Title: Active towing control with adaptation to parameter variations

Authors: Weiwen Deng; Yong H. Lee

Addresses: State Key Lab of Automotive Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China. ' Electrical & Controls Integration Lab, Research & Development Center, General Motors Company, Warren, MI 48307, USA

Abstract: In this paper, the characteristics of vehicle combination and their influences on vehicle stability and handling performance are first investigated. The sensitivity owing to vehicle towing parameter variations under various operating conditions is studied for the purpose of developing an adaptive and robust active towing control. To cope with the varying, uncertain or unknown plant parameters, this paper proposes a systematic control design approach for an adaptive feedforward control, in which the control gains are computed online to adapt to trailer parameters. Finally, computer simulation and in-vehicle testing have been conducted to verify the proposed controls. The results indicate that the proposed controls are very effective in achieving the design objectives set forth.

Keywords: vehicle dynamics; vehicle control; vehicle stability; vehicle handling; vehicle combination; active control; towing control; vehicle towing; feedforward control; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2012.045759

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2012 Vol.19 No.1, pp.40 - 59

Published online: 20 Dec 2014 *

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