A simulation-based study on regenerative braking for a hydro-pneumatic electric
hybrid vehicle
Ulises Diego-Ayala, Keith Pullen, Sejul Shah
Mechanical Engineering Department
Imperial College
London, UK
u.diego@imperial.ac.uk, k.pullen@imperial.ac.uk,
s.shah@imperial.ac.uk
Abstract— This paper describes the derivation of a model for the
hydro-pneumatic electric hybrid bus VEUNAM, a hybrid
passenger vehicle built by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma
de Mexico (UNAM). ADVISOR was used to investigate the
potential benefits of storing regenerative energy during braking
by writing components for the hydro-pneumatic system and
adapting an existing ADVISOR electrical vehicle model.
Simulations of the hybrid bus following congested routes from
Mexico City were conducted.
Keywords: regenerative storage braking energy, hydraulic;
hydro-pneumatic; hybrid vehicle; braking; hybrid bus; simulation
I. INTRODUCTION
The growth of vehicle use worldwide has encouraged interest
into the development of more efficient powertrains, with
significant focus into hybrid vehicles and novel powertrains.
Automakers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan have
developed medium-sized commercial hybrid electric vehicles
that dramatically reduce fuel consumption and emissions
which have no significant drawbacks apart from a higher
capital cost. These vehicles achieve this by optimising the
component power usage and utilising regenerative braking[1-
4], which decreases the energy required to operate the vehicle
and is particularly suitable for congested cities.
Regenerative braking requires a energy store for capture of the
energy until it is required again. Batteries have been the
preferred option to date due to their production availability
and established capabilities; however, energy storage devices
like ultracapacitors, flywheels and hydro-pneumatic systems
are being investigated[5-9].
For applications such as passenger buses which involve
frequent stops, hydro-pneumatic storage is an option due to
space availability [10,11]. Hydro-pneumatic storage converts
kinetic energy from the vehicle during braking into potential
energy by compressing a reservoir of gas. The vehicle is
accelerated by expanding the gas.
A hybrid bus (VEUNAM) built by the Universidad Nacional
Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) is described. Unlike most
hybrid vehicles, which use conventional combustion engines
for the primary energy source and electrical for the secondary,
this bus uses an electrical system as primary power source and
a hydro-pneumatic system for secondary storage.
Sponsors: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT)
through the project 27520-A and the loan-scholarship reg. 72126
Ricardo Chicurel, German Carmona, Alejandro Gonzalez
Instituto de Ingenieria
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Mexico, D.F.
rcu@pumas.iingen.unam.mx, pcg@pumas.iingen.unam.mx
alex_ozomatl@yahoo.com
Simulations were carried out using ADVISOR, a program
written by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) [12-15], to investigate the performance of the
VEUNAM.
In the following sections the regenerative energy hydro-
pneumatic system developed for a medium sized electric
passenger bus and the ADVISOR model are explained.
II. THE HYDRO-PNEUMATIC ELECTRIC HYBRID BUS
VEUNAM
UNAM developed and built a hydro-pneumatic regenerative
energy system for implementation in an electric passenger bus,
called VEUNAM (Figure 1). The use of the hydro-pneumatic
storage was particularly suitable due to the large space
available in the bus and the highly congested driving routes
found in Mexico City.
Figure 1. VEUNAM hybrid electric vehicle
The VEUNAM bus is a medium size passenger bus using 52
1180 Wh lead-acid batteries, a 22 kW AC motor and a hydro-
pneumatic system. This system utilises compressed nitrogen
to assist the motor during acceleration or store energy during
