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In order to improve the driving experience of drivers and the efficiency of vehicle development, a method of objective drivability for passenger car powertrain is proposed, which is based on prior knowledge, principal component analysis (PCA) and SMART principle. First, drivability parameters of powertrain for passenger cars are determined according to working principle of powertrain, including engine torque, engine speed, gearbox position, accelerate pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel angle, longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration, etc. The drivability quantitative index system is designed based on field test data, prior knowledge and SMART principles. Then, D-S evidence theory and sliding window method are applied to identify objective drivability evaluation conditions of powertrain for passenger cars, including static gearshift conditions, starting conditions, creep conditions, tip-in, tip out, upshift conditions, acceleration, downshift conditions and de-acceleration.

Due to the individual controllability of each motor, the distributed driven electric vehicle has provided a broad research domain for vehicle integrated control. This paper focuses on vehicle stability control by the integration of three systems, the hydraulic brake unit, active steering unit, and motor torque control unit. Firstly, the hierarchical control strategy has been designed generally, which is divided into three levels, the upper controller, medium controller, and lower controller. Secondly, based on the hierarchical structure, each controller has been introduced in detail. The upper controller is the application layer, which has implemented the functions such as the estimations of vehicle states and road conditions, calculation of nominal control variables, identification of vehicle stability and steering characteristics, and the coordinated algorithm of additional yaw moment and active front angle, etc.

The drivability plays an important role for marketability and competitiveness of passenger car in meeting some customer requirements, which directly affects the driving experience and the desire of purchasing. In this paper, a framework of objective drivability evaluation with multi-source information fusion for passenger car is proposed. At first, according to vehicle powertrain system and optimization theory, certain vehicle performances, which are closely related to objective drivability are analyzed, including vehicle longitudinal acceleration, vehicle speed, engine torque, engine speed, gear position, accelerator pedal, brake signal and voltage signal. Then, combined with the evaluation criterion of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), mean error (ME), root mean squared error (RMSE) and signal smoothness (SS), a de-noising method is developed for the drivability evaluation information.

In automatic driving application, the velocity planner can be considered as a key factor to ensure the safety and comfort. One of the most important tasks of the velocity planner is to simulate the velocity characteristics of human drivers. In this paper, two Driver In-the-Loop (DIL) experiments are designed to explain velocity characteristics of human drivers. In the first experiment, static obstacles are placed on both sides of the straight road to shorten the cross range that vehicles can driver across. Moreover, different cross ranges are set to study the influence of the steering wheel error. In the second experiment, velocity characteristics are investigated under the condition of different road widths and curvatures in a U-turn road contour. In both tests, different drivers’ preview behavior is analyzed through the operation of throttle, braking, and steering.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is an important measure to proactively guarantee vehicle safety. In this paper, the method of four-wheel hub-motor torque control is compared with the traditional single-wheel hydraulic brake control in ESC system. The control strategy adopts the hierarchical structure. In upper controller, the stability of the vehicle is identified by threshold method, the additional yaw moment control uses a way to get the moment including feedforward and feedback parts based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR). The medium controller is tire slip rate control, in order to get the optimal target slip rate from the upper additional yaw moment, a method of quadratic programming to optimize the longitudinal force is proposed for each wheel. The inputs of tire state for the magic tire model is introduced so as to calculate the target slip rate from the target longitudinal force.

The hydraulic retarder used in commercial vehicles can provide hydraulic damping to generate braking torque, reducing the pressure of the braking system on the slope section and increasing the safety. In this paper, the magnetorheological fluid with fast magnetic field reflection characteristics is used to increase the response speed of the hydraulic retarder, which can effectively reduce the response time of the hydraulic retarder. In this paper, the influence of the change of circumferential magnetic field on the braking torque of the magnetorheological fluid retarder is studied.

In order to perform differential control instead of the mechanical differential and improve the steering performance of distributed electric vehicles, a two-level differential speed steering control strategy is proposed. Firstly, an upper-layer controller to track the yaw rate is designed based on PID feedback and 3-D lookup table model, which could shorten the response time and reduce the impact of model parameters mismatch. Then, in order to improve the robustness to external disturbances and parameter uncertainties, a lower-layer controller to track the wheel speed is proposed based on integral sliding mode control. Moreover, three simulations are conducted to validate the proposed strategy. The first simulation results indicate that the driving torques of the inner and outer wheels are distributed properly to avoid wheel slip. In the second simulation, when the conventional steering system fails, the proposed control strategy could avoid vehicle losing steering function.

