Title: Control of electric vehicles with autonomous corner modules: implementation aspects and fault handling

Authors: Mats Jonasson, Oskar Wallmark

Addresses: Department of Chassis and Vehicle Dynamics, Volvo Car Corporation, SE-405 31 Goteborg, Sweden. ' Swedish Center of Excellence in Electric Power Engineering, Department of Electrical Systems, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: In this paper, vehicle dynamics for electric vehicles equipped with in-wheel motors and individual steering actuators are studied adopting the principles of optimal tyre-force allocation. A simple method for describing the constraints owing to tyre and actuator limitations is described. The control architecture is evaluated by investigating its response to realistic fault conditions. The evaluation demonstrates that the control architecture|s ability to ensure vehicle stability generally is good. However, during major faults and extreme driving situations, vehicle stability is not maintained unless the constraints in the optimisation process used for tyre-force allocation are adapted to the specific fault.

Keywords: adhesion potential; ACM; autonomous corner modules; electric in-wheel motors; electric vehicles; fault handling; force allocation; tyre constraints; vehicle control; vehicle dynamics; steering actuators; tyre-force allocation; vehicle stability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2008.023839

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2008 Vol.3 No.3, pp.213 - 228

Published online: 16 Mar 2009 *

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