braking, and combines regenerative with dissipative braking
[10]. It operates based on the performance of a fixed
displacement hydraulic pump/motor mechanically connected
to the final drive shaft. Depending on the power demanded
and the amount of energy contained in the tank, a three-way
valve is activated to direct oil towards the tank to store energy
or backwards to assist in the acceleration of the bus, as can be
seen in the control system diagram shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Control system diagram
The command to activate the three-way valve is determined by
the force applied by the driver to the brake and acceleration
pedals and the state of charge of the reservoir. A combined
brake system senses the force applied to the brake pedal,
which is related to the amount of energy required from the
driver to stop the bus. If this force is relatively higher than an
opposite force from the hydraulic system, then the pump is
activated and energy is stored in the reservoir. If the hydro-
pneumatic system is not able to store all the energy available
then the difference is dissipated as heat by a conventional
brake.
Preliminary tests conducted on the VEUNAM bus show that it
is possible to store regenerative energy from a passenger bus
using a hydro-pneumatic system and subsequently use it to
accelerate the vehicle[12, 13].
Figure 3 presents the results of a preliminary braking test
conducted with the VEUNAM bus. It can be seen that when
the brakes are applied and vehicle speed decreases, the
pressure in the reservoir increases, thus storing energy in the
hydro-pneumatic system[13].
Figure 3. Braking test.
III. THE VEUNAM MODEL IN ADVISOR
SIMULINK blocks were written and implemented in
ADVISOR, shown grey shadowed in Figure 4, to simulate the
hydro-pneumatic electric hybrid VEUNAM bus based on a
existing ADVISOR electric vehicle model.
Figure 4. The VEUNAM model in SIMULINK.
Following ADVISOR’s structure, the simulation begins with
the basic equation of solid-body motion at the vehicle block.
Here ADVISOR calculates the linear force required on the
vehicle’s chassis, which will be later converted into torque by
means of the wheels, in order to overcome the specific forces
that typically act on vehicles [14].
1
F = mgCu + ρC D Av 2 + ma + mg sin(φ ) (1)
2
The operation of the wheels is simulated at the wheel and axle
block to calculate the power required at the final drive axle to
speed up or slow down the VEUNAM bus. The torque and
speed of this power demand is analysed at the power
distribution block and at the hydro-pneumatic control block.
The hydro-pneumatic control block was designed to determine
whether the system is used to store energy or accelerate the
vehicle. The torque from the wheels’ axle, the torque required
from the pump/motor to operate (hydraulic torque Thyd),
reservoir conditions, and whether the vehicle is braking or
accelerating determines its operation.
During braking, if the torque in the wheels is higher than the
torque required from the pump/motor, and the pressure in the
tank is below the operational limit, the fixed displacement
pump/motor operates as a pump, compressing the nitrogen in
the tank and storing energy. When the vehicle is accelerating,
if the torque in the wheels is higher than the hydraulic torque,
and the volume in the tank is below the limit, the fixed
displacement pump/motor operates as a motor, expanding the
nitrogen in the tank. When these conditions are not fulfilled,
the system does not operate.
If the hydro-pneumatic control is active, the torque used to
operate the pump/motor of the VEUNAM is provided by the
the final drive. The pump/motor produces the volumetric
displacement that occurs in the reservoir (see Equations ( 8 )
and ( 9 )).
The hydro-pneumatic control block can be seen in Figure 5.
 Analogously, the equation for the torque to operate as a motor
during acceleration is
18.56 ⋅ P ⋅ ∆V ⋅ ηmpump (9)
Thyd =
w pump ⋅ ∆t
where

