User activities and the heterogeneity of urban space:The case of Dahiyat Al Hussein park

Urban researchers have maintained a constant interest in the complexity and continuity of urban space usage. Some have applied actor–network theory (ANT) to investigate the heterogeneity of spaces and present them through the networks of their users’ activities. However, these accounts are predominantly limited in examining the extent to which these spaces may be heterogeneous when exploring such networks. This paper draws on recent ANT scholarship, which employs an ethnographic research conducted in a main park in a housing project at Dahiyat Al Hussein in Amman, Jordan. The findings describe the complex and unpredictable negotiations that occur within spaces by documenting the varieties and interrelations among user activity networks within this common and shared urban space. This research reveals the extent to which spaces, parks in this case, may be heterogeneous by unpacking their usage. The conclusions and insights assert the necessity of paying attention to design detail and creating designs that are responsive to evolving user activities.     

Energy management system for smart grid: An overview and key issues

Energy crisis and the global impetus to “go green” have encouraged the integration of renewable energy resources, plug-in electric vehicles, and energy storage systems to the grid. The presence of more than one energy source in the grid necessitates the need for an efficient energy management system to guide the flow of energy. Moreover, the variability and volatile nature of renewable energy sources, uncertainties associated with plug-in electric vehicles, the electricity price, and the time-varying load bring new challenges to the power engineers to achieve demand-supply balance for stable operation of the power system. The energy management system can effectively coordinate the energy sharing/trading among all available energy resources, and supply loads economically in all the conditions for the reliable, secure, and efficient operation of the power system. This paper reviews the framework, objectives, architecture, benefits, and challenges of the energy management system with a comprehensive analysis of different stakeholders and participants involved in it. The review paper gives a critical analysis of the distributed energy resources behavior and different programs such as demand response, demand-side management, and power quality management implemented in the energy management system. Different uncertainty quantification methods are also summarized. This review paper also presents a comparative and critical analysis of the main optimization techniques used to achieve different energy management system objectives while satisfying multiple constraints. Thus, the review offers numerous recommendations for research and development of the cutting-edge optimized energy management system applicable for homes, buildings, industries, electric vehicles, and the whole community.     

A comprehensive thermal analysis for the fast discharging process of a Li-ion battery module with liquid cooling

Appropriate temperature range and distribution is necessary for Li-ion battery module, especially in real application of electric vehicles and other energy storage devices. In this study, a comprehensive design of liquid cooling–based thermal management system for a Li-ion battery module's fast discharging process is investigated, and thermal analysis and numerical computation are conducted. The effects of different flow directions, different shapes of the liquid channels, different widths of channels, different thicknesses of cold plate, and the comparison between uniform and nonuniform channels' distribution are analyzed. Simulation results indicate that the liquid cooling system provides acceptable cooling performance in preventing heat runaway of the battery module under 5C discharging current rate. A five-channel cooling plate can reduce the maximum temperature with appropriate design. Additionally, specific flow direction mini-channels, different shapes of the liquid-channels, and nonuniform channels are designed to compare the maximum temperature and uniformity of temperature distribution in the module. Maximum temperature can be improved through the increase of channel width and thickness of the cooling plate. The original design is proved to be the best design considering the maximum temperature, maximum temperature deviation, and final temperature standard deviation of the fast discharging process.     

A comparative review on power conversion topologies and energy storage system for electric vehicles

Fossil fuel depletion and its adverse impact on global warming is a major driving force for a recent upsurge in the development of hybrid electric vehicles technologies. This paper is a conglomeration of the recent literature in the usages of an energy storage system and power conversion topologies in electric vehicles (EVs). An EV requires sources that have high power and energy density to decrease the charging time. Commonly used energy storage devices in EVs are fuel cells, batteries, ultracapacitors, flywheel, and photovoltaic arrays. The power output from energy storage sources is conditioned to match load characteristics with the source for maximum power delivery. A DC-DC converter topology performs this task by way of transforming voltage under the condition of power invariance. In addition, power electronics is also required to power DC/AC motors efficiently with precise control as these motors provide tractive efforts and acts as prime movers. This paper therefore brings out a critical review of the literature on EV's power conversion topologies and energy storage systems with challenges, opportunities and future directions by systematic classification of EVs and energy storage.     

Impact of powertrain hybridization on the performance and costs of a fuel cell electric vehicle

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) have gained attention due to the growing concern about air quality in large urban centers. Barriers such as high purchase price and the lack of a supply infrastructure delay the mass adoption of these vehicles. The current work uses the Advanced Vehicle Simulator (ADVISOR) to analyze the influence of the degree of hybridization (DOH) on the performance and total cost of an FCEV (Hyundai Nexo 2019 model). The costs and fuel economy results of the different configurations (different DOH) are compared to those of the original vehicle. The configuration with the highest degree of hybridization (DOH = 61.2%) showed an 8.3% increase in fuel economy and a total cost reduction of 13.2% compared to the original vehicle. In addition, the best vehicle configuration results are compared to a same-segment gasoline-internal combustion engine vehicle and the original Hyundai Nexo in different cost scenarios.     

