Gear shifting optimization applied to a flex-fuel vehicle under real driving conditions
Társis Prado Barbosa, Jony Javorski Eckert, Ludmila C. A. Silva, Leonardo Adolpho Rodrigues da Silva, Juan Carlos Horta Gutiérrez, Franco Giuseppe Dedini
Abstract
The main aim of this study is to analyze the fuel saving possibilities of optimized gear shifting strategies in a vehicle with a flex-fuel engine powered by both ethanol and gasoline when submitted to a real-world driving cycle. A computational model is implemented and, for each fuel option, an optimization problem is solved aiming at minimization of fuel consumption and traveling time. The standard and optimized gear shifting strategies obtained are experimentally evaluated where the new gear shifting shows a significant fuel consumption reduction without a significant increase in traveling time.