19 X 10 −6 w pump ∆t
∆V = . ( 10 )
2πηvpump

Figure 5. hydro-pneumatic control block. Figure 6 depicts the block where the estimation of the
hydraulic torque takes place.

The energy from the volumetric displacement in the reservoir

equals

E = ∫ PdV (2)

and, in a discrete time

∆E = P ∆V . (3)

The average pressure for the discrete time was calculated from
1
P = (P1 + P2 ) (4)
2
with the pressure P2, resulting from the volumetric change
during the time step, following a polytropic behaviour
P1 V1 Figure 6. hydraulic torque estimation block.
=( )n . (5)
P2 V1 + ∆V Figure 7 shows the VEUNAM bus operation following the
control strategy explained above.
The volumetric displacement produced by the pump is
calculated from
19 X 10 −6 w pump ∆tηvpump
∆V = (6)
2π
the volumetric displacement was positive when nitrogen was
expanded and negative when it was compressed. Should the
system not operate, the volume in the tank remains the same
as in the previous time step.

It is considered that the power from the pump affects the

change in pressure in the reservoir, which can be expressed as
P ⋅ ∆V (7)
T pump =
w pump ⋅ ∆t ⋅ ηmpump Figure 7. Hydro-pneumatic system operation.
The addition of a pump/wheels gear relation yields The pressure, volume and temperature in the tank is calculated
in the reservoir block (see Figure 8) from the volume of oil
18.56 ⋅ P ⋅ ∆V (8) withdrawn or pumped into the reservoir and the volume,
Thyd = pressure and temperature in the previous time step.
w pump ⋅ ∆t ⋅ ηmpump
 Figure 8. reservoir block.

Subsequent to a volumetric change in the tank, the reservoir

interchanges heat until the temperature in the gas equalises to
that of the surroundings, resulting in a change in the pressure
after the volumetric change. shows an example of this
condition after a compression of nitrogen in the tank.

Figure 10. power distribution block.

Thereafter, during the VEUNAM bus simulation,

ADVISOR calculates the power requested to the batteries in
the same way as any electric vehicle modelling.

IV. SIMULATION PARAMETERS

Figure 9. Pressure during braking test simulation in the reservoir
A. Polytropic behaviour, B. Heat transfer with surroundings
Once the pressure, volume and temperature in the tank are
calculated, the hydraulic torque is determined. This value is
used in the power distribution block (see Figure 10), to
calculate the amount of torque to be requested to the electric
batteries of the bus, which is the difference between the torque
required by the final drive axle and the torque available from
the hydro-pneumatic system.
ADVISOR 2002 was used to simulate the VEUNAM bus
being driven in a typical Mexican drive cycle. This drive cycle
was obtained by driving an electric Volkswagen sedan,
converted by the Instituto de Ingenieria UNAM, in a round
trip from Av. Universidad to Unidad Aragón at peak hours to
obtain a drive cycle in Mexico City [15], whose main
characteristics are presented in Figure 11 and TABLE 1.

Figure 11. Typical Mexican drive cycle [15].

 TABLE 1. MEXICO CITY DRIVE CYCLE.
Parameter Value
Distance (km) 18.29
Duration (seconds) [hr] 3924 [1.09]
Maximum speed (km/h) 61.27
Average speed (km/h) 16.77
Maximum acceleration (m/sec2) 1.98
Maximum deceleration (m/sec2) -4.15

The vehicle modelled in ADVISOR was set according to the

main physical characteristics of the VEUNAM bus, as detailed
in TABLE 2

TABLE 2. MAIN PARAMETERS FOR VEUNAM BUS.

Description Value
Vehicle Weight (kg) 5236
Frontal area (m2) 7.24
Friction coefficient (--) 0.0149
Aerodynamic coefficient (--) 0.79

TABLE 3 present the main parameters for the reservoir model

and its control strategy.
TABLE 3. MAIN PARAMETERS FOR RESERVOIR. Figure 12. Instantaneous speed and power achieved from vehicle.
Description Value The hydro-pneumatic system was activated during various
Maximum volume (m3) .069 sections of the cycle, following the control strategy explained
Minimum volume (m3) .052 previously. Figure 13 shows an example of the dynamic
Maximum pressure (MPa) 19 changes in pressure in the reservoir as the VEUNAM bus was
driven and the system operated to compress gas in the
Mechanical efficiency pump (--) .95 reservoir and store regenerative energy or expand the nitrogen
Volumetric efficiency pump (--) .98 and accelerate the vehicle.

