Model-Based Calibration of Transmission Test Bench Controls for Hardware-in-the-Loop Applications

Hardware-in-the-loop test rigs represent one of the most adopted experimental platforms to assess automotive transmissions dynamic performances. Even if their architectures may range among few different configurations, they share general requirements from the mechanical design to their controller implementation for a real-time deployment. This chapter is focused on a real application of a Dual Clutch Transmission Hardware-in-the-loop test rig. Two electric motors are installed to emulate the effect of the Internal Combustion Engine to the transmission input and the vehicle motion resistances to the transmission output, respectively. For a proper Hardware-in-the-loop operation, if a torque control is selected for one electric motor, the second one requires to be controlled in speed. Moreover, the controls structure cannot be usually customized since they are conventionally constrained by industrial drive limitations. This chapter includes an accurate analysis of the reciprocal influence of the two controllers since they are mechanically applied to the input and output of the same transmission. The analysis is further supported by a linear model of the transmission test rig which is able to predict the sensitivity effect of the two controller’s activation on the test rig performance. An optimal tuning of the two controllers’ parameters is then described to achieve the desired level of reference tracking and disturbance rejection targets.