Analytical Investigation of Vertical Force Control in In-Wheel Motors for Enhanced Ride Comfort

Abstract

This study explores the effectiveness of vertical force control in in-wheel motors (IWMs) to enhance ride comfort in electric vehicles (EVs). A dynamic vehicle model and a proportional ride-blending controller were used to reduce vertical vibrations of the sprung mass. By converting the state-space model into a transfer function, the system’s frequency response was evaluated using road profiles generated according to ISO 8608 standards and converted into Power Spectral Density (PSD) inputs. The frequency-weighted acceleration (aw) was calculated based on ISO 2631 standards to measure ride comfort improvements. The results showed that increasing the proportional gain (Kp) effectively reduced the frequency-weighted acceleration and the RMS of the vertical acceleration of the sprung mass. However, the proportional gain could not be increased indefinitely due to the torque limitations of the IWMs. Optimal proportional gains for various road profiles demonstrated significant improvements in ride comfort. This study concludes that advanced suspension technologies, including the proportional ride-blending controller, can effectively mitigate the challenges of increased unsprung mass in IWM vehicles, thereby enhancing ride quality and vehicle dynamics.