Track Tension Estimation in Tracked Vehicles Under Various Maneuvering Tasks

Abstract

In this paper, track tension monitoring methodology is developed so that the track tension can be estimated under various maneuvering tasks such as longitudinal driving on sloping and/or rough roads, turning on flat or sloping roads, etc. The real-time information of the track tension is very important for tracked vehicles because the track tension is closely related to the maneuverability and the durability of tracked vehicles. In the case of longitudinal driving, a modified 3 DOF dynamics model is derived for tracked vehicles and is utilized for estimating the tractive force and track tension. In the case of turning, kinetic models for six road-wheels are obtained and used for calculating the track tension around the sprocket. This method does not require tuning of the turning resistance, which makes it difficult to estimate the track tension in turning. The estimation performance of the proposed methods is verified through simulations of the Multi-Body Dynamics tool. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method under various maneuvering tasks of tracked vehicles.

Original Design of a Wheelchair Robot Equipped With Variable Geometry Single Tracked Mechanisms

“…With the assumption that the track tension in the same track segment is constant [22], Q can be given according to joints of the manipulator as:…”

“…• Set the specification and motion state of the robot • Calculate variables q,˙ q,¨ q by (1)- (6) with numerical method • Solve out the generalized active force Q by (13) • Establish constraint equations of the active forces • Optimize the maximal driving moment in (17)- (19) and set it as the instantaneous value In the solution process, the constraint of the track tension around front and back planetary wheels can be given by [22]:…”

Dynamics modeling and control of active track tensioning system for tracked vehicle

“…Due to the advantages of powerful traction, low ground contact pressure (Rahman et al, 2007; Zhang and Huang, 2015), strong climbing capacity and small swerving radius, track assemblies have been widely used in military vehicles and engineering machinery. The track tension has an important influence on the performance of the crawler driving system (Huh and Hong, 2001). As the track tension increases, excessive load is generated on tracks and suspension systems.…”

Track tension optimization for stair-climbing of a wheelchair robot with Variable Geometry Single Tracked Mechanism

“…The driving force of the driving wheel needed for stair-climbing is relative to the external forces applied by the stairs as (9). Because the external forces cannot be solved out individually but should satisfy (8), the optimization objective should make the value of the driving force E F as large as possible to ensure the wheelchair robot can perform the stair-climbing movement.…”

“…In this paper, the mass effect of the track and the inertial effect of the track wheels are neglected, so 2 E T can also be assumed equal to the controlled track tension around the front planetary wheel [9].…”