Design and Development of a Novel Independent Wheel Torque Control of 4WD Electric Vehicle

In this paper, a novel hybrid vehicle chassis is designed without an assisted steering system and its kinematics model, the dynamics model, and the control system. The existing steering mechanism does not provide enough torque or has a shortage of mechanical strength and control when sinking into deeper muddy road. The proposed design can solve these problems smoothly. Initially, the new 4-wheel-drive (4WD) hybrid vehicle chassis vehicle platform and self-steering mechanism are designed, and Its kinematics and dynamics models are built. The linkages are added between the front and rear bodies to optimize the control model. Finally, traditional proportion-integration-differentiation (PID) feedback control loop is employed to track the reference torque of 4 independent wheels. The new hybrid vehicle chassis steering system has been tested in the actual muddy agricultural field. The results are verified using a prototype and real vehicle. The proposed design is proved feasibility not only has a smaller turning radius but also has a higher control precision than an existing vehicle, which ensures the flexibility of the vehicle and can control the direction as well. Besides, the proposed design is best for modern agricultural vehicle and can be implemented in commercial and private vehicles.