How optimized can a fuel cell truck become? In a competition arranged by Professor Lars Eriksson at Linköping University and Scania you can compete with teams all over the world who can make the controller with the best settings for low hydrogen consumption.
Lars Eriksson, theme leader theme 1, has created a competition where competitors will develop the best possible controller for a fuel cell powered hybrid electric truck. The contributors to the competition will compete using a simulation model for a commercial vehicle that Lars Eriksson and co-workers have developed in an earlier SEC funded project.
“Who can create the best controller, with the least hydrogen consumption and with the best lifetime of the fuel cell and the battery?” says Lars Eriksson in an open challenge to the controls community.
Everyone will compete under the same conditions, drive the same route, with the same vehicle, and the same goal. The component that the participants may adjust is the control strategy and they will work with the complex task of controlling multiple systems in the truck like the electric machine, the battery usage, the fuel cell usage and cooling, as well as the gear selection. To complicate it further it is also possible to let the vehicle deviate from the set speed as long as the controller meets the demanded arrival time.
“This opens for controlling energy consumption in many different ways throughout the trip”, says Lars Eriksson.
What will come out of the competition is both the methodology for how to develop such controllers as well as methods and examples of well-optimized controllers for a fuel cell truck and these examples can become step stones for further studies and refinements.
“Competitions are good for driving research forward since the participants often walk that extra mile to win”, says Lars Eriksson.
The model is ready for distribution and the participants can start working on their solutions in the beginning of December and continue, refine, and optimize their solution until April.
To participate and register for updates about the competition you can send an e-mail to:
ECCV-Control@liu.se and we will respond with the model and details about the competition.
The winner will be announced at the IFAC world congress in Yokohama, 2023. The prize is the honor, but also a toy truck with the benchmark name and statement that the holder of the truck designed the winning contribution, engraved on it. The price will be provided by Scania. All participants are also invited to co-author a joint journal paper about their solution and results from the competition.
Here are two papers from earlier competitions:
The AAC2016 Benchmark – Look-Ahead Control of Heavy Duty Trucks on Open Roads
Look-ahead controls of heavy duty trucks on open roads — six benchmark solutions