The closed cabin temperature is anticipated to be cooled down when it is a bit hot inside the driving car. The traditional air-condition lowers the cabin temperature by frequently switching the status of the compressor, which increases the engine’s parasitic power and shortens the compressor’s service-life. The semiconductor auxiliary cooling system with the properties of no moving parts, high control precision and quick response has the potential to assist the on-board air-condition in modulating the cabin temperature with relative small ranges. Little temperature differences between the cabin and the outside environment means that the system energy consumption to ensure the occupant comfort is relatively low and the inefficiency could be made up by the renewable energy source.

Automotive Front Lighting System(AFS) can receive the steering signal and the vehicular speed signal to adjust the position of headlamps automatically. AFS will provide drivers more information of front road to protect drivers safe when driving at night. AFS works when there is a steering signal input. However, drivers often need the front road's information before they turn the steering wheel when vehicles are going to go through a sharp corner, AFS will not work in such a situation. This paper studied how to optimize the working time of AFS based on GIS (Geographic Information System) and GPS(Geographic Information System) to solve the problem. This paper analyzed the process of the vehicle is about to go through a corner. Low beams and high beams were discussed respectively.

Brake pedal feel plays an important role in the driver's comprehensive subjective feeling when braking, which directly affects the active safety and riding comfort of passenger car. A systematical mathematical model of the vehicle brake system is built in according with the structure and system characteristics of hydraulic servo brake system. A complete hydraulic servo brake system simulation model composed of brake pedal, vacuum booster, brake master cylinder, brake pipe, brake wheel cylinders, brake calipers is established in AMESim. The effects of rubber reaction plate stiffness, rubber valve opening, brake master cylinder piston, brake caliper, brake pipe deformation and friction liner deformation on brake pedal feel are considered in this model. The accuracy of this model is verified by real road vehicle tests under static and dynamic two different conditions.

Path planning system, which is one of driver assistance systems, can calculate the driving paths and estimate the driving time through the road information provided by information source. Traditional path planning systems calculate the driving paths through Dijsktra's algorithm or A* algorithm but only consider the road information from electronic maps. It is not safe enough for operating vehicles because of the insufficient information of vehicle performance as well as the driver's willingness. This study is based on the Dijsktra's algorithm, which comprehensively considered vehicular active safety constraints such as road information, vehicle performance and the driver's willingness to optimize the Dijsktra's algorithm. Then the path planning system can calculate the optimal driving paths that would satisfy the safety requirement of the vehicle. This study used LabVIEW as a visual host computer and MATLAB to calculate dynamic property of the vehicle.

In order to overcome hysteresis and dead zone problems caused by friction for the proportional solenoid valve, and improve rapidity and stability of the pneumatic system on hydraulic retarder, a closed-loop control strategy based on valve coil current was proposed. The high-frequency low-amplitude dither signal was introduced into the proportional solenoid valve. With the proper dither signal, the stick-slip motion of the valve core was transformed into a steady one, and its dynamic performance was improved. Consequently, response time of retarder was reduced during gear changing. The proportional valve coil current was measured as a feedback for a closed-loop control strategy. Combining with the closed-loop strategy, the PI control algorithm was adopted to make sure that valve current was in accordance with the target value. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal was used for the driving of proportional solenoid valve.

Vehicle hydraulic retarders are applied in heavy-duty trucks and buses as an auxiliary braking device. In traditional cooling systems of hydraulic retarders, the working fluid is introduced into the heat exchanger to transfer heat to the cooling liquid in circulation, whose heat is then dissipated by the engine cooling system. This prevents the waste heat of the working fluid from being used effectively. In hydraulic retarder cooling system based on the Organic Rankine Cycle, the organic working fluid first transfers heat with the hydraulic retarder working fluid in Rankine cycle, and then outputs power through expansion machine. It can both reduce heat load of the engine cooling system, and enhance thermal stability of the hydraulic retarder while recovering and utilizing braking energy. First of all, according to the target vehicle model, hydraulic retarder cooling system model based on Rankine cycle is established.

