Design Of Distributed Control System For Electrical Vehicles Using Independent Wheel Motors

With the increasing concern on issues of energy shortage andenvironmental pollution all over the world, the shortcomings of traditionalICEV (Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles) have become more and moreclear in these certain areas. On the other hand, EV (Electrical Vehicle),regarded as a potential successor, has drawn more attention with itspreferable characteristics of less pollution, zero emission and recyclableenergy in recent years. Companied by the development, EV has strickenresearchers with two distinguished merits. First, most the vehicle structuresdesigned for EV are integral body construction equipped with centralizeddriving system, which are unable to achieve the full potential that aremeant to be achieved by EV. Second, the application of electrical wheelshas brought EV with more functions that are unable to be handled by ICEV,i.e., quick response to the driver, independent torque output andconvenience in information feedback. All of these new features havebrought new thoughts on the design of vehicle control system. Taking thetwo points into consideration and based on the experiment platform offour-wheel drive, this paper will talk about methods and key technologiesrelated to the structure and control system of EV design.Aiming at the construction of the electrical vehicle, the modularthought is put forward and directs the establishment of four-wheel drivingvehicle experiment platform. The modular thought was based on theseparation of products, both in mechanism and in function. Vehicle is a typical object that is assembled by separate parts. This is especially true forEVs. The independence of separate parts through the modular design,which is based on functional partition, is improved, which will reduceproduction costs and satisfy personal needs as well. The method talkedabout in this paper is not limited to any distinguished kind of EV, instead,it is a new trial on EV design.A lot of efforts are put on the redundant driving technology designused on the distributed driving system. Two novel vehicle controltechnologies are mainly discussed in this paper. First, a unique skiddingdetection and control strategy specified for electric vehicles is discussed,which is based on monitor and regulation of the parameterRa t.Themethod is an exact example to demonstrate that the electric drive motorscan be utilized not only for propulsion, but also as sensors and actuatorsfor their new applications on electric vehicles. This unique advantageenables a concise and effective anti-skid control strategy that will ensurethe safe driving. Second, according to the characteristics of electricalwheels, This paper proposed a control strategy of differential steeringspecialized for EVs that will dramatically improve vehicles’ steeringcharacteristic and controllability.By the simulation study of the two control methods inMatlab/Simulink environment, the effectiveness of the proposed controlstrategy is demonstrated. A further study is carried out by implementingthe methods into the vehicle controller and the experiment results implythat the proposed control strategies are effective in improving vehiclecontrollability, alleviating tire wearing and reducing energy consumptionof tires.