How to make your car smarter

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Driving a manual transmission smoothly is a task that takes a lot of training for some people, since it requires knowledge and finesse. This task becomes even more challenging in a truck or other large vehicle. These vehicles are more difficult to drive smoothly because of a larger engine, more rigid transmission, and heavy flywheel. To solve these issues the Smart Acceleration Pedal (SAP) system is proposed.

Advantages:

  • Improves driving quality by providing smooth gear shift with no powertrain shocks;
  • Significantly reduces clutch wear and therefore reduces service costs;
  • Provides improved fuel economy and comfort;
  • Offers better vehicle launch from stand still while it avoids engine stall;
  • Can provide additional features like Cruise Control;
  • There is a very broad market: any vehicle with a manual transmission.

The SAP system uses engine speed and vehicle speed information to synchronize the engine with the transmission anytime there is a gear shift. By doing so, the powertrain shocks encountered during gear shifts are eliminated. As a result, the clutch wear is significantly reduced, while shifting speed and fuel economy are improved.

control_scheme

In order to prove the SAP system capabilities a representative drive cycle is used. This drive cycle consists of the driver current gear number and pedals position (clutch, brake and acceleration). The potential of the SAP system is demonstrated in simulation using a complete model of a heavy-duty vehicle. The controller and the vehicle model are implemented in Matlab/Simulink.

fig1

The figure bellow shows how the SAP system works. While in the baseline case the driver struggles to synchronize the engine with the transmission, in the controlled case this is all handled by the SAP system with a much better performance.

fig2afig2

The SAP system shows up to 2.36% fuel consumption reduction, while the clutch slip or clutch wear reaches near zero level with a reduction of 95.98%. At this clutch wear level, it appears that the clutch will not need replacement over the complete lifetime of the vehicle.

fig3

The SAP system seems promising in terms of performance.

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