All-Wheel Driveline Mechatronic Systems: Principles of Wheel Power Management

摘要

All-wheel driveline systems with electronic torque control on each and all wheels, torque vectoring and torque management devices, hybrid electro-mechanical systems, and individual electro (hydraulic) motors in the wheels have been gaining a bigger interest in the industry for recent years. The majority of automotive applications are in vehicle stability control that is performed by controlling the vehicle yaw moment. Some devices also improve vehicle traction performance. The proposed paper develops a methodology that includes the key principles in all-wheel driveline systems design and is based on the wheel power management as a broader analytical approach. The proposed principles relate to the optimization of power distributions to the drive wheels in both rectilinear and curvilinear vehicle motion. Inverse dynamics is the basis for the developed methodology. Combinations of optimal power distributions at the drive wheels and proactive estimation of the road conditions (friction coefficient estimation) lead to developing adaptive control algorithms for a new generation of mechatronic driveline systems. Mechatronic systems designed with the proposed methodology can improve not only stability of vehicles, but can provide vehicles with better operational properties such as traction/velocity properties, energy/fuel efficiency, vehicle turnability, and handling.