Vibrations Problems in the Range Extender Developed for an Electric Light Commercial Vehicle.

The article presents the results of research and analysis of vibrations of an on-board power unit developed for a 48V electric light commercial vehicle. Auxiliary power unit consisting of a single-cylinder spark-ignition internal combustion engine driving a three-phase synchronous generator was designed and made as a result of the work of the Student Research Group of Internal Combustion Engines at Cracow University of Technology. On the one hand, the auxiliary power unit makes it possible to increase a range of the vehicle with electric propulsion, on the other hand, the operation of a single-cylinder engine on its board negatively affects the comfort of passengers. The presented work was undertaken in order to quantify the impact of an operation of the range extender on the electric vehicle body vibrations and to evaluate the effectiveness of the used vibration-damping elements of the power unit. The carried out experiments indicated the most beneficial configuration of the damping elements. It was also found that the use of the muffler with a catalytic converter enabling exhaust gas aftertreatment increased the range extender vibrations in the high engine speed range and generator load, which was not the case with the factory exhaust system. In the final part of the work, the possibilities of limiting the vibrations generated by the single-cylinder engine used in the project were also indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]