Design of an Active Vehicle System for a Hybrid Race Car

The aim of this work is to define the core of a stability control, called Active Vehicle System, for a hybrid Formula SAE car that will compete in the next season in the upcoming Alternative Energies (Class 1A) class. The vehicle on which the control system will act is equipped with two electric motors on the front axle and an internal combustion engine connected to the rear axle by the way of a semi-active differential. The layout of the car under consideration has been defined with the purpose of getting the most effectiveness by the Active Vehicle System, whose role is to define a yaw torque to be applied to the vehicle in order to correct its behavior during each maneuver. The results of the Upper Controller will be actuated by two Lower Controllers, one dedicated to the electric motors and one to the semi-active differential. On such controlled vehicle some testing maneuvers have been performed, in order to check its functionality. The analyses have been done with a mathematical model of the vehicle, in order to compare the behavior of the controlled car with respect to the uncontrolled and neutral ones. The results of these simulations have shown that the performance of the Class 1A equipped with the Active Vehicle System are closer to the reference model, effectively increasing the global performance and safety of the vehicle.