Search Results

The earth's fossil energy is not limitless, and we should be taking advantage of the highly developed fields of science and technology to utilize it more efficiently and to create a fully environmentally friendly life. Considering the prodigious amount of vehicles in the world today, even a small improvement in their energy-saving performance could have a significant impact. In this paper, a new type of electro-hydraulic power steering (EHPS) system is described. It has two main advantages. First, it can significantly decrease the demand on the motor so that it can be used for a wider range of vehicles. Second, its pressure-flow characteristic can be programmed and is more flexible than hydraulic power steering (HPS) system. A prototype with a 500 W motor was applied to a truck with a front load of 2,700 kg, and static steer sweep tests were conducted to validate its feasibility.

With the development of intelligent vehicle and active vehicle safety systems, the demand of sensors is increasing, especially in-tire sensors. Tire parameters are essential for vehicle dynamic control, including tire pressure, tire temperature, slip angle, longitudinal force, etc.. The diversification and growth of in-tire sensors require adequate power supply. Traditionally, embedded batteries are used to power sensors in tire, however, they must be replaced periodically because of the limited energy storage. The power limitation of the batteries would reduce the real-time data transmission frequency and deteriorate the vehicle safety. Heightened interest focuses on generating power through energy harvesting systems in replace of the batteries. Current in-tire energy harvesting devices include piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electrostatic and electromechanical mechanism, whose energy sources include tire deformations, vibrations and rotations.

Although energy harvesting systems are extensively used in different fields, studies on the application of energy harvesters embedded in tires for vehicle control are rare and mostly focus on solving power supply problems of tire pressure sensors. Sensors are traditionally powered by an embedded battery, which must be replaced periodically because of its limited energy storage. Heightened interest in vehicle safety is expected to drive increased design and manufacture of in-tire sensors, which in turn, translates to rising demand for power generation in tires. These challenges emphasize the need to investigate the substitution of batteries and in-tire energy harvesting systems. Current in-tire energy harvesting methods involve piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and electrostatic power generation, whose energy sources include tire vibrations, deformations, and rotations. Piezoelectric harvesters are generally compact but operate for short durations.

A tire force estimation algorithm is proposed for vehicle dynamic stability control (DSC) system to protect the vehicle from deviation of the normal dynamics attitude and to realize the improved dynamics stability in limited driving conditions. The developed algorithm is based on the theoretical analysis of all the subsystems of the active brake control in DSC system and modulation in DSC, and the robustness is achieved by a compensation method using nonlinear filter in the real time control. The software-in-loop simulation using Matlab/AMEsim and the ground test in the real car show the validation of this method.