Author(s)

Scott Cash¹, Quan Zhou¹, Oluremi Olatunbosun^1*, Hongming Xu¹, Sean Davis², Robin Shaw³

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
²Textron, Cheltenham, UK.
³Hyperdrive Innovation Ltd., Sunderland, UK.

The work presented in this paper is a progression to previous research which developed an overcurrent-tolerant prediction model. This paper presents some of the modelling and development techniques used for the previous research, but more emphasis is placed on the requirements of the case study; whereby an aeroplane pushback tug is converted into a series Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV). An iterative design process enabled the traction motor, transmission, generator and battery pack parameters to be tailored for this vehicle’s unique duty cycle. A MATLAB/Simulink model was developed to simulate the existing internal combustion engine powertrain as well as the series HEV equivalent for comparative analysis and validation purposes. The HEV design was validated by comparing the simulation results to recorded real-world data collected from the existing vehicle (torque, speeds etc.). The HEV simulations provided greater fuel savings and reduced emissions over the daily duty cycle in comparison to the existing vehicle.

Hybrid Electric Vehicle, HEV, Design, Development, Traction Motor

Cash, S. , Zhou, Q. , Olatunbosun, O. , Xu, H. , Davis, S. and Shaw, R. (2019) Development of a Series Hybrid Electric Aircraft Pushback Vehicle: A Case Study. Engineering, 11, 33-47. doi: 10.4236/eng.2019.111004.