Title: Electronic differential for high-performance electric vehicles with independent driving motors

Authors: Chunyun Fu; Reza Hoseinnezhad; Alireza Bab-Hadiashar; Reza N. Jazar; Simon Watkins

Addresses: School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering RMIT University, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia ' School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering RMIT University, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia ' School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering RMIT University, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia ' School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering RMIT University, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia ' School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering RMIT University, Plenty Road, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia

Abstract: This paper presents a novel electronic differential design for high performance electric vehicles (EVs) with independent driving motors. The aim of this design is to achieve neutral-steer in intense driving scenarios. The proposed method employs a closed-loop control system that constantly regulates the torque commands sent to the independent driving motors. These commands are generated to tune the torque difference between left and right driving motors at the amount that leads to neutral-steer. Real vehicle parameters and real tyre testing data are employed in extensive simulations. Simulation results demonstrate that the new electronic differential works in principle and can endow the EV with a close-to-neutral steer characteristic, which is of great significance to high-performance vehicles in challenging driving conditions. Also, comparative simulations demonstrate how the proposed method can outperform competing methods in terms of steering performance in various scenarios, while maintaining the dynamic stability of the vehicle.

Keywords: EVs; electric vehicles; electronic differential; yaw rate control; neutral steer; independent driving motors; closed-loop control; torque regulation; vehicle parameters; tyre testing; simulation; high-performance vehicles; dynamic stability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEHV.2014.065720

International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles, 2014 Vol.6 No.2, pp.108 - 132

Received: 16 Jul 2013
Accepted: 10 Oct 2013
Published online: 10 Nov 2014 *

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