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A novel torque-coupling architecture for hybrid electric vehicles is proposed. The torque-coupling device is based on automated manual transmission (AMT), which is highly efficient and provides six gears for the engine and three gears for each motor to enable the engine and the motors to work at high-efficiency levels in most cases. The proposed power-shift AMT (P-AMT) does not have a hydraulic torque converter and wet clutches, which dampen the driveline shock. Thus, the drivability control of the P-AMT becomes a challenging issue. Accurate engine, motor model and transmission model have been built and the dynamic control of the gear shift process of PAMT in hybrid mode is simulated. The electric motors compensate for the traction loss during the gear shift of the engine.

In order to improve the drivability and reduce the clutch friction loss, low-cost slope sensor is used in hill-start control of AMT vehicles. After the power spectrum analysis of the original signal and the design of the digital filter, the angle of the slope is obtained with short enough delay and small enough noise. By using this slope angle information, slope resistance force can be calculated online so that the vehicle can be prevented from sliding backward and optimal launch control can be realized. The digital filter of slope angle signal and the optimal controller of dry clutch engagement are embedded in the TCU (Transmission Control Unit) of a micro-car Geely Panda. Real-vehicle experiments are carried out with optimal clutch controller, which shows that the hill-start with low-cost slope sensor and optimal clutch controller can provide successful vehicle launch with little driveline shock. In addition, it can also avoid backward sliding and engine over-speed effectively.

Multiple actuators equipped in electric vehicles, such as four- wheel steering (4WS) and four-wheel drive (4WD), provide more degrees of freedom for chassis motion control. However, developing independent control strategies for distinct actuator types could result in control conflicts, potentially degrading the vehicle's motion performance. To address this issue, a model predictive control (MPC) based steering-drive cooperated control strategy for enhanced agility and stability of electric vehicles with 4WD and 4WS is proposed in this paper. By designing the control constraints within the MPC framework, the strategy enables single-drive control, single-steering control, and steering-drive cooperative control. In the upper control layer, a linear time-varying MPC (LTV-MPC) is designed to generate optimal additional yaw moment and additional steering angles of front and rear wheels to enhance vehicle agility and lateral stability.