Series and IMMD+: Performance Comparison and Analysis of Hybrid Vehicles with Additive Clutches

In hybrid vehicle systems, the addition of a clutch at the engine end can significantly enhance the overall energy efficiency of the vehicle. In this paper, a novel multi-mode series-parallel configuration is proposed based on the Honda IMMD system and a comprehensive comparison is made with series and series-parallel configurations. Firstly, this paper analyses the various operational modes induced by the inclusion of a clutch at the engine end based on the IMMD system. Subsequently, the fuel consumption of the novel optimized series-parallel configuration is assessed using a rapid dynamic programming method aimed at minimizing fuel consumption during the powertrain operation; additionally, its dynamic performance is analyzed through dynamic programming algorithms. Finally, the performance of different configurations is quantitatively evaluated in terms of acceleration and fuel consumption. The findings reveal that the IMMD + Clutch configuration significantly enhances dynamic performance compared to the series configuration, with an overall improvement of 20.18%. In urban cycle, the IMMD + Clutch (Ice) configuration achieves a 4.6% increase in fuel efficiency. On the highway, both IMMD and IMMD + clutch configurations show notable improvements in fuel consumption, at 11.41% and 11.43% respectively.