Control of Drive-Train Bench System for Simulating the Real Vehicle Motion Takao Akiyama, Yoshimasa Sawada 1 and Toru Yamamoto 2 Abstract— Drive-train bench system is utilized to test power- train components of a vehicle such as transmission, torque converter, etc. In order to simulate the real vehicle motion, it is necessary that dynamometers of the drive-train bench simulates the various road conditions such as dry road surface and snow road surface, etc. To simulate the condition that the vehicle is running on the dry road, it is necessary that the dynamometer is controlled so that the moment of inertia of the output side of the drive-train bench is virtually equal to the moment of inertia of the vehicle. On the other hand, to simulate the snow road surface, it is necessary that the dynamometer is controlled so that the moment of inertia of the drive-train bench is virtually equal to the moment of inertia of the tire. Furthermore, in the brake operation on the snow road surface, braking time changes by how to use brake. Drive-train bench simulates the brake operation of real vehicle by controlling the dynamometer. In this paper, a control design method of the drive-train bench system is proposed for simulating various road conditions and brake operation. I. INTRODUCTION Since the request of environmental performance for vehi- cle is increasing in recent years, it is necessary to shorten the development time of vehicle components such as trans- mission and torque-converter. Drive-rain bench system is a test system for performing the durability test or transmission efficiency measurement of the transmission and the torque converter. A conventional drive-train bench simulates the running condition that the tire grips the road. However, as for the real vehicle, a tire may slip depending on a road surface condition. The load torque of the transmission greatly varies whether a tire slips or a tire grips. Furthermore, the load torque greatly varies by break operation. To shorten the development time of vehicle components, it is necessary that the drive-train bench can simulate the various running conditions. The conventional control method of the drive-train bench is reported[1], and its control method cannot simulate the running conditions that the tire slips. References[2] and [3] propose the control method how an engine test bench simulates the real vehicle. In this paper, the control design method of the drive- train bench is proposed for simulating the various running condition. The proposed control method enables to simulate the following phenomena which are impossible by the con- ventional control method. 1 Takao Akiyama and Yoshimasa Sawada is with Meidensha Corporation, Tokyo, Japan akiyama-t@mb.meidensha.co.jp 2 Toru Yamamoto is with the Div. of Electrical, Systems and Mathematical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan Fig. 1. System configuration • Simulation of the continuous change between the slip run and the grip run. • Simulation of the change of the tire stop time by how to operates break. • Simulation of the change of the load torpue of the transsmission by how to operates brake. II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND CONTROL OBJECTIVE Figure 1 shows the mechanical configuration and the control system of the drive-train bench to test a Front- Wheel-Drive (FWD) transmission and drive shaft. A motor substituting for the engine is installed in the input side of the transmission. The control design method of this motor was proposed[4]. Dynamometers substituting for the tire and vehicle body are installed in the output side of the drive shaft. A torque meter for measuring the torsional torque of the drive shaft (shaft torque) is installed between the drive shaft and the dynamometer. Dynamometer controller calculates the torque reference of the dyanmometer from the shaft torque and the angular velocity. The dynamometer torque reference is input into an inverter, and the inverter controls the dynamometer torque. Figure 2 shows the mathematical model of mechanical system of drive-train bench, where T M is the torque of the drive motor, J M is the moment of inertia of the drive motor, g is the gear ratio of the transmission, T S1 is the drive shaft torque of the dynamometer 1, T D1 is the torque of the dy- namoeter 1, ω D1 is the angular velocity of the dynamometer 237