它由一個(gè)動(dòng)能回收系統(tǒng)(KERS)和一個(gè)電動(dòng)驅(qū)動(dòng)裝置組成,可安裝于半掛拖車的下方。公司稱,Adgero混合系統(tǒng)(Adgero Hybrid System)將是針對(duì)重型卡車開發(fā)的第一個(gè)KERS。
根據(jù)路面和交通情況,這個(gè)改裝系統(tǒng)可以節(jié)約15-25%的燃油與排放,公司創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官M(fèi)ack Murray表示。Adgero混合系統(tǒng)采用了愛沙尼亞Skeleton Technologies公司提供的800 V超級(jí)電容器組、一家歐洲著名加速輔助設(shè)備制造商生產(chǎn)的電動(dòng)驅(qū)動(dòng)橋、以及無線智能管理系統(tǒng)Adgero監(jiān)控器(Adgero Monitor),該監(jiān)控器可根據(jù)前方駕駛員的情況,產(chǎn)生輸入信息,對(duì)后方車輛的再生制動(dòng)與加速進(jìn)行控制。
該系統(tǒng)正在申請(qǐng)專利。Murray表示,僅靠節(jié)省下來的能耗,就能使用戶安裝后3-4年內(nèi)收回投資。如果能獲得稅務(wù)局的環(huán)境補(bǔ)貼,那么投資收回的時(shí)間還可進(jìn)一步縮短。Adgero最近正在和一家歐洲著名的半掛拖車制造商協(xié)商,希望將該系統(tǒng)整合進(jìn)他們的生產(chǎn)線內(nèi)。
油電混合改裝
“我們希望實(shí)施改裝的目標(biāo)客戶,是經(jīng)營半掛車車隊(duì)的租賃公司和承租客戶,尤其是那些拖車可單獨(dú)運(yùn)輸?shù)墓?鐵路多式聯(lián)運(yùn)的運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng),如Lohr、CargoBeamer或MegaSwing的系統(tǒng),”他表示。只要是過去15年內(nèi)生產(chǎn)的卡車拖車都可兼容。“因?yàn)橥宪嚿蠜]多少空間,所以我們只能將緊湊的儲(chǔ)能與控制設(shè)備置入I型梁底盤下方。”
“最理想的是公路/鐵路多式聯(lián)運(yùn)系統(tǒng),” Murray解釋,“比如說,來自挪威的魚用卡車送往鐵路儲(chǔ)存站,接著用半掛拖車送往西班牙和其他地中海城市的倉庫,卸貨后裝滿水果再回到挪威。”
盡管大部分歐洲的重型卡車行駛線路都不到200 km(12.5英里),但是混合動(dòng)力運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng)依然能節(jié)省燃油。英國、荷蘭和德國是Adgero的首要目標(biāo)市場(chǎng),而法國的情況更加復(fù)雜一些。
Adgero團(tuán)隊(duì)認(rèn)為,給拖車通電,比使用油電混合牽引車更合理,這是另一種回收柴油機(jī)能量的方法, Freightliner新推出的12mpg的SuperTruck概念車就采用了這種技術(shù)。“用一根600 V的纜線”將牽引車和被通電的拖車連起來,“然后你就可以像駕駛豐田普銳斯那樣駕駛它。但這不是最好的方案,”他表示。使用普通的混動(dòng)系統(tǒng),需要位于鐵路運(yùn)輸路段兩端的拖車公司購置新卡車。“而我們可以提供同樣的效果,而且不用購置新車。”
這個(gè)全新的捆綁式驅(qū)動(dòng)單元包含一臺(tái)200 kW電機(jī),它的轉(zhuǎn)速高達(dá)2900rpm,轉(zhuǎn)速為零時(shí)最大扭矩可達(dá)750 牛·米 (550 lb·ft) ,并且已經(jīng)通過了道路使用認(rèn)證,使用年限可超過普通拖車的10年壽命。根據(jù)所使用懸架的不同,可使用電動(dòng)驅(qū)動(dòng)橋取代拖車架上的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)三橋架構(gòu)(如LeciTrailer的curtainsider)中未受驅(qū)動(dòng)的中央橋,因?yàn)樵撗b置總是與地面接觸。
Adgero保證,這個(gè)改裝系統(tǒng)能夠與現(xiàn)有的架構(gòu)完全兼容。如果一輛沒有監(jiān)控器的卡車配上了裝有Adgero系統(tǒng)的拖車,那么這個(gè)混合動(dòng)力系統(tǒng)就會(huì)處于待機(jī)模式,其拖車也與普通的拖車并無區(qū)別。
Adgero是Murray在多年前與一些企業(yè)家共同創(chuàng)辦的公司,他的合作伙伴包括首席技術(shù)官Gine?s Linares、軟件研發(fā)主管Soun Schuller和首席數(shù)據(jù)官Fre?de?ric Soulier。
超電容器組的儲(chǔ)能解決方案
“通過與Skeleton Technologies開展合作,我們將世界上最先進(jìn)的超電容器組作為我們系統(tǒng)的核心,” Murray表示。“在以能量密度為關(guān)鍵衡量指標(biāo)的卡車行業(yè),這將給我們帶來巨大的優(yōu)勢(shì)。” Skeleton使用一種獲得專利的石墨烯材料,它具備更好的傳導(dǎo)性能和更大的表面積,因此它的能量密度和功率密度分別可達(dá)到競爭產(chǎn)品的兩倍和五倍。
