This paper presents a control strategy to improve the output power for a single-cylinder two-stroke free-piston linear generator (FPLG). The comprehensive simulation model of this FPLG is established and the operation principle is introduced. The factors that affect the output power are analyzed theoretically. The characteristics of the piston motion are studied. Considering the different features of the piston motion respectively in acceleration and deceleration phases, a ladder-like electromagnetic force control strategy is proposed. According to the status of the linear electric machine, the reference profile of the electromagnetic force is divided into four ladder-like stages during one motion cycle. The piston motions, especially the dead center errors, are controlled by regulating the profile of the electromagnetic force. The feasibility and advantage of the proposed control strategy are verified through comparison analyses with two conventional control strategies via MatLab/Simulink. The results state that the proposed control strategy can improve the output power by around 7–10% with the same fuel cycle mass.

This paper investigates the use of moving coil linear machines (MCLM) in the internal combustion linear generator (ICLG), which is a novel solution for series hybrid electric vehicles, distributed generation, and emergency power supply. According to the analysis of the basic structure of MCLM, an improved tubular MCLM equipped with quasi-Halbach magnetized magnets is suggested and analyzed with a proposed equivalent magnetic circuit (EMC) model. Measurements on a 4-kN prototype show good agreement with the results from the EMC model. Compared with the reported moving magnet linear machines (MMLM) for the same application, the proposed machine has the merit of less moving mass, faster response, and better controllability.

Energy management strategy is very important for hydraulic hybrid vehicles to improve fuel economy. The rule-based energy management strategies are widely used in engineering practice due to their simplicity and practicality. However, their performances differ a lot from different parameters and control actions. A rule-based energy management strategy is designed in this paper to realize real-time control of a novel hydraulic hybrid vehicle, and a control parameter selection method based on dynamic programming is proposed to optimize its performance. Firstly, the simulation model of the hydraulic hybrid vehicle is built and validated by the data tested from prototype experimental platform. Based on the simulation model, the optimization method of dynamic programming is used to find the global optimal solution of the engine control for the UDDS drive cycle. Then, the engine control parameters of the rule-based energy management strategy are selected according to the engine control trajectory of the global optimal solution. The simulation results show that the 100 km fuel consumption of the proposed rule-based energy management strategy is 12.7L, which is very close to the global optimal value of 12.4L and is suboptimal.