Investigation of Energy Efficient Power Coupling Steering System for Dual Motors Drive High Speed Tracked Vehicle

This paper presents an energy efficient power coupling steering system for dual motors drive high speed tracked vehicle. The system consists of a new type of center steering motor, two electromagnetic (EM) clutches, two planetary gear couplers, and two propulsion motors. The motor torque and power required by dynamic steering with different steering radiuses for dual motors drive high speed tracked vehicle were investigated. A motor-speed-based control strategy of dynamic steering is designed to achieve vehicle lateral stability enhancement. The model of the proposed control strategy in RecuDyn and Matlab/Simulink is given. The simulation results of dynamic steering with 0.5B and 2B radius show that understeer in small radius steering can be significantly improved.