With the continuous increasing requirements of commercial vehicle weight and speed on highway transportation, conventional friction brake is difficult to meet the braking performance. To ensure the driving safety of the vehicle in the hilly region, the eddy current retarder (ECR) has been widely used due to its fast response, lower prices and convenient installation. ECR brakes the vehicle through the electromagnetic force generated by the current, and converted vehicle mechanical energy into heat through magnetic field. Air cooling structure is often used in the traditional ECR and cooling performance is limited, which causes low braking torque, thermal recession, and low reliability and so on. The water jacket has been equipped outside the eddy current region in this study, and the electric ECR is cooled through the water circulating in the circuit, which prolongs its working time.

In summer, when vehicle parks in direct sunlight, the closed cabin temperature would rise sharply, which affects the occupants step-in-car comfort Solar powered vehicle parking ventilation system adopts the solar energy to drive the original ventilator. Thus, the cabin temperature could be dramatically decreased and the riding comfort could be also improved. This research analyzed the modified crew cabin thermal transfer model. Then the performance of the solar powered ventilation system is analyzed and optimized combined with the power supply characteristics of the photovoltaic element. The storage and reuse of the solar power is achieved on condition that the cabin temperature could be steadily controlled. The research shows that, the internal temperature is mainly affected by the solar radiation intensity and the environment temperature.

The hydraulic retarder is the most stabilized auxiliary braking system [1-2] of heavy-duty vehicles. When the hydraulic retarder is working during auxiliary braking, all of the braking energy is transferred into the thermal energy of the transmission medium of the working wheel. Theoretically, the residual heat-sinking capability of the engine could be used to cool down the transmission medium of the hydraulic retarder, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the hydraulic retarder. Never the less, the hydraulic retarder is always placed at the tailing head of the gearbox, far from the engine, long cooling circuits, which increases the risky leakage risk of the transmission medium. What's more, the development trend of heavy load and high speed vehicle directs the significant increase in the thermal load of the hydraulic retarder, which even higher than the engine power.

In the Rankine cycle, the pressure differential generated by the phase change of the working fluid produces turbine output power, which enables the recovery of waste heat from the internal combustion engine. The heat transfer ability of the evaporator is the key factor that determines the quality of turbine's mechanical work. In this paper, the performance of the evaporator with two-phase zone and preheated zone is studied. After obtaining the thermal characteristics of diesel engine exhaust from the experimental data, the mathematical model of the evaporator is built according to the specific working conditions of ORC and geometrical parameters of the evaporator. Three typical engine operating conditions are used to estimate the heat transfer characteristics of the evaporator. The result shows that, in the evaporator, the heat transfer coefficient of the Rankine working fluid is much greater than the exhaust side of the engine.

The brake performance is one of the most important performances in the automotive active safety, and it is the main measure of automotive active safety. Thus, to develop a platform for the braking system is quite significant. Based on the object-oriented technology, the platform for braking system is developed by making use of Visual C++ 6.0 development tool. By using the VC++ development tool and doing secondary development on other softwares, the software possesses powerful features, such as brake plan selection, performance calculation, parametric modeling, finite element analysis and kinematics simulation, etc. An initial brake system can be designed, calculated and analyzed all in one. The living instance shows that the platform has friendly user interfaces, powerful functions and it can improve the precision and efficiency of brake design. The platform has been of great applied value and can also positively promote the design automation of vehicle's braking system.

On road simulation, both the traditional iterative method based on frequency response function (FRF) and adaptive control method based on the CARMA model are realized by using linear model to identify the target test system. However the real test system is very complicated because of various nonlinear factors. Linear models approximately describe the system only in a small range. Therefore, system simulation methods can not be used to validate the developed control algorithm and the uncertainty of test accordingly increases. As mentioned above, this paper presents a model to identify the nonlinear test system using NARMA dynamic neural network and discusses how to make the model parameters in detail. Using the test input-output series data, this network was trained by Levenberg-Marquardt method. Results of verification simulation show the validation of the nonlinear model.

Hydraulic retarder has been widely applied on military vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles because of it could provide great brake torque and has lasting working time [1]. In order to reduce driver's frequent actions in braking process and prevent hydraulic retarder system from overheating, it is need to apply constant braking torque control, this control target has a strict requirement to hydraulic control system design. Many parameters often require repeated test to determine, which increases the R&D cost and extends the research cycle. This paper tries to find a time-efficient research method of hydraulic retarder control system through studying on a heavy military vehicle hydraulic retarder system. Hydraulic retarder model is set up through test data. The hydraulic control system is built based on AMESim. Controller model is set up based on PID control. The whole vehicle brake model is built based on MATLAB/Simulink.