Driveline oscillation attenuation through Clutch Micro-Slip and Model Predictive Control

This paper considers a Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach to micro-slip clutch control for driveline shuffle attenuation and longitudinal acceleration oscillation reduction in vehicles with an Automated Manual Trans- mission system. We introduce an original MPC formulation to consider the performance tradeoff between the clutch slip regulation, the torsional oscillation attenuation and the jerking reduction. A particular problem to be considered is handling saturation constraints on the transmitted torque. We employ a piecewise-affine linear model of the actuator-driveline system to take care of special manoeuvres that cause inversions in the trans- mission motion. On the methodological side, we present a switching MPC approach where the underlying optimization problem is a quadratic programme for a fast online controller implementation on real-world transmission control unit platforms. To show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, we present extensive simulation results and experimental tests performed on a prototype vehicle.