“為了幫助Adgero實(shí)現(xiàn)他們的解決方案,” Skeleton首席技術(shù)官Volker Dudek表示,“我們專門研發(fā)了一種智能功率模塊,通過一種獲得專利的管理系統(tǒng),對(duì)能量和功率進(jìn)行智能監(jiān)控,使其滿足客戶要求。”
去年,Skeleton的專家與Adgero團(tuán)隊(duì)合作,對(duì)一臺(tái)原本在賽車上使用的800 V超電容器電源模塊進(jìn)行改造,使其符合道路運(yùn)輸車輛的需求。該模塊由5個(gè)160 V的圓柱體蓄電池組構(gòu)成,并可對(duì)每個(gè)電池單體進(jìn)行監(jiān)控,使其主動(dòng)保持平衡。
Murray稱,過去數(shù)月內(nèi)Adgero混合系統(tǒng)經(jīng)過了嚴(yán)格的振動(dòng)、沖擊和浸泡測(cè)試。2016年,法國物流公司Altrans還將對(duì)其進(jìn)行道路測(cè)試。
Adgero和Skeleton Technologies打算逐漸增加產(chǎn)量,目標(biāo)是在2020年前每年產(chǎn)量達(dá)到8000-10,000臺(tái)。試生產(chǎn)期間(2016-2017年)的成本將為45,000歐元(50,600美元)左右,2018年,產(chǎn)品將以25,000歐元(28,000美元)的售價(jià)上市。盡管Adgero團(tuán)隊(duì)目前僅專注于歐洲的卡車市場(chǎng),但Murray表示,這個(gè)技術(shù)概念也可能適用于北美和亞洲。
Murray還指出,Adgero的開放式電氣總線和超電容器組可為改裝車的行駛和其他車輛功能提供不間斷的動(dòng)力,比如4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)、車載娛樂信息系統(tǒng)、車輛狀態(tài)報(bào)告、用戶可配置子系統(tǒng),以及包括自動(dòng)拖車跟蹤、監(jiān)控和控制、自動(dòng)載荷監(jiān)控、聯(lián)合運(yùn)輸用的車隊(duì)管理線路優(yōu)化在內(nèi)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)數(shù)據(jù)服務(wù)等。
作者:Steven Ashley
來源:SAE《非公路用車雜志》
翻譯:SAE 上海辦公室
Fuel-saving KERS for big-rig trucks
The average European heavy-duty truck burns from 31 to 38 L of diesel fuel per 100 km of travel (6 to 8 mpg), according to European Commission estimates and truck magazine tests. That might sound like low fuel economy until one considers that a big-rig truck can weigh 40 ton (36 t) or more.
Accelerating such large masses to highways speeds and dragging them up hills account for a big chunk of the trucks’ overall fuel use. Road haulage by the millions of heavy trucks that ply European roads and highways accounts for more than a fifth of the European Union’s total output of carbon dioxide and diesel particulate emissions.
The great weight of fully laden big trucks, of course, provides an opportunity to recapture some of the energy that’s typically lost during deceleration, downhill travel, stop-and-go traffic, and other load transients using regenerative braking systems, which boost fuel economy and cut tailpipe emissions.
Adgero, a start-up firm that’s based in Strasbourg, France, is developing a parallel hybrid storage-boost system—essentially a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) and an electric drive unit—that can be mounted under semi-trailers. The Adgero Hybrid System, it is claimed, is the first KERS for heavy-duty trucks.
