Machine-Learning-Based Optimization of Energy Management in a Novel Hybrid Powertrain of Concrete Truck Mixers

The new energy of concrete truck mixers is of great significance to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction. Unlike general-purpose vehicles, in addition to driving conditions, upper-mixing system conditions, operation scenarios, and variable loads are the key factors to be considered during the new energy of concrete truck mixers. This study focuses on the machine-learning-based approximate optimal energy management design for a concrete truck mixer equipped with a novel extended-range powertrain from two aspects: trip information and energy management strategy. Firstly, an optimal control database is constructed, which benefits from a global optimization algorithm with dimension reduction for the constrained time-varying two-point boundary value problems with two control variables, and the driving data analysis through machine learning and data-driven methods. Then, different machine-learning-based driving condition identifiers are constructed and compared. Finally, a vehicle mass and power demand of an upper-part system based novel neural network energy management strategy is designed based on a constructed optimal control database. Simulation results show that the intelligent optimization algorithm based on the ML of trip information and energy management is an appropriate way to solve the online energy management problem of the concrete truck mixer equipped with the proposed novel powertrain.