Efficiency analysis of a multiple axle vehicle with hydrostatic transmission overcoming obstacles

Transmission configurations in off-road vehicles with multiple driven axles can be a determining factor in the obstacle surmounting capacity and also in the vehicle efficiency. An off-road articulated vehicle with four driven axles, four bogies and two modules has been considered for the global hydrostatic transmission efficiency analysis and for the vehicle functional efficiency analysis. The power flow through the transmission system has been quantified from the combustion engine shaft to each axle of the wheels. It has been done for different the operating conditions and taking into account the wheel–terrain interaction and the transmission configuration, that could lead to a forced slippage of some of the wheels. Results show the influence of the different wheels’ requirements, the transmission configuration limitations and the considered control strategy on the global transmission and vehicle functional efficiencies.     

A novel fuzzy logic correctional algorithm for traction control systems on uneven low-friction road conditions

The traction control system (TCS) might prevent excessive skid of the driving wheels so as to enhance the driving performance and direction stability of the vehicle. But if driven on an uneven low-friction road, the vehicle body often vibrates severely due to the drastic fluctuations of driving wheels, and then the vehicle comfort might be reduced greatly. The vibrations could be hardly removed with traditional drive-slip control logic of the TCS. In this paper, a novel fuzzy logic controller has been brought forward, in which the vibration signals of the driving wheels are adopted as new controlled variables, and then the engine torque and the active brake pressure might be coordinately re-adjusted besides the basic logic of a traditional TCS. In the proposed controller, an adjustable engine torque and pressure compensation loop are adopted to constrain the drastic vehicle vibration. Thus, the wheel driving slips and the vibration degrees might be adjusted synchronously and effectively. The simulation results and the real vehicle tests validated that the proposed algorithm is effective and adaptable for a complicated uneven low-friction road.     

Novel coordinated algorithm for Traction Control System on split friction and slope road

A Traction Control System (TCS) is used to avoid excessive wheel-slip via adjusting active brake pressure and engine torque when vehicle starts fiercely. The split friction and slope of the road are complicated conditions for TCS. Once operated under these conditions, the traction control performance of the vehicle might be deteriorated and the vehicle might lack drive capability or lose lateral stability, if the regulated active brake pressure and engine torque can’t match up promptly and effectively. In order to solve this problem, a novel coordinated algorithm for TCS is brought forward. Firstly, two brake controllers, including a basic controller based on the friction difference between the two drive wheels for compensating this difference and a fuzzy logic controller for assisting the engine torque controller to adjust wheel-slip, are presented for brake control together. And then two engine torque controllers, containing a basic PID controller for wheel-slip control and a fuzzy logic controller for compensating torque needed by the road slope, are built for engine torque control together. Due to the simultaneous and accurate coordination of the two regulated variables the controlled vehicle can start smoothly. The vehicle test and simulation results on various road conditions have testified that the proposed method is effective and robust.     

日野ZY240H载货自卸车制动系统

日野ＺＹ２４０Ｈ２０吨自卸车的制动系统采用双回路独立全气压式工作系统，前轮和后轮制动各用一个独立执行气压制动回路，前桥和后桥后轮采用膜片制动气室，后桥前轮设置了弹簧储能复合制动气室，又设置了一套手动控制的制动系统，作为紧急制动系统失效后的第二种制动方法。另外，还有排气缓速装置和机械手制动，详细介绍了该系统的工作原理和主要部件的功用。     

Coordinated vehicle traction control based on engine torque and brake pressure under complicated road conditions

Vehicle traction control system has been developed to enhance the traction capability and the direction stability of the driving wheels through the tyre slip ratio regulation. Under normal situations, if the tyre slip ratio exceeds a certain threshold, the slip ratio of the driving wheel is regulated by the coupled interaction of the engine torque and the active brake pressure. In order to obtain the best driving performance on a road under complicated friction conditions, the driving torque and the active brake pressure, need to be decoupled and adjusted to avoid penalisation of each other. In this paper, a coordinated cascade control method with two sliding-mode variable structure controllers is presented. In this control method, the driving wheel slip ratio is regulated by adjusting the engine torque and the wheel brake pressure. Through the sliding-mode controller, the engine torque is tuned to achieve the maximum driving acceleration and then the active brake pressure is applied to the slipped wheel for further modification of the wheel slip ratio. The advantage of this control method is that through proper regulation, the conflict between the two control inputs could be avoided. Finally, the simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Morphology and oxidation kinetics of CI engine’s biodiesel particulate matters on cordierite Diesel Particulate Filters using TGA

