A %ticControl of Vehicle startup for Emissio
Engine Dynamometers
K. Pfeiffer and R. Isemann
Technical University of Darmstadt, Institute of Automatic Control
Laboratory for Control Engineering and Process Automation
Landgraf-Georg-Str. 4, D-64283 Darrnstadt, F.R.G.
Tel. : (49) 6151-163704, FAX : (49) 6151-293445
Abstract
A dynamical engine test stand with a real engine and a drive-
line simulation is a capable tool for exhaust emission analysis.
To simulate the dynamics of load changes occurring in a
driving vehicle, a model of the car body including clutch,
manual gear-box, drive-line, differential and wheels has been
developed and implemented on the test stand.
Exhaust emission tests may be performed automatically with a
proper driver simulation used in dynamical engine test stands.
Starting vehicle from standstill is a critical operation, especially
for vehicles with manual gearbox, that occurs frequently in
exhaust emission test cycles. Model-based control strategies for
the vehicle startup have been developed. These strategies are
presented and discussed.
1. Introduction
Standardized exhaust emission test cycles are specified by law
to get the type approval of a vehicle. Today exhaust emission
analysis must be performed on roller dynamometers with real
vehicles and skilled human drivers. Human drivers are able to
follow pretended velocity-trajectories in a small range of
tolerance. Nevertheless individual driving habits have a
significant influence on fuel consumption and exhaust
emissions. The test results are usually not reproducible because
of the different and time variant behavior of human drivers, but
they perform the imposition of the stringent test pattem. The
statistical and systematical errors can be avoided by using a
proper driver-simulation.
A dynamical engine test stand with a real engine and a drive-
line simulation is a powerful tool to optimize the engine's
transient behavior and also for exhaust emission analysis ([l],
[2], [ 5 ] ) . Therefore the driver-simulation is tested on a
dynamical engine test stand.
2. Model of the vehicle dynamics
The modelling and simulation of the drive-line's rotational
dynamics forms a central part of a dynamical engine test stand.
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The dynamic load torque at engine's flywheel is calculated as a
function of driver commands, road condition and actual speed of
the engine. To ensure real-time computation a simplified vehicle
model is used for simulation, concerning inertia of the car,
aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance, road gradient, wheel slip,
torsion of the axle shaft, gear shift with gearing losses and friction
effects due to the clutch. Vibrations caused by other elements in
a real drive-line (e.g. toothed gearing) show higher oscillation
frequencies which are not of interest. Mathematical models
describing typical vehicle dynamics were developed several times,
see e.q. 131, VI, [61, VI.
Fig. 1 shows the simplified mechanical model of the drive-line of
a vehicle with front-wheel-drive (FWD) with interfaces to road,
driver and tested engine. Main parts of the model are clutch, gear-
box, axle-shaft, wheel and vehicle body. Besides the linear
components the model includes some nonlinear elements (e.g.
aerodynamical drag, wheel slip and disk clutch).
. . . _ . . _ . . . . . , _ . . . . . _ _ ..................................................
_____.
Motor i Clutch ! Gear-Box:Differen-: Axle I Wheels; Road
: tial : Shaft : . Resis-
fawe
Fig. 1 Simplified mechanical model of a drive-line of a FWD-
vehicle
The disk clutch is considered by a Coulomb friction characteristic.
Slipping clutch is assumed if the torque M,, exceeds the maximal
transferable torque MC,,,,,=, which depends on the actual clutch
pedal position xcI. In this case the load torque M, at engine's
flywheel is equal to M,,,,,,sign(o,,,,-o,,).
The clutch continues to slip until engine speed a,,,,is equal to
clutch disk speed q,. Then the clutch sticks and load torque M, is
equated with M,, and the clutch disk speed o,, is equated with om,,
until M,, exceed Me,.,, again. This implies a change of model
structure in case of sticking clutch.
The manual gear-box is modelled as a transmission with a
fixed transmission factor, which depends on the position of the
gear-stick. With the assumption of small slip at the tyre the
wheel dynamics can be neglected.
Considering a stiff drive-line, the longitudinal force at the
driving wheel can be written as
with rdyn as the dynamic tyre radius, vG and vD as the
transmission ratios, and M as the driving torque.
In case of a slipping clutch the driving torque M is equated
with the maximal transferable torque of the clutch Ma,"
which depends on the clutch pedal position xcI.
Fig. 2 shows the maximal transferable torque Ma,,, dependent
on the clutch pedal position. The clutch begins to slip at a
pedal position of 15%.
Clutch Pedal 4,
Fig. 2 Transferable torque of the clutch
In case of a sticking clutch the driving torque M is equated
with the engine's torque M , , , which depends on the
acceleration pedal position x, and the engine speed w,,.
M = Mmot(Xo*OmJ (3)
The longitudinal tyre force F, is equivalent to the sum of four
forces acting upon the vehicle (Fig.3).
Fig. 3 Model of vehicle longitudinal motion
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+ aerodynamical drag
(4)
+ rolling resistance
FR = ','car
+ uphill resistance (can be neglected for exhaust emission tests)
F, = mcargsWa) (6)
+ acceleration resistance (including rotational parts of the drive-
line)
Fa = mcar(1 + 1Qcor (7)
This leads to eq. (8),by neglecting the uphill resistance. h denotes
the ratio of the drive-line's inertia rotating with wheel speed to the
complete mass of the vehicle. h depends on the selected gear.
The complete vehicle model for the longitudinal dynamics consists
of a set of five ordinary differential equations with nonlinear
coupling. There are many solution techniques for these problems
but in case of real-time simulation the aspect of computation time
is very important. Therefore the Heun integration method was
chosen for this specific problem.
3. Model of the Diesel engine for
velocity control
Due to the internal combustion and the kinematics of the
crankshaft the engine's torque generation is a discrete event. The
engine's torque M,, represents a periodic exciting torque, which
depends on the crank angle. This torque depends also on other
terms, e.g. the injected fuel into the cylinder (the manipulated
variable U,,,",), air pressure and temperature (Fig. 4).
n
Fig. 4 Block diagram of a combustion engine with a stiff
crankshaft
For the driveability of the vehicle the mean value of the torque
output at crankshaft as a function of the engine speed CO,,,, and
the acceleration pedal x, is of interest. It is represented by
= F(",tJa)
Mmot (9)

