Title: Fault-tolerant control of active suspensions in in-wheel motor driven electric vehicles

Authors: Hui Jing; Rongrong Wang; Cong Li; Jinxiang Wang; Nan Chen

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China; School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Guilin University of Aerospace Technology, Guilin 541004, China ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China

Abstract: In this paper, the fault-tolerant control problem of an active suspension in in-wheel motor driven electric vehicles (EVs) is studied. To reduce the dynamic force transmitted to the motor bearing, a dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) is installed on the in-wheel motor axle. The actuator fault and suspension parametric uncertainties are simultaneously considered and a robust H∞ fault-tolerant controller is designed to attenuate the effects caused by actuator fault and external disturbances. To reduce the motor bearing wear, we also take the dynamic force transmitted to the in-wheel motor bearing as a controlled output, besides the traditional performance requirements such as ride comfort, road holding, and actuator limitation. Simulation results under different road conditions show the effectiveness of the proposed control method.

Keywords: active suspension systems; electric vehicles; fault tolerant control; in-wheel motors; dynamic vibration absorbers; DVA; parametric uncertainty; controller design; actuator faults; external disturbances; motor bearing wear; dynamic force; motor bearings; ride comfort; road holding; actuator limitation; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2015.071067

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2015 Vol.68 No.1/2/3, pp.22 - 36

Received: 01 Jun 2014
Accepted: 03 Jul 2014

Published online: 11 Aug 2015 *

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