The impact of small compression ignition (CI) engine operation conditions and fuel properties on diesel and biodiesel particulate matters (PMs) quantity using opacity smoke meter is investigated. The biodiesel engine’s PMs are around a half of diesel engine PMs under the same engine operation conditions. Morphology of both engine’s PMs are also studied using a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and image processing method. The average primary nanoparticle sizes of diesel and biodiesel engine’s PMs are approximately 34 nm and 32 nm, respectively. The result shows that engine operation condition and fuel property are strongly impact on the quantity and size distribution of primary nanoparticles emission. PM oxidation kinetics on conventional cordierite Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) powders by Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) is also successfully studied. The calculated apparent activation energies of biodiesel engine’s PM oxidation on conventional cordierite DPFs powders are lower than that of diesel engine’s PM and carbon black because of unburned oxygenated molecule. The calculated apparent activation energy of biodiesel engine’s PM and diesel engine’s PM oxidize on conventional cordierite DPFs powders with pure air are in the range of 109 ~ 131 kJ/mole and 117 ~ 130 kJ/mole, respectively. It might be expected that smaller primary nanoparticle size of biodiesel engine’s PMs and bio-oxygenate unburned hydrocarbon can promote more PM oxidation rate during vehicle’s DPF regeneration process.     

Handling performance control for hybrid 8-wheel-drive vehicle and simulation verification

In order to improve handling performance of a hybrid 8-Wheel-Drive vehicle, the handling performance control strategy was proposed. For armoured vehicle, besides handling stability in high speed, the minimum steer radius in low speed is also a key tactical and technical index. Based on that, the proposed handling performance control strategy includes ‘Handling Stability’ and ‘Radius Minimization’ control modes. In ‘Handling Stability’ control mode, ‘Neutralsteer Radio’ is defined to adjust the steering characteristics to satisfy different demand in different speed range. In ‘Radius Minimization’ control mode, the independent motors are controlled to provide an additional yaw moment to decrease the minimum steer radius. In order to verify the strategy, a simulation platform was built including engine and continuously variable transmission systems, generator and battery systems, independent motors and controllers systems, vehicle dynamic and tyre mechanical systems. The simulation results show that the handling performance of the vehicle can be enhanced significantly, and the minimum steer radius can be decreased by 20% which is significant improvement compared to the common level of main battle armoured vehicle around the world.     

Road disturbance estimation for the optimal preview control of an active suspension systems based on tracked vehicle model

This research investigates stochastic estimation of a look-ahead sensor scheme using the optimal preview control for an active suspension system of a full tracked vehicle (FTV). In this scheme, wheel disturbance input to the front wheels are estimated using the dynamic equations of the system. The estimated road disturbance input at the front wheels are utilized as preview information for the control of subsequently following wheels of FTV. The design of optimal preview control is used as a classical linear quadratic Gaussian problem by combining dynamics of the original system and estimation of previewed road inputs. The effectiveness of the preview controller is evaluated by comparing the estimated information with the measured information for different road profiles, where Kalman filter is used for the state-variables estimation of the FTV. This research also considers the reduced order estimation using commonly available sensors in order to decrease the number of sensors and measurements. The simulation results’ using an active suspension system with different preview information shows that the proposed system can be beneficial for the improvement of ride comfort of tracked vehicles without using any specialized sensors for preview information calculation.     

串联式静液传动混合动力车辆功率管理策略

针对串联式静液传动混合动力车辆中,发动机工作状况独立于车轮负载情况,储能元件功率密度大、能量密度低的特点,提出了基于随机动态规划方法的发动机功率管理策略,对发动机工作点进行优化控制.根据传统车辆性能参数配置了串联式静液传动混合动力车辆,以降低燃油消耗为优化目标,对原发动机和减小装机功率的发动机工作情况进行仿真.结果表明...     