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

An ADVISOR model for the hydro-pneumatic electric hybrid
vehicle VEUNAM was developed to simulate typical highly
congested Mexico City routes. During the simulation, the
hybrid power train followed a pre-determined control strategy,
storing regenerative energy in the hydro-pneumatic system
during braking and releasing it during acceleration to provide
pneumatic assistance for the electric motor. It was found that
the hybrid system operated consistently during the drive cycle
and that its operation produced a valuable improvement in the
energy efficiency of the system.

The amount of power required by the VEUNAM during the

drive cycle (see Figure 12) was link to several factors,
including speed demand, physical characteristics of vehicle
and performance of components and power train.
Figure 13. Pressure in reservoir.
When the hydro-pneumatic system assisted the electric motor,
energy from the reservoir was released to the final drive shaft;
and during regenerative operation, part of the available energy
from the shaft was stored in the reservoir, as can be seen in
Figure 14.

Figure 14. Energy consumed by vehicle and provided or stored by hydro-
pneumatic system.
The hydro-pneumatic system operated intermittently along the
drive cycle when the vehicle was in motion. Of the total
duration of the drive cycle, 3924 seconds, the VEUNAM bus
was in motion for 2572 s: 648 s braking and 1924 s
accelerating. As illustrated in Figure 15, of the period the
vehicle was moving, braking regenerative storage operation
occurred for 313 s, compared with 335 s of conventional
braking. These results indicate that the conditions for the
system to store energy were fulfilled nearly half the time the
VEUNAM was braking, which shows good performance in
terms of operational frequency utilizing a constant
displacement pump. However, during acceleration, the system
operated during 432 s of the acceleration period, only 22.4%
of the acceleration time. This could be attributed to the
considerably higher frequency of acceleration demand and
hydro-pneumatic storage capabilities, which did not permit the
recharging of the hydro-pneumatic system before being used
again.
Figure 15. Frequency of operation for hydro-pneumatic system.
It was found that frequency of operation was related to both
the energy consumed from the vehicle and energy requested at
any particular moment. The former refers to the energy that
was actually provided or stored by the powertrain elements in
the system, and the latter to the energy that the vehicle
demanded to achieve the requested drive cycle. Energy
requested to slow down the vehicle was normally satisfied by
the activation of the brakes, but for a positive demand to
accelerate the vehicle, results suggest that the energy
requested was not be attainable due to electric and hydro-
pneumatic power limitations. An example can be seen around
the 1330 seconds mark in Figure 16, where the power
requested by the wheels was not fulfilled because the electric
motor was not able to provide it. The hydro-pneumatic system
did not operate here because it had already released its energy
at the beginning of this acceleration segment.An increase in
the electric motor power rating could allow the VEUNAM bus
to fulfil the demand during the entire drive cycle.
Figure 16. Power requested from wheels, and power provided from electric
and hydro-pneumatic system.
Figure 16 also shows various segments with instantaneous
positive power demand from the wheels supplied whether by
the hydro-pneumatic and electric system working in parallel or
solely by electric components. It also displays negative power
demand segments when energy was either stored in the
reservoir or dissipated as heat by the brakes. During the
simulation, braking energy demand was always fulfilled,
either by the brakes or in parallel with the hydro-pneumatic
system.
Figure 17 displays the distribution of energy consumed during
braking and acceleration. Inspection of these figures indicates
that the hydro-pneumatic system was able to store up to 3.60
MJ (41%) of the total braking energy, with 3.67 MJ dissipated
as heat even though the regenerative system was operating.
This substantial amount of energy had to be dissipated because
the system was not able to compress more nitrogen in the
reservoir during that particular period. Although higher values
of instantaneous energy storage could be obtained with higher
pressure in the reservoir or higher flow rate from the pump,
this might also reduce the operative frequency because of the
higher pump torque required to operate the system.
With regard to energy consumed by the final drive shaft
