Fault-Tolerant Distributed and Switchable PI Slip Control Architecture in Four In-Wheel Motor Drive Electric Vehicles

Abstract

A fault-tolerant feedback architecture is presented and simulated for chassis motion control of both longitudinal and lateral dynamics in Four In-Wheel Motors (4-IWMs) drive Electric Vehicles (EVs), in the presence of mechanical failures. The control architecture is capable of a quick Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) by making a sensor fusion between the measured chassis-acceleration vector angle and its estimate determined by distributed torque loads estimation. The fault is isolated by comparing online left and right torque load estimates. The proposed architecture can switch smoothly from 4-IWMs to 2-IWMs configuration, by excluding the whole faulted axle to preserve the torque balancing.