Adaptive Washout Filter Based on Fuzzy Logic for a Motion Simulation Platform With Consideration of Joints Limitations

Motion simulation platforms (MSPs) are widely used to generate driving/flying motion sensations for the users. The MSPs have a restricted workspace area due to the dynamical and physical restrictions of the Motion Platforms active joints as well as the physical limitations of its passive joints. The motion cueing algorithm (MCA) is the reproduction of the motion signal including linear accelerations and angular velocities. It aims to simultaneously respect the MSP's workspace limitations and make the same motion feeling for the user as a real vehicle. The Classical washout filter (WF) is a well-known type of MCA. The classical WF is easy to set-up, offers a low computational burden and high functionality but has some major drawbacks such as fixed WF parameters tuned according to worst-case scenarios and no consideration of the human vestibular system. As a result, adaptive WFs were developed to consider the human vestibular system and enhance the efficiency of the method using time-varying filters. The existing adaptive WFs only cogitate the boundaries of the end-effector in the Cartesian coordinate space as a substitute for the active and passive joints limitations, which is MSP's main limiting factor. This conservative assumption reduces the available workspace area of the MSP and increases the motion sensation error for the MSPs user. In this study, a fuzzy logic-based WF is developed, to consider the dynamical and physical boundaries of the active joints as well as the physical boundaries of the passive joints. A genetic algorithm is used to select the membership functions values of the active and passive joints boundaries. The model is designed using MATLAB /Simulink and the outcomes demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method versus existing adaptive WFs

Smart battery pack for electric vehicles based on active balancing with wireless communication feedback

In this paper, the concept of smart battery pack is introduced. The smart battery pack is based on wireless feedback from individual battery cells and is capable to be applied to electric vehicle applications. The proposed solution increases the usable capacity and prolongs the life cycle of the batteries by directly integrating the battery management system in the battery pack. The battery cells are connected through half-bridge chopper circuits, which allow either the insertion or the bypass of a single cell depending on the current states of charge. This consequently leads to the balancing of the whole pack during both the typical charging and discharging time of an electric vehicle and enables the fault-tolerant operation of the pack. A wireless feedback for implementing the balancing method is proposed. This solution reduces the need for cabling and simplifies the assembling of the battery pack, making also possible a direct off-board diagnosis. The paper validates the proposed smart battery pack and the wireless feedback through simulations and experimental results by adopting a battery cell emulator