Actuators for Intelligent Electric Vehicles

This book details the advanced actuators for IEVs and the control algorithm design. In the actuator design, the configuration four-wheel independent drive/steering electric vehicles is reviewed. An in-wheel two-speed AMT with selectable one-way clutch is designed for IEV. Considering uncertainties, the optimization design for the planetary gear train of IEV is conducted. An electric power steering system is designed for IEV. In addition, advanced control algorithms are proposed in favour of active safety improvement. A supervision mechanism is applied to the segment drift control of autonomous driving. Double super-resolution network is used to design the intelligent driving algorithm. Torque distribution control technology and four-wheel steering technology are utilized for path tracking and adaptive cruise control. To advance the control accuracy, advanced estimation algorithms are studied in this book. The tyre-road peak friction coefficient under full slip rate range is identified based on the normalized tyre model. The pressure of the electro-hydraulic brake system is estimated based on signal fusion. Besides, a multi-semantic driver behaviour recognition model of autonomous vehicles is designed using confidence fusion mechanism. Moreover, a mono-vision based lateral localization system of low-cost autonomous vehicles is proposed with deep learning curb detection. To sum up, the discussed advanced actuators, control and estimation algorithms are beneficial to the active safety improvement of IEVs

Research and Implement of PMSM Regenerative Braking Control for Electric Vehicle

As the society pays more and more attention to the environment pollution and energy crisis, the electric vehicle (EV) development also entered in a new era. With the development of motor speed control technology and the improvement of motor performance, although the dynamic performance and economical cost of EVs are both better than the internal-combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), the driving range limit and charging station distribution are two major problems which limit the popularization of EVs. In order to extend driving range for EVs, regenerative braking (RB) emerges which is able to recover energy during the braking process to improve the energy efficiency. This thesis aims to investigate the RB based pure electric braking system and its implementation. There are many forms of RB system such as fully electrified braking system and blended braking system (BBS) which is equipped both electric RB system and hydraulic braking (HB) system. In this thesis the main research objective is the RB based fully electrified braking system, however, RB system cannot satisfy all braking situation only by itself. Because the regenerating electromagnetic torque may be too small to meet the braking intention of the driver when the vehicle speed is very low and the regenerating electromagnetic torque may be not enough to stop the vehicle as soon as possible in the case of emergency braking. So, in order to ensure braking safety and braking performance, braking torque should be provided with different forms regarding different braking situation and different braking intention. In this thesis, braking torque is classified into three types. First one is normal reverse current braking when the vehicle speed is too low to have enough RB torque. Second one is RB torque which could recover kinetic energy by regenerating electricity and collecting electric energy into battery packs. The last braking situation is emergency where the braking torque is provided by motor plugging braking based on the optimal slip ratio braking control strategy. Considering two indicators of the RB system which are regenerative efficiency and braking safety, a trade-off point should be found and the corresponding control strategy should be designed. In this thesis, the maximum regenerative efficiency is obtained by a braking torque distribution strategy between front wheel and rear wheel based on a maximum available RB torque estimation method and ECE-R13 regulation. And the emergency braking performance is ensured by a novel fractional-order integral sliding mode control (FOISMC) and numerical simulations show that the control performance is better than the conventional sliding mode controller

Advanced Mobile Robotics: Volume 3

Mobile robotics is a challenging field with great potential. It covers disciplines including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, cognitive science, and social science. It is essential to the design of automated robots, in combination with artificial intelligence, vision, and sensor technologies. Mobile robots are widely used for surveillance, guidance, transportation and entertainment tasks, as well as medical applications. This Special Issue intends to concentrate on recent developments concerning mobile robots and the research surrounding them to enhance studies on the fundamental problems observed in the robots. Various multidisciplinary approaches and integrative contributions including navigation, learning and adaptation, networked system, biologically inspired robots and cognitive methods are welcome contributions to this Special Issue, both from a research and an application perspective