车辆动力转向系统非线性仿真研究

车辆液压动力转向系统通过伺服阀控制压力油的方向和流量,把转向盘输入的转角信号转变为车轮的偏转角度输出。在车轮偏转过程中,影响车轮偏转的力主要是地面摩擦力和轮胎的弹性变形力,因而动力转向系统所受干扰力的基本特性是非线性的,文中结合液压系统理论和Simulink控制系统仿真软件,计算并仿真了在非线性干扰力作用下的液压式动力转向系统的动态特性。     

Feedback brake distribution control for minimum pitch

The distribution of brake forces between front and rear axles of a vehicle is typically specified such that the same level of brake force coefficient is imposed at both front and rear wheels. This condition is known as ‘ideal’ distribution and it is required to deliver the maximum vehicle deceleration and minimum braking distance. For subcritical braking conditions, the deceleration demand may be delivered by different distributions between front and rear braking forces. In this research we show how to obtain the optimal distribution which minimises the pitch angle of a vehicle and hence enhances driver subjective feel during braking. A vehicle model including suspension geometry features is adopted. The problem of the minimum pitch brake distribution for a varying deceleration level demand is solved by means of a model predictive control (MPC) technique. To address the problem of the undesirable pitch rebound caused by a full-stop of the vehicle, a second controller is designed and implemented independently from the braking distribution in use. An extended Kalman filter is designed for state estimation and implemented in a high fidelity environment together with the MPC strategy. The proposed solution is compared with the reference ‘ideal’ distribution as well as another previous feed-forward solution.     

重型车双前轴转向梯形及杆系的设计与计算

转向梯形机构的几何参数决定汽车转向时内、外转向轮转角的几何关系,在汽车转向时,各车轮的转向必须保证纯滚动而无滑动,使各车轮的转角必须保证有统一的瞬时转向中心。本文主要概述了重型车双前轴转向梯形及杆系的设计与计算。     

汽车手动变速器六档设置的必要性分析

手动变速器是使用手拨动变速杆改变变速器内的齿轮啮合位置,进而改变传动比,改变发动机传到驱动轮上的转速和转矩,完成原地起步、爬坡、转弯、加速等功能。而六档的设置不仅可以提升换挡和行驶的平顺性、降低汽车的燃油消耗量、提升发动机的使用寿命,还能够更好地适应现代城市道路的实际交通现状和车主高速道路行驶的客观愿望等,因此六档(前进挡)的设置就显得尤为必要。     

Vehicle steering returnability with maximum steering wheel angle at low speeds

In this paper, an analytical model with suitable vehicle parameters, together with a multi-body model is proposed to predict steering returnability in low-speed cornering with what is expected to be adequate precision as the steering wheel moves from lock to lock. This model shows how the steering response can be interpreted in terms of vertical force, lateral force with aligning moment, and longitudinal force. The simulation results show that vertical steering rack forces increase in the restoring direction according to steering rack displacement for both the inner and outer wheels. As lateral forces due to side-slip angle are directed toward the medial plane of the vehicle in both wheels, the outer wheel pushes the steering wheel in the returning direction while the inner wheel does not. In order to improve steering returnability, it is possible to increase the total steering rack force in both road wheels through adjustments to the kingpin axis and steering angle. This approach is useful for setting up a proper suspension geometry during conceptual chassis design.     

Solving conformal contacts using multi-Hertzian techniques

Recently, publications aiming at wheel–rail contact surveys let readers think that multi-Hertzian methods present severe drawbacks with respect to ‘virtual penetration’ methods. These surveys criticise multi-Hertzian solutions mainly because presenting ‘larger contacts overlaps’ and ‘frequent secondary contacts near the border of the first contact’, both obvious geometric possibilities of which the practical occurrence and eventual inconvenience would remain purely theoretical unless established over definite methods demonstrating poor practical results. Recent surveys all quote Piotrowski–Chollet 2005 survey of wheel–rail contact models that attempted to illustrate defective multi-Hertzian techniques by concentrating on the method initiated by Sauvage in the 1990s and further developed by Pascal. The 2005 paper not only gives no evidence of practical inconveniences of Sauvage’s method but also confuses static geometric contact overlaps with the dynamical overlapping of forces. In reality it mixes Sauvage method up with a quite different technique. Thus a clarification is now necessary by reminding what the proper Sauvage technique really is and by showing some of its practical successful applications. The present paper, focusing on determination of normal contact forces in conformal situations, intends to explain clearly the advantages of the unequivocal localisation of secondary ellipses in that multi-Hertzian method which has been developed in INRETS VOCO codes in the 1990s and successfully used by SNCF and ALSTOM in the INRETS-SNCF code, VOCODYM, and later in Pascal’s online calculation of railway elastic contacts code. It proved its effectiveness for studying freight wagons derailments as well as rail wear and head-check, unrounded wheels wear, high-speed lines’ deformations or TGV comfort. While simulating American ACELA trainsets’ behaviour on the US North-East Corridor tracks, prior to actual tests, as part of the commercial contract. It has been also a major tool for bringing back together French and American Safety Standards.     