Depending on the terrain and traffic conditions, the retrofit can save from 15% to 25% in fuel and associated emissions, said founder and CEO Mack Murray. The Adgero Hybrid System comprises an 800-V ultracapacitor bank supplied by Estonia’sSkeleton Technologies, an electric drive axle from a major European manufacturer for acceleration assistance, and the Adgero Monitor, a wireless intelligent management system that tracks driver input up front to control the regenerative braking and acceleration boost at the rear.
The patent-pending design can pay for itself in three or four years through reduced consumption alone, Murray maintained, and where expected tax climate subsidies become available the payback could be even quicker. The company has recently entered negotiations with a major European semi-trailer manufacturer to potentially integrate the new Adgero design into its production lines.
Electric-hybrid retrofit
“We want to retrofit semi-trailer fleets of lessors and leasing customers, particularly those that are used in road/rail intermodal systems in which the trailer travels alone as they do in Lohr, CargoBeamer, or MegaSwing systems,” he said. Any truck trailer made in the last 15 years is compatible. “There’s not much space on a trailer so we shoehorned” the compact energy storage and control add-ons into the I-beam chassis understructure.
“A perfect road/rail transport corridor for us,” Murray explained, “would be the shipping route by which Norwegian fish is trucked to rail depots where it is sent in detached semi-trailers down to Spain and other Mediterranean countries where they are trucked to warehouses that empty them of fish and fill them with fruit to be shipped back up to Norway.”
But even though the majority of European heavy-duty truck trips are less than 200 km (125 mi), the hybrid drive can save fuel. Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany are the company’s initial target markets, he noted, though France is more problematic.
The Adgero team thinks electrified trailers makes more sense than electric-hybrid tractors, an alternative way to recapture diesel fuel energy, one that is used, for example, by the Freightliner’s recent 12-mpg SuperTruck concept, which links tractor to powered trailer “with a 600-V line and so can operate like a Toyota Prius. It’s not the best solution,” he said. Conventional hybrid systems would require the hauling companies at both ends of the rail links to purchase new trucks. “We can do the same without the need for new trucks.”
The new strap-on drive unit, which contains a 200-kW motor capable of spinning up to 2900 rpm and providing a maximum torque of 750 N·m (550 lb·ft) at zero rpm, is certified for road use and has been engineered to exceed the typical 10-year lifetime of an average trailer. Depending on the suspension, he said, the electric-powered drive axle typically replaces the central undriven axle in a standard three-axle setup on the trailer rig (such as a LeciTrailer curtainsider), which is always in contact with the road surface.
The retrofit system is guaranteed to be fully compatible with existing infrastructure. And if an Adgero-enabled trailer is picked up by a truck with no monitor, the hybrid system simply stays in standby mode and acts like any other trailer.
Murray formed Adgero a couple of years ago together with fellow entrepreneurs co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Gine?s Linares, Soun Schuller, the software development leader, and Fre?de?ric Soulier, the chief data officer.
Ultracapacitor storage
“By partnering with Skeleton Technologies, we put the world’s most advanced ultracapacitors at the heart of our system,” Murray said. “This will give us an edge in an industry where energy density is a key metric.” He said that Skeleton uses a patented graphene material that offers better conductivity and higher surface area, and so can deliver twice the energy density and five times the power density of competitors’ products.
“To enable this solution for Adgero,” said Skeleton CTO Volker Dudek, “we developed intelligent power modules with a proprietary management system that allows for smart monitoring and control of the energy/power profile according to customer requirements.”
During the last year, Skeleton specialists worked with the Adgero team to adapt an 800-V ultracapacitor power module that is used in the motorsport industry to meet the needs of road freight vehicles. The module, which comprises five 160-V units that are composed of cylindrical cells, monitors each individual cell to actively balance itself.
In recent months the Adgero Hybrid System has been put through rigorous vibration, shock, and immersion testing procedures, Murray said. In 2016, plans are that the French logistics company Altrans will conduct road tests.
Adgero and Skeleton Technologies aim to ramp up production, with the objective of manufacturing 8000 to 10,000 units annually by 2020. Pre-series models (in 2016 to 2017) are to cost around €45,000 ($50,600), whereas series production models (in 2018) will be priced at €25,000 ($28,000). Although the Adgero team is concentrating on the European truck market, Murray said that the concept could probably work in North America and Asia as well.
Murray noted that the addition of Adgero’s open electrical bus and ultracapacitor bank to a trailer provides the retrofitted trucks with an uninterruptible power supply for services such as 4G, onboard telematics, vehicle-status reporting, and user configurable subsystems as well as network data services such as autonomous trailer tracking, monitoring and control, autonomous payload monitoring, and intermodal-compatible fleet-management route optimization.
Author: Steven Ashley
Source: SAE Off-Highway Engineering Online