Integration of Active Systems for a Global Chassis Control Design

Vehicle chassis control active systems (braking, suspension, steering and driveline), from the first ABS/ESC control unit to the current advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), are progressively revolutionizing the way of thinking and designing the vehicle, improving its interaction with the surrounding world (V2V and V2X) and have led to excellent results in terms of safety and performances (dynamic behavior and drivability). They are usually referred as intelligent vehicles due to a software/hardware architecture able to assist the driver for achieving specific safety margin and/or optimal vehicle dynamic behavior. Moreover, industrial and academic communities agree that these technologies will progress till the diffusion of the so called autonomous cars which are able to drive robustly in a wide range of traffic scenarios. Different autonomous vehicles are already available in Europe, Japan and United States and several solutions have been proposed for smart cities and/or small public area like university campus. In this context, the present research activity aims at improving safety, comfort and performances through the integration of global active chassis control: the purposes are to study, design and implement control strategies to support the driver for achieving one or more final target among safety, comfort and performance. Specifically, the vehicle subsystems that are involved in the present research for active systems development are the steering system, the propulsion system, the transmission and the braking system. The thesis is divided into three sections related to different applications of active systems that, starting from a robust theoretical design procedure, are strongly supported by objective experimental results obtained fromHardware In the Loop (HIL) test rigs and/or proving ground testing sessions. The first chapter is dedicated to one of the most discussed topic about autonomous driving due to its impact from the social point of view and in terms of human error mitigation when the driver is not prompt enough. In particular, it is here analyzed the automated steering control which is already implemented for automatic parking and that could represent also a key element for conventional passenger car in emergency situation where a braking intervention is not enough for avoiding an imminent collision. The activity is focused on different steering controllers design and their implementation for an autonomous vehicle; an obstacle collision avoidance adaptation is introduced for future implementations. Three different controllers, Proportional Derivative (PD), PD+Feedforward (FF) e PD+Integral Sliding Mode (ISM), are designed for tracking a reference trajectory that can be modified in real-time for obstacle avoidance purposes. Furthermore, PD+FF and PD+ISM logic are able to improve the tracking performances of automated steering during cornering maneuvers, relevant fromthe collision avoidance point of view. Path tracking control and its obstacle avoidance enhancement is also shown during experimental tests executed in a proving ground through its implementation for an autonomous vehicle demonstrator. Even if the activity is presented for an autonomous vehicle, the active control can be developed also for a conventional vehicle equipped with an Electronic Power Steering (EPS) or Steer-by-wire architectures. The second chapter describes a Torque Vectoring (TV) control strategy, applied to a Fully Electric Vehicle (FEV) with four independent electric motor (one for each wheel), that aims to optimize the lateral vehicle behavior by a proper electric motor torque regulation. A yaw rate controller is presented and designed in order to achieve a desired steady-state lateral behaviour of the car (handling task). Furthermore, a sideslip angle controller is also integrated to preserve vehicle stability during emergency situations (safety task). LQR, LQR+FF and ISM strategies are formulated and explained for yaw rate and concurrent yaw rate/sideslip angle control techniques also comparing their advantages and weakness points. The TV strategy is implemented and calibrated on a FEV demonstrator by executing experimental maneuvers (step steer, skid pad, lane change and sequence of step steers) thus proving the efficacy of the proposed controller and the safety contribution guaranteed by the sideslip control. The TV could be also applied for internal combustion engine driven vehicles by installing specific torque vectoring differentials, able to distribute the torque generated by the engine to each wheel independently. The TV strategy evaluated in the second chapter can be influenced by the presence of a transmission between themotor (or the engine) and wheels (where the torque control is supposed to be designed): in addition to the mechanical delay introduced by transmission components, the presence of gears backlashes can provoke undesired noises and vibrations in presence of torque sign inversion. The last chapter is thus related to a new method for noises and vibration attenuation for a Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). This is achieved in a new way by integrating the powertrain control with the braking system control, which are historically and conventionally analyzed and designed separately. It is showed that a torsional preload effect can be obtained on transmission components by increasing the wheel torque and concurrently applying a braking wheel torque. For this reason, a pressure following controller is presented and validated through a Hardware In the Loop (HIL) test rig in order to track a reference value of braking torque thus ensuring the desired preload effect and noises reduction. Experimental results demonstrates the efficacy of the controller, also opening new scenario for global chassis control design. Finally, some general conclusions are drawn and possible future activities and recommendations are proposed for further investigations or improvements with respect to the results shown in the present work

A Framework for Life Cycle Cost Estimation of a Product Family at the Early Stage of Product Development

A cost estimation method is required to estimate the life cycle cost of a product family at the early stage of product development in order to evaluate the product family design. There are difficulties with existing cost estimation techniques in estimating the life cycle cost for a product family at the early stage of product development. This paper proposes a framework that combines a knowledge based system and an activity based costing techniques in estimating the life cycle cost of a product family at the early stage of product development. The inputs of the framework are the product family structure and its sub function. The output of the framework is the life cycle cost of a product family that consists of all costs at each product family level and the costs of each product life cycle stage. The proposed framework provides a life cycle cost estimation tool for a product family at the early stage of product development using high level information as its input. The framework makes it possible to estimate the life cycle cost of various product family that use any types of product structure. It provides detailed information related to the activity and resource costs of both parts and products that can assist the designer in analyzing the cost of the product family design. In addition, it can reduce the required amount of information and time to construct the cost estimation system

