Date of Award

12-2018

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Muralidhar K. Ghantasala

Second Advisor

Dr. Claudia Farjardo

Third Advisor

John Bair

Keywords

Virtual torque sensor, automotive applications, heavy duty trucks, low cost torque measurement technique

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Torque sensing has been realized as one of the critical aspects in improving the dynamic vehicle performance in automotive systems. This thesis mainly presents the work on the development of a novel torque measurement method based on the estimation of nth-order flywheel angular acceleration from the variable reluctance flywheel speed sensor pulses. The number of firings in the engine determine the order of the harmonic to be used for torque estimation. The nth-order flywheel angular acceleration is computed using a micro-controller with built in timer counter and an associated signal conditioning circuit. The pulses obtained from the flywheel speed sensor after appropriate signal conditioning fed to the micro-controller for estimating the flywheel angular acceleration. The micro-controller records the timing between each pulse generated for each tooth that passes the sensor. Instantaneous flywheel speed data is utilized for estimating the nth-order flywheel angular acceleration using an algorithm developed in this project. The complete sensing method was tested in the laboratory and also evaluated on different auto-engine test systems coupled with external dynos. The tests were conducted for different speed – load ranges. The estimated torque values were found to be in agreement with those measured using physical torque sensors. The details of the sensing method and its simulation and performance evaluation results were presented in the thesis.

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