Influence of the transmission configuration of a multiple axle vehicle on the obstacle surmounting capacity

Conventional wheeled vehicles have serious mobility limitations in rough terrain while walking vehicles have inherent drawbacks such as a high number of DOF and actuators, control complexity and low-energy efficiency. Vehicles that passively adapt the position of multiple wheels to maintain contact with the ground can be a good compromise between both conventional wheeled and walking vehicles. One way to increase the number of wheels in contact with the ground is using bogies. However, the kinematics of a multiple axle vehicle moving on irregular terrain is quite complex since every wheel can require different angular speed to avoid slippage. The present work aims to quantify the obstacle surmounting capacity of a four axle, double-bogie vehicle depending on the transmission configuration, since it can provoke the slippage of some of its wheels.

Some results are presented corresponding to the vehicle moving on a straight upward slope of different angles and facing variable obstacles in any of its axles.

It can be observed that as more restricted the transmission is, more wheels are forced to slip and less traction the vehicle has, and, as a consequence, less obstacle surmounting capacity.     

发动机带传动中皮带寿命提高方法研究

设计一种新型的通用皮带预紧力测量装置，通过分析发动机皮带传动中的横向振动，提出带轮结构布置原则。实验证明，根据该原则进行皮带轮结构布置并设定准确的皮带预紧力，可减小传动打滑现象，有效提高皮带的使用寿命及皮带传动效率.     

机械式自动变速器在城市客车上的应用前景

汽车变速器的主要功能是扩大发动机传至汽车驱动轮上的扭矩和转速变化范围,以适应不同使用条件的要求。在分析手动机械式变速器给公共汽车带来的不良影响的基础上,介绍了机械自动变速器(AMT)的原理、特点及关键技术,并展望其在公共汽车上的应用前景。     

Analysis of the capabilities of a two-stage turbocharging system to fulfil the US2007 anti-pollution directive for heavy duty diesel engines

This article presents a two-stage turbocharged heavy-duty diesel (HDD) engine designed to fulfil the US2007 anti-pollution directive. This directive imposes very restrictive limits on the NOx and particle emissions of HDD engines. In this work, the possibility of combining particle traps in the exhaust line to reduce soot emissions with very high EGR rates to reduce NOx emissions is considered. This new generation engine implements two-stage turbocharging in order to improve the bsfc when the engine is working on steady conditions as well as to optimize the engine transient response. After carrying out the tests, the results were analyzed and the engine settings were adjusted to maximise its behaviour and minimise pollutant emissions. NOx and soot emission peaks were also analyzed at engine transient conditions in order to keep them under certain levels, and thus maintain the overall pollutant emissions to a level that is as low as possible. In summary, a double-stage turbocharging configuration can greatly improve engine driveability (between 23% and 36% depending on engine speed), while reducing NOx emissions during transient evolution without increasing opacity peaks beyond the stated limits.     

A study of polygonal wheel wear through a field test programme

High magnitude impact loads caused by polygonal wear of the wheels have been associated with in-service failures of structural components of high-speed railways, although the mechanisms leading to wheels’ polygonalisation is not yet fully understood. In this study, a long-term field test programme is undertaken and the data are analysed to gain better understanding of the growth in polygonal wear, and its characteristics and correlation with the axle box acceleration. The field measurements on a high-speed railway involved monitoring of wheels profiles between successive re-profiling of the wheels so as to identify the rate of growth of wear in addition to the axle box acceleration. The data suggested rapid growth in wheel wear, which could be characterised by polygonal wear of nearly 18th and 19th harmonic order. It is further shown that the magnitude of axle box acceleration increased considerably with increasing wear magnitude of the wheel.