Electric Vehicle Efficient Power and Propulsion Systems

Vehicle electrification has been identified as one of the main technology trends in this second decade of the 21st century. Nearly 10% of global car sales in 2021 were electric, and this figure would be 50% by 2030 to reduce the oil import dependency and transport emissions in line with countries’ climate goals. This book addresses the efficient power and propulsion systems which cover essential topics for research and development on EVs, HEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), including: Energy storage systems (battery, fuel cell, supercapacitors, and their hybrid systems); Power electronics devices and converters; Electric machine drive control, optimization, and design; Energy system advanced management methods Primarily intended for professionals and advanced students who are working on EV/HEV/FCEV power and propulsion systems, this edited book surveys state of the art novel control/optimization techniques for different components, as well as for vehicle as a whole system. New readers may also find valuable information on the structure and methodologies in such an interdisciplinary field. Contributed by experienced authors from different research laboratory around the world, these 11 chapters provide balanced materials from theorical background to methodologies and practical implementation to deal with various issues of this challenging technology. This reprint encourages researchers working in this field to stay actualized on the latest developments on electric vehicle efficient power and propulsion systems, for road and rail, both manned and unmanned vehicles

System identification and speed control of electro- mechanical dual acting pulley continuously variable transmission

Researchers at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has designed, developed and patented an Electro-Mechanical Dual Acting Pulley Continuously Variable Transmission (EMDAP CVT). The newly developed EMDAP CVT is a complex nonlinear system. Since the system is difficult to be modeled, designing the suitable controller for the EMDAP CVT is a challenging task. However, it is possible to obtain model system and transfer function by employing System Identification (SI) technique. By having mathematical representation of the EMDAP CVT in form of transfer function, controller’s analysis and future works relating to the EMDAP CVT will be much easier. The main part of this research is to develop a model which is able to imitate the current EMDAP CVT system behaviours. Therefore, SI was performed to develop the model system and transfer function. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used as an estimator with Nonlinear ARX (NARX) as a model structure. The mathematical modelling of the EMDAP CVT system is successfully presented and verified in form of 3rd order nonlinear transfer function. The focus of this research work is more on the implementation of speed control for the EMDAP CVT system based on model obtained from the SI. The EMDAP CVT speed controllers are designed for adjusting speed through providing appropriate CVT ratio to the system. The control objective is to achieve a desired output speed, which is used to specify and maintain the desired CVT ratio for the EMDAP CVT system. Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is used as the basis and then fined tuned using conventional Ziegler-Nichols and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method. Three controllers which are Proportional-plus-PSO (PPSO), Proportional-Derivative-plus-PSO (PD-PSO) and Proportional-Integral- Derivative-plus-PSO (PID-PSO) were developed to test the reliability of the obtained model system and transfer function. The performance of the designed controllers was demonstrated and validated through simulations and experiments. The error performance of the developed controllers is evaluated in terms of Integral of Absolute Error (IAE), Integral Square of Errors (ISE), Integral of Time multiplied by Absolute Errors (ITAE), and Mean Square Error (MSE). Based on the results, the PIDPSO speed controller gives a sufficient performance, such as settling time, overshooting and error performance. The validation approach resulted in lower than 5% percentage error thus verified the 95% confidence limit of the model system. Further controller’s analysis using Fuzzy Logic (FL) and Neural Network (NN) controllers were performed on the obtained model system and transfer function. The performance of the tested controllers were evaluated in terms of Steady State Error (SSE) and MSE values. All of the tested controllers produced good performance with steady state response within 5 seconds and SSE percentage lower than 5%. The end results show that, NARMA-L2 neural speed controller gives the best performance with SSE percentage of 0.91% and smallest MSE value of 3.28

Advances in Theoretical and Computational Energy Optimization Processes

The paradigm in the design of all human activity that requires energy for its development must change from the past. We must change the processes of product manufacturing and functional services. This is necessary in order to mitigate the ecological footprint of man on the Earth, which cannot be considered as a resource with infinite capacities. To do this, every single process must be analyzed and modified, with the aim of decarbonising each production sector. This collection of articles has been assembled to provide ideas and new broad-spectrum contributions for these purposes