Computer-aided design of flywheel transmission systems.

摘要

A comprehensive flywheel vehicle performance simulation program has been developed to investigate the fuel economy and performance of proposed flywheel vehicles. The program is a generic model of various components that can be assembled to simulate flywheel hybrid vehicles with different configurations and control strategies. Results from the program can be formatted to accomplish parametric studies of flywheel vehicles. Numerical optimization methods are compared and the Complex Search Method is implemented to search for an optimal design of the fly-wheel vehicle resulting in specific design, control strategy and a given set of components. An efficient random number generator is implemented to generate random numbers for constructing feasible design points which satisfy explicit constraints during the optimal search of design parameters. Parametric studies of major design factors on fuel economy are made. Two different configurations of flywheel transmission are used to serve as a basis of optimal design study for flywheel vehicles.