Title: Modelling and simulation of the electronic differential system for an electric vehicle with two-motor-wheel drive

Authors: Yan-e Zhao, Jianwu Zhang

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, PR China. ' State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai 200240, PR China

Abstract: In-wheel-motor drive electric vehicle (EV) is an innovative configuration, in which each wheel is driven individually by an electric motor. It is possible to use an electronic differential (ED) instead of the heavy mechanical differential because of the fast response time of the motor. A new control approach for ED of a two in-wheel-motor drive EV is proposed based on the fuzzy logic control. The fuzzy logic method employs to estimate the slip rate of each wheel considering the complex and non-linear of the system. Consequently, the ED system distributes torque and power to each motor according to requirements. The effectiveness of the control method is validated in the Matlab/Simulink environment. By simulation results, it is demonstrated that the present ED control system is effective on keeping the slip rate within the optimal range and ensuring the stability of the vehicle either on a straight or curvilinear line.

Keywords: electric vehicles; electronic differential; in-wheel motors; fuzzy logic; fuzzy control; modelling; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2009.029180

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2009 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.117 - 131

Received: 24 Mar 2008
Accepted: 14 Apr 2009
Published online: 08 Nov 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article