Vehicle pitch dynamics control using in-wheel motors

Kopylov, Semen (author), Ambrož, Miha (author), Petan, Žiga (author), Kunc, Robert (author), Zheng, Sifa (author), Hou, Zhichao (author)

Implementation of in-wheel motors brings numerous advantages: decreased overall vehicle weight and manufacture cost, available accurate torque control for better road handling and powertrain high energy efficiency. Even so, when the motor is placed inside the wheel, the unsprung mass of the vehicle increases, leading to a less comfortable ride. This paper puts forward and studies a control system that takes advantage of the vertical component of the driving force provided by an in-wheel motor to enhance ride comfort and handling dynamics. The proportional integral (PI) controller was proposed to minimize the pitch acceleration response of the vehicle. Controller’s gains were optimized using the gradient descent method with sequential quadratic programing algorithm. A co-simulation approach and a dynamic model of the vehicle were presented. Data regarding the vehicle’s measurements was taken from a real car with in-wheel motors. The dynamic model of the car was validated based on the results derived during the road test experiment. Assessing the controller’s effectiveness, a co-simulation approach between the dynamic model and the control system was established. An acceleration test in a straight line showed a 25% increase in ride comfort as measured by the RMS pitch angular vibrations of the sprung mass. The control is attained with no increase in the tire load and the vehicle’s longitudinal dynamics.

• Language: English
• Keywords: vehicle dynamics, in-wheel motors, ride comfort, torque control, driving force
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 14 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 239, iss. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-170943
• UDC: 629.3
• ISSN on article: 0954-4070
• DOI: 10.1177/09544070231221600
• COBISS.SI-ID: 185444099
• Publication date in RUL: 23.07.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers : Journal of automobile engineering
• Shortened title: Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., D J. automob. eng.
• Publisher: Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• ISSN: 0954-4070
• COBISS.SI-ID: 28242432

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: dinamika vozil, kolesni motorji, udobje vožnje, nadzor momenta, pogonska sila

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0109
• Name: Modeliranje v tehniki in medicini