during acceleration, it was found that when both systems
operated in parallel, 2.95 MJ were provided by electric means
and 3.07 MJ by hydraulic. This represents practically half the
energy required for each system during this period. The
contribution of the hydro-pneumatic system thereby enhances
the energy efficiency of the system, reducing the electrical
energy consumption at the wheels from 33.55 MJ to 30.6
MJ(8.79%).
Energy consumed during braking
Energy consumed during acceleration
Figure 17. Energy consumed during braking and acceleration.
Energy optimisation achievable from a regenerative system
depends not only on storage capability, but also on its energy
availability: the more energy the system is able to store and
the more energy the system has available to be regenerated,
the more efficient the system is. In the case of a typical drive
cycle, as evident from Figure 18, energy is most frequently
required to accelerate the vehicle than to stop it.
Figure 18. Energy consumption.
A1. - Consumed by wheels; A2. - Provided by hydro-pneumatic
B1. - Regenerative available at wheels; B2.- Stored by hydro-pneumatic
A simulation of the vehicle being driven only-electric during
the same drive cycle was also conducted. Inspection of Figure
19 indicates that power demanded from the batteries was
frequently higher with the VEUNAM bus running only-
electric. As expected, when the hybrid mode is in operation,
lower energy is demanded of the batteries, which is related to
the lower current peaks obtained in our simulation that is
thought to prolong the life of the batteries.
Figure 19. Electric power from batteries.
The energy provided by the batteries for these two types of
operation is shown in Figure 20. The total electric energy
provided with the VEUNAM bus driven only-electric is 36.82
MJ, 8.96% higher than when the vehicle operates with the
hydro-pneumatic system. This saving derives from the re-
utilization of regenerative energy and a consequent reduction
on electric demand during the VEUNAM bus operation.
Figure 20. Electric energy provided for drive cycle.
It was found that the hydro-pneumatic system used in the
VEUNAM bus could save up to 41% of the regenerative
energy available from the vehicle in a typical Mexican drive
cycle, and assist with 10% of the energy required during
acceleration, increasing the overall efficiency of the vehicle by
8.96% when compared with an only-electric vehicle operation.
A simulation with the VEUNAM bus weighing 7236 kg was
also conducted to study regenerative capabilities with
additional weight. The results indicated that the hydro-
pneumatic system stored 10% more regenerative energy (3.99
MJ in total) despite having up to 11.26 MJ available to store
(28.24% higher than with 5236 kg), as shown in Figure 21.
The higher torque available in the shaft, due to the additional
weight, caused the hydraulic system to store energy more
frequently (371 seconds in operation, 18.53% more time), thus
increasing the total energy stored; however, the regenerative
storage was nevertheless limited.
Figure 21. Energy consumption with 7236 kg vehicle weigth.
A1.- Consumed by wheels; A2.- Provided by hydro-pneumatic
B1.- Regenerative available at wheels; B2.- Stored by hydro-pneumatic
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
An ADVISOR model of the VEUNAM bus, a hybrid vehicle
built by the UNAM, was written in SIMULINK. A
simulation-based study was conducted with the VEUNAM
bus being driven in a typically highly congested Mexico City
drive cycle using hybrid and electric-only operation. Energy
consumption and overall performance were compared.
Results from the simulation showed that the hydro-pneumatic
electric hybrid powertrain of the VEUNAM bus operated
consistently whilst being driven in a Mexico City route.
The use of a constant displacement pump was examined as an
alternative to the more expensive variable displacement pump.
It was found that energy was repetitively stored in the
hydraulic system and used during accelerations to assist the
electric motor, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of the
vehicle.
It was found that the operation of the hydro-pneumatic system
was governed by the torque availability from the wheels, the
size of pump/motor and the reservoir conditions. This means
that particular attention should be paid to the control strategy
and the operational settings for the reservoir.
Ongoing studies are being conducted on the performance of
the VEUNAM under different driving scenarios to determine
an optimised control strategy suitable for the operational
conditions of the hydro-pneumatic system, with further
experimental and theoretical analysis planned.
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