CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

Master of Science Course in Mechanical Engineering

Politecnico di Milano - Lecco Campus

CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

DESIGN CASE
IMPLEMENTATION OF A CRUISE CONTROL FOR A ROAD VEHICLE

PART 1

The vehicle shown in Figure 1 is running with a longitudinal speed V = x! on a straight line road
having slope α. The front and the rear wheels rotate with angular speed respectively equal to !! f
and !!r .
Assuming to neglect the pitch motion of the vehicle and the aerodynamic lift force, the forces acting
on the vehicle are (see Figure 2):
§ the weight force mg;
§ the drag force Fdrag due the relative speed between the vehicle and the wind (having mean
speed U, assumed parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle) eventually acting on it:
1 1 2
Fdrag = ! ! !C x ! S !Vrel2 = ! ! !C x ! S ! (U +V )
2 2
(U wind force, V: vehicle speed, ρ: air density, Cx: drag coefficient, S vehicle frontal area,
see Table 1)
§ the contact forces between tires and ground in the longitudinal (Tf and Tr) and in the normal
direction (Nf and Nr);
§ the force of inertia at translation m!!
x;
§ the inertia at rotation of the four wheels J!!!i (i=front, rear);
Finally on the vehicle is acting the traction torque provided by the engine Mm (which is an internal
force and thus it is not indicated in Figure 2).

Figure 1: Vehicle model. Figure 2: External forces acting on the vehicle.

The scheme of the driveline of the vehicle, transmitting the traction torque from the engine to the
tires is shown in Figure 3.

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

Tires

Engine

Differential Gear

τd τg Mm,ωm Jm

Figure 3: Scheme of the driveline of the vehicle.

A gear and a differential are present having respectively transmission ratio τg and τd.
250
γ=1
γ = 0.5
200 γ = 0.1

150
Mm [Nm]

100

50

0
1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
[rpm]

Figure 4: Engine characteristic curve: traction torque vs. engine rotational speed.

The characteristic curve of an endothermic engine (see Figure 4) represents the torque provided by
the engine Mm as a function of the engine angular speed ωm and of the throttle valve position γ. The
throttle valve position can vary in the range 0-1: in full admission conditions γ is equal to 1, while
when the throttle valve is closed, γ is equal to 0.
The characteristic equation of the engine can approximated as:
M m = M m (! ," m ) = ! ! a ! ! m2 + b! ! m + c
( )
where a, b and c are constant coefficients (see Table 1).
It is straightforward to understand that the vehicle speed can be controlled by properly changing the
throttle valve position.

Under the hypothesis of no slip between the tires and the ground, the vehicle has 1 d.o.f.
Assuming to maintain a fixed gear:
1. write the nonlinear equation of motion of the system, considering the engine angular speed
ωm as the independent coordinate;
2. for an assigned vehicle speed V0, calculate the steady-state condition for α=0° and a mean
wind speed U=0m/s;
3. linearize the equation of motion in the neighbourhood of the steady-state condition;
4. calculate the expression of the FRFs:

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

# ! ( s) &
§ between the throttle position and the engine angular speed %G! ( s) = m ( ;
% " ( s) ('
$
⎛ Ω m ( s ) ⎞
§ between the road slope α and the engine angular speed ⎜ Gα ( s ) = ⎟ ;
⎜
⎝ Α ( s ) ⎟⎠
⎛ Ω m ( s ) ⎞
§ between the mean wind speed U and the engine angular speed ⎜ GU ( s ) = ⎟ ;
⎜
⎝ U ( s ) ⎟⎠
and plot the corresponding Bode diagrams using MatLab;
5. calculate analytically and using MatLab the response of the vehicle to a step input for the
throttle.

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

Let’s think about controlling the variations of the vehicle speed ( Vref = Vref − V0 = 0 ) due to changes
in the road slope α and in the wind speed U with respect to the above considered condition (α=0°
and U=0m/s) by means of the throttle position γ and let’s assume that the throttle position γ(t) is
governed by a Proportional-Integrating-Derivative (PID) regulator having transfer function R(s).

