Robust fault-tolerant control of in-wheel driven bus with cornering energy minimization

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to design fault-tolerant and energy optimal trajectory tracking control for a four-wheel independently actuated (FWIA) electric bus with a steer-by-wire steering system. During normal driving conditions, the architecture of the proposed controller enables the bus to select an energy optimal split between steering intervention and torque vectoring, realized by the independently actuated in-wheel motors by minimizing the cornering resistance of the bus. In the case of skidding or a fault event of an in-wheel motor or the steering system, a high-level control reconfiguration using linear parameter varying (LPV) techniques is applied to reallocate control signals in order to stabilize the bus. The main novelty of the paper is the control reconfiguration method based on the specific characteristics of the in-wheel bus which enables introducing such scheduling variables, with which the safety and efficiency of the FWIA bus can be enhanced.