Optimum Design of a Novel In-Wheel Suspension of the Electric Wheel

The conventional electric wheels suffer from serious technical problem, called as vertical vibration negative effect caused by large unsprung mass brought by in-wheel motor. The paper presents a novel configuration of multi-functional integrated electric wheel with in-wheel suspension. New configuration avoids the increase of unsprung mass. Based on quarter-vehicle model, wheel vertical dynamics performance is investigated for the proposed suspension system by numerical modeling and simulation method. The vehicle dynamic performance index is evaluated by the mean square value, while model input is taken from the random excitation of the road surface. According to the size of the suspension within the wheel, the optimal stiffness and damping coefficient are calculated by using the linear weighted sum method to achieve the most excellent vehicle dynamic performance.