Enhancement of hybrid engine-transmission vehicle units

The paper analyzes the evolution of modern schemes of hybrid engine-transmission vehicle units, identifies reasons for their design, strengths and weaknesses, and gives examples of practical implementation. It also considers in detail the areas of application and capabilities of various types of modern hybrid drives and their development prospects. The sequential hybrid drive scheme has been actively used on heavy and special-purpose machinery, since it is perfectly suited for vehicles with the need to transmit large torque to drive wheels and no need for high speeds. Different parallel hybrid drive versions used on modern cars allowed reducing the power of internal combustion engines, which significantly increased their efficiency and reduced exhaust toxicity. The authors focus on the hitherto almost unused ability of a hybrid drive to serve as a backup vehicle drive. They formulate the requirements for a hybrid drive used for this purpose and present a kinematic diagram of an innovative hybrid engine-transmission unit that meets the proposed requirements and implements the function of a backup vehicle drive. The operating principle of the proposed hybrid drive in all operating modes is revealed in detail. The use of an innovative hybrid engine-transmission unit on a vehicle allows maintaining its mobility if the main power unit is damaged or failed. The authors give an example of implementing the proposed hybrid drive scheme on a regular passenger car.