6. Check the stability of the feed-back control system considering the different cases that may
arise on the basis of the regulator time constants Ti and Td (MatLab command rlocus).

After selecting the time constants of the PID regulator

7. draw the Bode diagrams of the closed loop transfer functions

V (s) Ωm ( s )
Lα ( s ) = =τR
Α(s) Α (s)
V (s) Ωm ( s )
LU ( s ) = =τR
U (s) U (s)
8. analyze the performances of the feedback control system

for different values of the proportional gain kp.

After selecting the proportional and the integrating gains of the PID regulator

9. assuming that the reference time history for the slope α is the one shown in Figure 5, while
U=0m/s, check the performances of the feed-back control system in the time domain using
MatLab (function rk4.m)

Road slope α
6

4
[deg]

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
t [s]
Figure 5: Time history of the road slope.

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

System data

Vehicle mass M 1040 [kg]

Wheels moment of inertia J 1.2 [kgm2]
Drag coefficient Cx 0.3 [-]
Vehicle frontal area S 1.65 [m2]
Air density ρ 1.25 [kg/m3]
Gear transmission ratio τg 0.5 [-]
Differential transmission ratio τd 0.22 [-]
Wheels radius R 0.3 [m]
Rolling resistance fv (u= fvR) 0.02 [-]
Engine moment of inertia Jm 0.28 [kgm2]
Engine torque a -0.0007 [Nm/(rad/s)2]
b 0.4865 [Nm/(rad/s)]
c 121.26 [Nm]
Table 1: System data.

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

PART 2
Let’s suppose now that the driving torque Mm is provided by a permanent magnet DC motor (see
Table 2) instead that by an endothermic engine.

Under the hypothesis of no slip between the tires and the ground:

1. write the nonlinear equation of motion of the system, considering the engine angular speed
ωm as the independent coordinate;
2. for an assigned vehicle speed V0, calculate the steady-state condition for α=0 and a mean
wind speed U=0m/s;
3. linearize the equation of motion in the neighbourhood of the steady-state condition;

Let’s think about controlling the variations of the vehicle speed ( Vref = Vref − V0 = 0 ) due to changes
in the road slope α and in the wind speed U with respect to the above considered condition (α=0
and U=0m/s) by means of a Proportional-Integrating regulator (PI) acting on the permanent
magnets DC motor armature voltage Va.

4. Check the stability of the feed-back control system considering the different cases that may
arise on the basis of the regulator time constants Ti (MatLab command rlocus).

After selecting the time constants of the PI regulator

5. draw the Bode diagrams of the closed loop transfer functions

V (s) Ωm ( s )
Lα ( s ) = =τR
Α(s) Α (s)
V (s) Ωm ( s )
LU ( s ) = =τR
U (s) U (s)
6. analyze the performances of the feedback control system (MatLab commands bandwidth,
step).

for different values of the proportional gain kp.

After selecting the proportional and the integrating gains of the PI regulator

7. assuming that the reference time history for the slope α is the one shown in Figure 5, while
U=0, check the performances of the feed-back control system in the time domain using
MatLab (function rk4.m)

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CONTROL AND ACTUATING DEVICES FOR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

System data

Vehicle mass M 1040 [kg]

Wheels moment of inertia J 1.2 [kgm2]
Drag coefficient Cx 0.3 [-]
Vehicle frontal area S 1.65 [m2]
Air density ρ 1.25 [kg/m3]
Gear transmission ratio τg 0.5 [-]
Differential transmission ratio τd 0.22 [-]
Wheels radius R 0.3 [m]
Rolling resistance fv (u= fvR) 0.02 [-]
Engine moment of inertia Jm 0.28 [kgm2]
Electric motor
Armature resistance Ra 0.24 [Ω]
Armature inductance La 0.0024 [H]
Kφ 0.48 [Nm/A]
Table 2: System data.

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