where the function F is stored in a look-up-table (Fig.5).

M .INml A

Drive-Line
Simulation II Engine

Acc. pedal [%]

L

Fig. 6 Concept for engine dynamometers with driver-

simulation

,n I Umin]

Fig. 5 Engine look-up-table

is used to calculate the acceleration pedal position for a
specific engine speed and a desired engine torque M,,,. This
function can be stored in look-up-table but in order to
minimize computation time a polynomial progression is used,
eq. ( 1 1).
Starting vehicle from standstill is a critical operation that occurs
frequently in exhaust emission tests. A skilled human driver
controls engine speed and vehicle velocity by simultaneously
moving the acceleration- and the clutch pedal. Earlier attempts of
the driver-simulation by feedforward control the acceleration- and
the clutch pedal with a ramp function proved unsatisfactory.
Hence a multivariable control concept is the obvious choice for
this control problem.
4.1 Two-channel controller for vehicle
startup

Fig. 7 gives an overview of the engine-vehicle control system for

The unknown parameters are determined by measuring the vehicle startup.
stationary look-up-table and by minimization the sum of the
squared errors between the measured and the simulated
acceleration pedal position [9]. The parameters for a VW-
Rabbit Diesel engine were estimated as

Tab. 1 Estimated parameters of the inverse look-up-table

* I I

I
I
"'=
inverse clutch
characteristic
drive-line
siinuhtion

4. Automatic Control of Vehicle Startup Fig. 7 Two-channel driver-simulation for vehicle startup

Fig. 6 shows the concept for a dynamic engine test stand with
driver-simulation. The driver-simulation generates actuator
signals the acceleration-, brake-, and clutch pedals and gear
stick. The gear-stick, the brake- and clutch pedals are input
signals for the drive-line simulation; the acceleration pedal is
directly connected to the tested engine.
The vehicle startup control can be separated in a velocity and an
engine speed control loop. The velocity can be controlled with the
clutch pedal x,, as manipulated variable. The engine speed can he
controlled with the acceleration pedal as manipulated variable. At
this the transferable torque M,, of the clutch effects as disturbance
signal on the engine. Linear control loops can be obtained by
using the inverse engine look-up-table and the inverse clutch
characteristic [ 101.

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A parameter optimized 3-parameter controller is designed for function three seconds before the beginning of the startup control
velocity control using a linearized model of the vehicle (t=8sec). At t=llsec the startup controller is active. At this the
dynamics by minimizing eq. (12). velocity is controlled by the clutch pedal and the engine speed is
controlled by the acceleration pedal. The engine speed is equal to
M
Z2 = x(e2(k)+rAu2(k)) (12) the clutch disk speed at k13.2sec; at this time the clutch sticks.
k=O When the clutch is fully engaged the control loop is reduced to a
one channel velocity control loop with the acceleration pedal as
manipulated variable.
In order to obtain a cautious acting controller the weighting
factor r is chosen as r=0.2. The controller was optimized with
the help of MATLAB. The resulting controller parameters are 4.2 Model-Based vehicle startup control
given as
Another vehicle startup strategy is obtained by analysing the
Mz) = 7.2 -0.02352-' -7.1643~-? behavior of skilled human drivers. They lift the engine speed by
=
"&) - vc,l<z) 1 -z-1 moving the acceleration pedal before moving the clutch pedal. At
this stalling of the engine can be avoided. The velocity is
(13) controlled with the clutch pedal and the acceleration pedal is
feedforward controlled. Fig. 9 gives an overview of the model-
The controller is implemented with a sampling time of 10 based vehicle startup strategy. However the velocity control loop
msec. with the clutch pedal as manipulated variable is the same as
presented in chapter 4.1.
A combination of the optimized controller together with a
feedforward compensation of the vehicles dynamics, eq. (8),is
used for velocity control. Therefore dynamical deviations are
avoided and a fast reaction on changing the reference velocity
is achieved.

