Yaw Moment Control of the Vehicle by Means of a Magnetorheological Semi-Active Differential

A new controllable limited slip differential is proposed and tested in software environment. It is characterized by the employment of a magnetorheological fluid, which presents the property of changing its rheology thanks to an applied magnetic field. A vehicle model has been designed and employed for the synthesis of a sliding controller. The control is based on a double level scheme: the upper controller aims to generate the target locking torque, while the lower controller generates, as control action, the supply current for the controllable limited slip differential.

The obtained results show the effectiveness of the device in terms of vehicle dynamics improvement. Indeed, the results reached by the vehicle in presence of the new differential confirm the improved performances for both steady and unsteady state manoeuvres.