An optimized fuzzy logic for the energy management of a hybrid electric air-taxi

Abstract

The goal of this investigation is to model a hybrid electric air-taxi and minimize its fuel consumption by on-line energy management. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is considered as a suitable way to reduce traffic congestion and pollution as well as increase mobility in metropolitan areas. Urban air-mobility is an interesting application for electric and hybrid-electric power systems because of limited speed (compared with longer distance commuters) altitudes up to 1000ft and short-range requirements that make possible electrification even with the limited performance of today batteries. However, in case of hybrid electric propulsion systems, the fuel consumption and the environmental impact depends on the energy management. After obtaining reference values of fuel economy over four different missions with the Dynamic programming method, this investigation proposes and optimize a fuzzy logic for the on-line energy management of the hybrid vehicle for UAM in order to minimize fuel consumption and, consequently, local environmental impact.