INVESTIGATION OF CONTROL ALGORITHMS FOR TRACKED VEHICLE MOBILITY LOAD EMULATION FOR A COMBAT HYBRID ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM

The United States Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is actively investigating and researching ways to advance the state of combat hybrid-electric power system technology for use in military vehicles including the Future Combat Systems’ family of manned and unmanned ground vehicles. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is the lead contractor for operating the Power and Energy System Integration Laboratory (P&E SIL) in Santa Clara, CA. The P&E SIL houses a combat hybrid electric power system including a diesel engine, generator, high voltage bus, DC-DC converter, lithium ion battery pack, left and right induction motors, and left and right dynamometers. The power system is sized for a 20-22 ton tracked vehicle. The dynamometers are responsible for emulating loads that the vehicle would see while running over a course.

This paper discusses the control system design for achieving mobility load emulation. Mobility load emulation is defined as the ability of the measured left and right sprocket speeds to track the left and right sprocket speeds in the vehicle model. Simulated and experimental results are presented for various load emulation strategies. Several algorithms are investigated, and a final algorithm is chosen based on a standard control systems analysis. The algorithms developed are designed in a modular fashion such that they can function with combinations of vehicle models and dynamometers other than the vehicle model and dynamometers used at the P&E SIL.