Hybrid Engine

The new breed of engine

What is a Hybrid Engine?

-       Hybrid Engines are typically described as engines with two power sources. The most common today is a hybrid gas-electric engine that combines the low pollution output of an electric engine, with the high power output of a gas engine.
 

-        There are as many gas-electric engines as there are hybrid cars. Each engine is designed to allow the gas engine and the electric engine to connect to the drive train to power the engine.

-       The gas engine and the brakes are used to recharge the battery for the electric engine eliminating the need to plug in overnight, as is necessary for a plug in electric only engine. When braking, some of the energy being expended to stop a car is collected by the regenerative brakes in an electric engine.

Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle, or better performance. A variety of types of HEV exist, and the degree to which they function as EVs varies as well. The most common form of HEV is the hybrid electric car, although hybrid electric trucks (pickups and tractors) and buses also exist.

Modern HEVs make use of efficiency-improving technologies such as regenerative braking, which converts the vehicle's kinetic energy into electric energy to charge the battery, rather than wasting it as heat energy as conventional brakes do. Some varieties of HEVs use their internal combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical generator (this combination is known as a motor-generator), to either recharge their batteries or to directly power the electric drive motors. Many HEVs reduce idle emissions by shutting down the ICE at idle and restarting it when needed; this is known as a start-stop system. A hybrid-electric produces less emissions from its ICE than a comparably-sized gasoline car, since an HEV's gasoline engine is usually smaller than a comparably-sized pure gasoline-burning vehicle (natural gas and propane fuels produce lower emissions) and if not used to directly drive the car, can be geared to run at maximum efficiency, further improving fuel economy.

As said earlier that hybrid engine has a unique drivetrain to power an engine. We have three (3) different types of Hybrid Engine Drivetrain.

1.    Parallel Hybrids the ICE and the electric motor are both connected to the mechanical transmission and can simultaneously transmit power to drive the wheels, usually through a conventional transmission. Honda's Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system as found in the Insight, Civic, Accord, as well as the GM Belted Alternator/Starter (BAS Hybrid) system found in the Chevrolet Malibu hybrids are examples of production parallel hybrids.

Current, commercialized parallel hybrids use a single, small (<20 kW) electric motor and small battery pack as the electric motor is not designed to be the sole source of motive power from launch. Parallel hybrids are also capable of regenerative braking and the internal combustion engine can also act as a generator for supplemental recharging. Parallel hybrids are more efficient than comparable non-hybrid vehicles especially during urban stop-and-go conditions and at times during highway operation where the electric motor is permitted to contribute

Structure of a parallel hybrid electric vehicle. The gray squares represent differential gears

2.    Series Hybrids is only the electric motor drives the drivetrain and the ICE works as a generator to power the electric motor or to recharge the batteries. The battery pack can be recharged through regenerative braking or by the ICE. Series hybrids usually have a smaller combustion engine but a larger battery pack as compared to parallel hybrids, which makes them more expensive than parallels. This configuration makes series hybrids more efficient in city driving. The Chevrolet Volt is a series plug-in hybrid, although GM prefers to describe the Volt as an electric vehicle equipped with a "range extending" gasoline powered ICE as a generator and therefore dubbed an "Extended Range Electric Vehicle” or EREV.

Structure of a series-hybrid vehicle. The grey square represents a differential gear. An alternative arrangement (not shown) is to have electric motors at two or four wheels

3.    Power-Split Hybrids have the benefits of a combination of series and parallel characteristics. As a result, they are more efficient overall, because series hybrids tend to be more efficient at lower speeds and parallel tend to be more efficient at high speeds; however, the power-split hybrid is higher than a pure parallel.

     As almost all people know that hybrid engine where built in gas-electric but in least people know that the Ford and Porsche Company build an engine that will still satisfy the consumer to drive green and also to be less fossil fuel on the price so they built a Hybrid Engine in Diesel-electric transmission or Diesel-electric powertrain.

Structure of a combined hybrid electric vehicle

What is a Hybrid Engine in Diesel-electric Transmission?

A Diesel-electric Transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors. No clutch is required. Before diesel engines came into widespread use, a similar system, using a petrol (gasoline) engine and called petrol-electric or gas-electric, was sometimes used. This kind of power transmission is used on railways by diesel electric locomotives and diesel electric multiple units as only electric motors are able to supply full torque at 0 RPM. Diesel-electric systems are also used in submarines and surface ships and some land vehicles.In some high-efficiency applications, electrical energy may be stored in rechargeable batteries, in which case these vehicles can be considered as a class of hybrid electric vehicle.

      How Diesel-fueled Hybrids Work