Smart Charging and Anti-Idling Systems (Synthesis Lectures on Advances in Automotive Technology)

As public attention on energy conservation and emission reduction has increased in recent years, engine idling has become a growing concern due to its low efficiency and high emissions. Service vehicles equipped with auxiliary systems, such as refrigeration, air conditioning, PCs, and electronics, usually have to idle to power them. The number of service vehicles (e.g. public-school-tour buses, delivery-refrigerator trucks, police cars, ambulances, armed vehicles, firefighter vehicles) is increasing significantly with tremendous social development. Therefore, introducing new anti-idling solutions is inevitably vital for controlling energy unsustainability and poor air quality. There are a few books about the idling disadvantages and anti-idling solutions. Most of them are more concerned with different anti-idling technologies and their effects on the society rather than elaborating an anti-idling system design considering different applications and limitations. There is still much room to improve existing anti-idling technologies and products.

In this book, we took a service vehicle, refrigerator truck, as an example to demonstrate the whole process of designing, optimizing, controlling, and developing a smart charging system for the anti-idling purpose. The proposed system cannot only electrify the auxiliary systems to achieve anti-idling, but also utilize the concepts of regenerative braking and optimal charging strategy to arrive at an optimum solution. Necessary tools, algorithms, and methods are illustrated and the benefits of the optimal anti-idling solution are evaluated.

Yanjun Huang is currently a Postdoc Fellow of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering with the University of Waterloo, where he received his Ph.D. in 2016. He received an M.S. in Vehicle Engineering from Jilin University, China in 2012. He is working on advanced control strategies and their real-time applications; vehicle dynamics and control; intelligent vehicle control; HVAC system modeling and control; modeling of hybrid powertrains, components sizing and power management control strategies design through concurrent optimization, and HIL testing; and variable valve actuation system for engines.