A Study on an Independent 6WD/6WS of Electric Vehicle using Optimum Tire Force Distribution

This paper presents an optimum tire force distribution method for 6WD/6WS(6-Wheel-Drive and 6-Wheel-Steering) electric vehicles. Using an independent steering and driving system, the performance of 6WD/6WS vehicles can be improved, as, for example, with respect to their maneuverability under low speed and their stability at high speed. Therefore, there should be a control strategy for finding the optimum tire forces that satisfy the driver's command and minimize energy consumption. From the driver's commands (steering angle and accelerator/brake pedal stroke), the desired yaw moment, the desired lateral force, and the desired longitudinal force were obtained. These three values were distributed to each wheel as the torque and the steering angle, based on the optimum tire force distribution method. The optimum tire force distribution method finds the longitudinal/lateral tire forces of each wheel that minimize the cost function, which is the sum of the normalized tire forces. Next, the longitudinal/lateral tire forces of each wheel are converted into the reference torque inputs and the steering wheel angle inputs. The proposed method was tested through a simulation, and its effectiveness was verified.