Optimization for speed regulation strategy of compound coupled hydro-mechanical transmission

Heavy duty vehicles, especially special vehicles, including wheel loaders and sprinklers, generally work with drastic changes in load. With the usage of a conventional hydraulic mechanical transmission, they face with these problems such as low efficiency, high fuel consumption and so forth. Some scholars focus on the research to solve these issues. However, few of them take into optimal strategies the fluctuation of speed ratio change, which can also cause a lot of problems. In this study, a novel speed regulation is proposed which cannot only solve problems above but also overcome impact caused by speed ratio change. Initially, based on the former research of the Compound Coupled Hydro-mechanical Transmission (CCHMT), the basic characteristics of CCHMT are analyzed. Besides, to solve these problems, dynamic programming algorithm is utilized to formulate basic speed regulation strategy under specific operating condition. In order to reduce the problem caused by speed ratio change, a new optimization is applied. The results indicate that the proposed DP optimal speed regulation strategy has better performance on reducing fuel consumption by up to 1.16% and 6.66% in driving cycle JN1015 and in ECE R15 working condition individually, as well as smoothing the fluctuation of speed ratio by up to 12.65% and 19.01% in those two driving cycles respectively. The processes determining the speed regulation strategy can provide a new method to formulate the control strategies of CCHMT under different operating conditions particularlly under real-world conditions.