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Parallel hydraulic hybrid vehicles (PHHVs) integrate conventional engines with a hydraulic pump/motor (HPM) to drive the vehicle independently or in combination. To improve the comfortability and drivability during mode switching from hydraulic driving mode to engine driving mode, this paper proposes a coordinated control strategy for the engine, clutch and HPM. To capture the transient behaviour of the powertrain, a medium-duty PHHV dynamic model is established. Based on a typical PHHV powertrain layout, the mode switching process is analysed and divided into five phases. Control strategies are designed for each phase, respectively.LQR-based closed-loop control strategy is adopted to analyse the effect of clutch engaging speed on vehicle jerk, clutch frictional work and energy consumption. HPM output torque is adjusted to compensate the engine clutch drag torque, with the aim maintaining good drivability. To do this, constant vehicle acceleration is selected as the indicator of stable output torque. The simulation results demonstrate that by using the HPM to compensate the engine clutch drag torque, vehicle drivability is guaranteed during mode switching. From the comparison between different LQR weighting matrices, multiple options are available to drivers on drivability and comfortability during mode switching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the disturbance-observer-based linear quadratic regulation (LQR) problem of singularly perturbed systems subject to harmonic disturbances. To reduce the computational burden and facilitate the on-board implementation, a recursive matrix decoupling method is proposed to decompose the stiff singularly perturbed model into the block-diagonal form. Then, a robust LQR controller is designed based on the equivalent decoupled system, which consists of a state feedback controller for performance optimisation and a robust controller for disturbance compensation. Moreover, the designed controller is integrated with a finite frequency disturbance observer to attenuate the effect of harmonic disturbances. Finally, a simulation example on a DC motor system is provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The active vibration control of a composite plate using discrete piezoelectric patches has been investigated. Based on first order shear deformation theory, a finite element model with the contributions of piezoelectric sensor and actuator patches to the mass and stiffness of the plate was used to derive the state space equation. A global optimization based on LQR performance is developed to find the optimal location of the piezoelectric patches. Genetic algorithm is adopted and implemented to evaluate the optimal configuration. The piezoelectric actuator provides a damping effect on the composite plate by means of LQR control algorithm. A correlation between the patches number and the closed loop damping coefficient is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rollover of heavy vehicle is an important road safety problem world-wide. Although rollovers are relatively rare events, they are usually deadly accidents when they occur. The roll stability loss is the main cause of rollover accidents in which heavy vehicles are involved. In order to improve the roll stability, most of modern heavy vehicles are equipped with passive anti-roll bars to reduce roll motion during cornering or riding on uneven roads. However these may be not sufficient to overcome critical situations. This paper introduces the active anti-roll bars made of four electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators, which are modelled and integrated in a yaw-roll model of a single unit heavy vehicle. The control signal is the current entering the electronic servo-valve and the output is the force generated by the hydraulic actuator. The active control design is achieved solving a linear optimal control problem based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) approach. A comparison of several LQR controllers is provided to allow for tackling the considered multi-objective problems. Simulation results in frequency and time domains show that the use of two active anti-roll bars (front and rear axles) drastically improves the roll stability of the single unit heavy vehicle compared with the passive anti-roll bar. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many researches have been conducted in the area of control applied to vehicle dynamics, aiming at reducing the possibility of the occurrence of the type of accident known asrollover. In this research, based on a common nonlinear model and its linearisation, a method for properly selecting matrices for solving the Riccati equation considering different speeds was proposed. The method showed in which ways speed really influences the choice of controller gains. By developing the dynamic equations for the yaw- and roll-coupled motions and modelling of controllers and state observers, it is possible to compare the efficacy of this control strategy using both linear and nonlinear simulations using Matlab. Significant results were obtained regarding the reduction of the rollover coefficient for a double-lane change manoeuvre at different speeds, thus indicating advantages of using this controller in practical cases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Approximations of the globally optimal nonlinear quadratic regulator (NQR) strategy are employed to control the unstable steady state of a continuous stirred tank reactor. It is shown that the proposed approximate NQR controllers can be uniquely determined through solution of Riccati and linear matrix equations and can deliver better dynamic performance than the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) if the process model is proper. Stability, optimality, and constraint satisfaction regions for these controllers are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]