Dynamic torque clutch control for heavy duty vehicles using a backlash size and position observer

Abstract: This master's thesis investigated the possibility to control the clutch torque in order to better traverse a Scania vehicles powertrain backlash. When traversing a backlash the torque difference between the two gears will at the time of contact excite oscillations in the powertrain, and by controlling the torque these oscillations can be minimized. The master's thesis solves this issue in three major steps. First a Simulink model was created to mimic the actual vehicles powertrain as closely as possible. It was created using mostly Simdriveline components and then validated by comparing simulations to measurements from real drives. After that backlash position and backlash size observers were created in order to estimate them. Using the developed Simulink model these observers could then be evaluated, and the backlash position observer proved to be very precise while the backlash size observer was not as precise but still usable. Finally a control strategy was devised, by using the estimates from the developed observers it was supposed to control the clutch torque in a better way than previously done. The controller was a switching controller that simply used the full engine torque while the backlash was in contact, and a P controller to control the clutch torque while performing a backlash traverse. The controller proved to perform well and was robust to errors in the backlash size. Future work to be done could be to develop a shaft torque observer for use in the already developed observers.