Active damping of drive train oscillations for an electrically driven vehicle

A problem encountered with electrically driven vehicles are resonances in the drive train caused by elasticity and gear play. Disadvantageous effects caused by this are noticeable vibrations and high mechanical stresses due to torque oscillations. The oscillations can be damped using a control structure consisting of a nonlinear observer to estimate the torque in the gear and a controller, which computes a damping torque signal that is added to the driver's demand. The control algorithm was implemented in the existing motor control unit without any additional hardware cost. The controller was successfully tested in a test vehicle. The resonances can essentially be eliminated. The controller copes satisfactorily with the backlash problem.