Performance of serpentine channel based Li-ion battery thermal management system: An experimental investigation

Thermal management of large-scale Li-ion battery packs is of great significance to their safety and life cycle, which would impact their applicability in electric vehicles. Of the many strategies developed for this purpose, indirect liquid cooling has already demonstrated quite high potentials in thermal regulation of such battery systems. In this study, a compact lightweight serpentine wavy channel configuration was chosen to construct an indirect liquid cooling system for a battery module of cylindrical Li-ion cells. The serpentine channel has a number of six internal minichannels. Experimental test data were used to conduct a comprehensive thermal analysis to examine the highest temperature, the maximum temperature difference, and the heat accumulation percentages, and so forth within the battery pack. Results have revealed the ability of the cooling system to maintain the module temperature within appropriate working conditions for electric vehicle applications for most cycling tests including two driving cycles. Furthermore, the analysis insights raised by this study could be useful in understanding the cooling performance of the liquid-based thermal management systems for electric vehicles.     

A study of external surface pressure effects on the properties for lithium-ion pouch cells

Lithium-ion pouch cells are widely used in electric vehicles because of their high energy density than other structures. There is an unavoidable external surface pressure between the cells in the process of packing and driving of electric vehicles. The influence of external surface pressure on the main properties of the lithium-ion pouch cell has been studied, which is of great significance to packing batteries and reusing retired cells. In this study, a testing device applied for the measurement of constant external surface pressures of lithium-ion pouch cells was first proposed and the different pressure stress-strain distribution on the external surface of cells under semirigid material pads were analyzed by simulation. The effects of pressure on the capacity, internal resistance, and open circuit voltage of fresh and aged LiNi_xCo_yMn_zO₂ (NCM) lithium-ion pouch cells are analyzed through experiments under 1 Mpa external surface pressure. The results show that the internal resistance of fresh cells tends to decrease. The average percentage of the maximum reduction of internal resistance is 13.28%. The experiments also demonstrate that the capacity of aging cells increased by 2.3%. Irreversibility of capacity improvement indicates applying appropriate external surface pressure can improve the secondary utilization efficiency of aging cells.     

Quantitative analysis of fuel-saving potential for waste heat recovery system integrated with hybrid electric vehicle

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) with low fuel consumption, low emissions, and long driving range are the ideal transition models between conventional fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles. The growing demand for increased vehicle efficiency has motivated the introduction of waste heat recovery (WHR) technology in the automotive industry, with the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) as the most promising measure for recycling waste energy. Currently, only a few studies have been conducted to couple HEV and WHR systems. These studies have mainly focused on the hybrid powertrain control strategy, but lack quantitative methods to comprehensively analyze the fuel-saving potential due to the WHR system. In this study, an HEV-WHR integrated system that includes a mechanism-based dynamic model of ORC and a hybrid diesel-electric truck model is established. Further, a quantitative evaluation method that simultaneously considers the negative integrated effects (increased vehicle weight and increased exhaust back pressure) and the positive impact values of the engine, motor, and WHR system on the fuel-saving potential is proposed. Finally, the influence of two environmental factors (wind speed and ambient temperature) on the fuel-saving performance is analyzed. The results reveal that under the standard highway driving cycle (HWY), the negative integrated effects reduce the ideal fuel-saving potential of the HEV-WHR system from 6.10% to 5.42%. However, the optimized performances of the engine, motor, and WHR system improve the fuel-saving rate by 0.39%, 1.81%, and 3.22%, respectively. The results also indicate that the fuel-saving potential increases from 1.62% to 8.60% with increasing wind speed and decreases from 6.70% to 4.25% with increasing ambient temperature.     

特种车辆自动紧急制动控制策略研究

针对特种车辆在战场以及训练过程中易出现的车辆碰撞事故问题,提出了一套自动紧急制动系统(AEBS)核心控制策略,完成了对车辆AEBS性能的道路验证测试.测试结果表明被试车辆符合JT/T 1242-2019对AEBS性能的要求.     

Stochastic geometry of network of randomly distributed moving vehicles on a highway

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have become an extensively studied topic in contemporary research. One of the fundamental problems that has arisen in such research is understanding the network statistical properties, such as the cluster number distribution and the cluster size distribution. In this paper, we analyze these characteristics in the case in which vehicles are located on a straight road. Assuming the Rayleigh fading model and a probabilistic model of intervehicle distance, we derive probabilistic distributions of the aforementioned connectivity characteristics, as well as distributions of the biggest cluster and the number of disconnected vehicles. All of the results are confirmed by simulations carried out for the realistic values of parameters.