Driving Control Algorithm for Maneuverability and Lateral Stability for Application to 4WD Series Hybrid Vehicle

This paper describes a driving control algorithm for improved maneuverability, lateral stability and rollover prevention. The driving control algorithm is developed for 4WD series hybrid vehicle equipped with two motors in front and rear driving shafts. The driving control algorithm consists of three parts: a supervisory controller that determines control mode and desired dynamics, upper level controller that computes a traction force input and a yaw moment input to track the desired dynamics, lower level controller that determines actual actuator commands, front/rear driving motor torques and independent brake torques. In the lower level controller, optimization based-control allocation strategy is used to map the upper level control inputs to the actual actuator commands, taking into account the actuator constraints. Numerical simulation studies are conducted in order to evaluate the proposed driving control algorithm. It is found from simulation study that the proposed driving controller improves vehicle maneuverability, lateral stability as well as prevents vehicle rollover.