Intelligent Control Strategy for Electric Motor Management to Improve Dry-Clutch Performance in Mild Hybrid Vehicles

Thermal degradation is a relevant issue in dry clutch transmissions such as Dual Clutch Transmissions and Automated Manual Transmissions. This occurs if numerous engagements are performed in short time or during up-hill start up manoeuvres. As a consequence of clutch overheating there are: poor control performances during the gearshift phase, resulting from fast and unforeseeable variation of frictional behavior, and reduced clutch lifespan. A solution could be exploit the small electric motor introduced in Mild-Hybrid vehicles to lessen air pollutant emissions and improve fuel economy. The main target of this manuscript is to highlight the electric motor operation to assist vehicle longitudinal dynamics and minimize clutch temperature rise.