New Metrics for Quantifying the Energy Efficiency of Platoons in the Presence of Disturbances
2022-01-0645
03/29/2022
- Event
- Content
- Due to aerodynamic drag reduction, vehicles have shown significant fuel savings while platooning in close succession. However, when circumstances force active deceleration to maintain the platoon, such as vehicle cut-ins or grade changes, the aerodynamic efficiency benefits may be undermined. In this work, the influence of active deceleration on platooning dynamics is investigated using over 400 hours of experimental data from PID-controlled and NMPC-controlled vehicle platoons. The test vehicles are Class 8 line-haul tractors with dry vans and various powertrain configurations. Using J1939 CAN data and GPS-estimated grade profiles, off-throttle data is isolated and longitudinal acceleration is estimated as a function of grade using Kalman filtering. Efficiency losses are analyzed as a function of active deceleration and analyzed to describe the effects of grade and cut-ins on platooning fuel economy. Finally, new metrics are proposed to analyze the efficiency of platoons that experience active deceleration due to disturbances.
- Citation
- Stegner, E., Snitzer, P., Bevly, D., and Hoffman, M., "New Metrics for Quantifying the Energy Efficiency of Platoons in the Presence of Disturbances," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0645, 2022, .