Torque Control of Electrified Powertrains with a degree of freedom in Actuator Acceleration and Output Torque.

Electrified powertrains, such as the Power Splits (Electrically Variable Transmission), Range Extenders (Series Hybrids), and Electric Vehicles with Disconnect Actuators, offer degrees of freedom in input actuator acceleration and output torque, all while consuming power from the same sources. The Hybrid Supervisory Controller (HSC) must effectively balance these parameters to meet performance and drivability metrics. However, these systems can lose control or have imbalanced control over input acceleration and output torque, particularly under power constraints or during sudden high output power demands. This paper addresses the challenge of managing competing control goals by the HSC, which must balance input and output requirements. Previous solutions often prioritized one against the other, affecting actuator performance, drivability and potentially causing unintended vehicle motion. This paper introduces a controls solution to managing multiple actuators with overlapping and often conflicting control objectives. The approach distributes control efforts among various actuators to optimize system performance and addresses conflicts between control objectives to maintain system stability and performance. Simulation and vehicle results are presented to demonstrate the proposed strategy’s effectiveness.