Modelling and control of an innovative braking system: from test bench to full vehicle application

This thesis aims to resume the work done from September 2023 as a research fellow in the IEHV – Innovative Electric Hybrid Vehicles Research Group in developing the high-level control system for an innovative braking system prototype, looking forward to testing procedures planning. The system is ZEDS, Zero-Emission Driving System, designed to be an alternative solution to friction brakes, obtaining zero-emissions. This solution is composed of an in-wheel electric motor, which provides energy regeneration during braking manoeuvres, and a magnetorheological fluid braking system, an electrically actuated non-friction-based brake designed to not produce pollutants during usage. A prototype for this architecture has been produced and testing is going to be performed to assess its performance in terms of braking capability, energy efficiency, and pollutant emissions, other than checking its reliability with the necessary voltages and currents applied. A first session of testing will be performed in a Dynamometer test-rig inside the CARS - Center for Automotive Research and Sustainable mobility- test bench inside Politecnico di Torino’s facilities, where standard manoeuvres will be performed with static, pre-defined profiles regarding torque management and split between the electrical motor and the magnetorheological fluid brake. The signals to be provided to the test bench are obtained through MATLAB Simulink simulation of a vehicle with ZEDS implemented, reproducing the desired test manoeuvres to be performed, like limit braking or standard driving cycles. Each component of ZEDS is modelled, from its mechanical, electrical, and thermal physical points of view, to assess its influence on the whole vehicle performance, in terms of drivability and energy consumption. Simulation through mathematical modelling is also needed for designing a real-time control system able to assess which are the system's available power limits and the optimal torque split between the electrical motor and the magnetorheological fluid brake in terms of energy consumption, efficiency, and the extension of architecture elements’ useful life by checking thermal behaviour and battery state of charge. A Model Predictive Control developed for this scope and is being tested in a HIL – Hardware In the Loop- testing fashion is described: an electronic control unit implementing the control logic’s algorithm is connected to the vehicle simulation environment, generating the needed control signals. This testing is designed to check the proper functionality of the control logic, with, as a final goal, to develop a final product that can be near to the real application on a vehicle.