Control Strategy Development for Integrated Continuous Variable Transmission Design

With increasing demands on CO2 emission reduction, strong electrification in vehicle powertrains appears to be one of the viable solutions as alternative to conventional fuel powered vehicles. Since energy consumption and driving range are factors to be considered, high efficiency and low energy consumption are desired qualities in electric vehicles. A continuously variable transmission (CVT) can operate the electric machine at its optimal operation points, therefore resulting in low energy consumption. For electric vehicle application, new improved CVT design is required, which can be achieved via integrated system design (co-design). One of the important aspects to achieve integrated system design is the development of the plant and control model. The selection of control strategy is not trivial for combined plant and control design optimization. In this work, we focus on the formulation of the closed loop ratio control strategy that is suitable for integrated plant and control design of a CVT.