A P-controller with KR=0.236 is used for engine speed control

because of the integral behaviour of the open loop. A reference
speed of 1000 rpm was chosen during engaging the clutch.
This reference value is a little bit higher than the idle speed
which is 900 rpm. Therefore stalling of the engine can be
avoided.

Fig. 9 Model-based vehicle startup control

The acceleration pedal is feedforward controlled during the

vehicle startup time. The acceleration pedal is moved at time t,.
The clutch pedal begins to move later at t=t,. Vehicle startup
control is finished when the clutch sticks at t=t, (Fig. 10).

E
3 50

a"

0 5 10 IS 20
L
25 30 3s
I
0
t, 4
Time [SI
Fig. 10 Pedal positions during vehicle startup
L

Time [SI

Fig. 8 Closed loop with two-channel controller The pedal position can be calculated by defining the engine speed
when the clutch should be fully engaged (e.g. 1000 rpm). Because
Fig. 8 shows the closed loop with the two channel vehicle of the well known reference velocity the desired torque is given
startup controller. The clutch is disengaged with a ramp for this point of time (t=t3) with eq. (8) and eq. (1). The desired

2599
acceleration pedal position can be calculated using the inverse time the clutch sticks. When the clutch is fully engaged the
mapping F' (eq. 11)). control loop is reduced to a one channel velocity control loop with
the acceleration pedal as manipulated variable.
The time duration for the feedforward control of the
acceleration pedal can be determined with eq. (14).
5. Conclusions
Mmoi(Wmoi) - MCZ(~CZ)
= Qmoi'moi (14)
Two different control strategies for vehicle startup control were
Because of the well known reference velocity and the time t=t, presented in this paper. Both strategies are a proper tool for the
the time t=t, is also known. The engine speed for t2<t<t3can be vehicle startup control of a driver-simulation. If the human '

calculated by behaviour needs to be imitated the model-based vehicle startup

control has to be preferred. To complete the driver-simulation a
proper controller for the break pedal as manipulated variable
needs to be designed.

with on,,,,(t3)=1000rpm. If om&Jis determined t, can be
calculated by
with w,,,,(t,)=900 rpm (idle speed).
The acceleration pedal is feedforward controlled during the
[lo] Isermann, R., Lachmann, K.H., Matko, D., "Adaptive
6. References
von Thun, H.J., "A New Dynamic Combustion Engine Test
Stand with Real-time Simulation of the Vehicle Driveline",
SAE-Paper No. 870085, 1987
Gebauer, W., "An Engine Test Stand with High Dynamic
Response with Simulation of Driver, Vehicle and Road
Resistance", VDI-Berichte 68 I , VDI-Verlag, Dusseldorf,
1988
Cho, D. and Hedrick, J K., "Automotive powertrain
modelling for control", Transactions ASME, Journal of
Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, Vol 1 11,
1989
Germann, S. and Isermann, R., "Modelling and control of
longitudinal vehicle motion", ACC '94, baltimore,
Maryland, 29.06-01.07.1994
Voigt, K.U., A Control Scheme for a Dynamical Engine
Test Stand", IEE Control '91, Edinburgh, U.K., March 25-
28, 1991
Bosch GmbH, "Automotive Handbook", 2nd edition, VDI-
Verlag, Dusseldorf, 1986
Leonhardt, Schmidt, Voigt, Isermann: "Real-Time
Simulation of Drive Chains for Use in Dynamical Engine
Test Stands", ACC '92, Chicago, USA, June 24-26, 1992
Isermann, R.: "Digital Control Systems, Vol. 1 and 2)",
Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1989, 1990
Isermann, R.: "Identifikation dynamischer Prozesse, Band 1
U. 2, (Identification of dynamical processes, Vol 1 and
~-
2)",S~rinaer-Verlag,
- Berlin, 1992
Control Systems", Prentice Hall, 1992

I1 5 10 IS 20 1i

Time [SI
Fig. 11 Closed loop with model-based vehicle startup

Fig. 11 shows the closed loop with the model based vehicle
startup control. The clutch is disengaged with a ramp function
three seconds before the beginning of the startup control
(t=8sec). The acceleration pedal is set to a constant value of
27% at t=10.5sec and the engine speed increases. At t=l lsec
the startup controller is active. At this the velocity is controlled
by the clutch pedal and the engine speed decreases. The engine
speed is equal to the clutch disk speed at t=13.2sec; at this

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