A power coupling system for electric tracked vehicles during high-speed steering with optimization-based torque distribution control

It is significant to improve the steering maneuverability of dual-motor drive tracked vehicles (2MDTVs), which have wide applications in the tracked vehicle industry. In this paper, we focus on the problem of insufficient propulsion motor power during high-speed steering. Some correction formulas are introduced to improve the accuracy of the mathematical model. A steering coupling system and an optimization-based torque distribution control strategy is adopted to improve the lateral stability of the vehicle. The 2MDTV model and the proposed control strategy are built in the multi-body software RecurDyn and the control software Matlab/Simulink, respectively. According to the real-time steering simulation by the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) method, the 2MDTV with the coupling device outputs more power during high-speed steering. The results show the speed during steering is quite high though, the stability of the vehicle can be achieved due to using the torque distribution strategy, and the steering maneuverability of the vehicle is also improved.