Developing a Strategy to Improve Handling Behaviors of a Medium-Size Electric Bus Using Active Anti-Roll Bar

Abstract

Electric vehicles are a major trend in research and development in the automobile industry. A vehicle’s handling ability is changed when the structure of the power system is altered, which is more obvious in medium-sized buses with higher load and a longer body whose body stiffness is relatively less stiff. In this context, flexible multi-body dynamic modeling, instead of rigid body modeling, is used to reflect the stiffness effects of the vehicle body and chassis systems. A control strategy is developed with an active variable stiffness anti-roll bar to improve vehicle handling characteristics by using the flexible body dynamic simulation with consideration of the step and single sinusoidal steering input tests. Through simulation, it was learned that the proposed control strategy could reduce the time of stabilization by 54.08% and suppress undesired handling behaviors in the step steering input test. Moreover, at high speed, the original unsteady condition became stabilized with little sacrifice in yaw velocity. In the single sinusoidal steering input test, the time of stabilization could be reduced by 8.43% and with 14.6% less yaw angle changes in the improved design. The overall handling was improved.

Anti-Roll Bar Optimization of an Urban Electric Bus

“…Safety coefficients were obtained based on the maximum stress values according to the tensile yield strength values between the mechanical properties of the materials. Obtained torsion angles were considered reasonable for relative study (Hwang et al, 2020). Mass values were also found for lightness evaluation.…”

Development of a Fuzzy Algorithm With Multiple Inputs for the Active Stabilizer Bar to Improve Vehicle Stability When Steering

“…The performance of the passive stabilizer bar is worse than that of the active stabilizer bar. The stabilizer bar can reduce the roll angle when steering and ensure better wheel-to-road interaction [33,34]. As for the hydraulic stabilizer bars, they are quite complicated and bulky in construction.…”

Proposing a novel fuzzy control algorithm for automotive active stabilizer bars based on views of roll stability and ride comfort

“…Most cars today use stabilizer bars for the rear or front axles or both. 41 The typical bar commonly used is called the passive bar. As the name suggests, it can only passively generate force, depending on the change in unsprung mass displacement, according to Nguyen et al 42 However, the response of the mechanical stability bar is not good, so the solution using active stabilizer bars is preferred.…”