Implementation of electronic differential system of in-wheel electric vehicle

Nowadays, expansion of transportation sector causes some issues. The most important ones are increasing of environment pollution and depletion of fossil fuels. Therefore, Electric Vehicles (EVs) are used to eliminate the emission emitted from the harmful gases, reducing dependence on countries imported oil by providing fuel-saving, and prevention of air pollution. In the middle of 2000s, developments in driver and battery technology, using of efficient electric motors, and becoming the importance of safe driving increase using of EVs. On the contrary, there are also disadvantages such as additional costs of batteries and lack of charging stations. Differential systems for EVs are used in slippery and sloping roads to distribute power and torque equally to the traction wheels. Once an EV enters to the cornering, the wheel which is outside of the cornering is provided to rotate fast and the wheel which is inside of the cornering is provided to rotate slowly by differential gears. In case of not using the differential gears, when a wheel accelerates, the wheels slip due to braking to declerate the other one. This also causes unsafe driving, increasing of fuel consumption and tyre wear. In this study, an electronic differential system of in-wheel EV has been realized for eliminating the use of powertrains. In this way, some drawbacks such as mechanical losses, maintenance and repair costs of gears which are caused by the powertrains are also eliminated. An electronic differential system for front wheels instead of studies genereally realized for rare wheels has been designed. According to the change of the steering angle and speed of EV, required speed values of the wheels have been estimated by using mathematical equations obtained from Ackermann-Jeantand model. By using these equations, MATLAB/Simulink modelling has been realized. Then, an electronic differential system has been designed by CoDeSys V2.3 Software. "Controller Area Network (CAN-BUS)" protocol has been used for transmitting estimated speed values to the motor drivers. This protocol has been preferred for a lot of main advantages such as being fast, flexible, and reliable, equal message access, using fewer cables thus, low cost and low vehicle weight. In order to verify the design of the electronic differential system, speed values have been taken as experimental by changing from 1˚ to 15˚ with a degree range. The speed values of front in-wheel motors received by CAN-BUS have been verified by comparing experimental results and motor speed values obtained from Simulink model. Keywords: Electric Vehicle, Electronic Differential, Controller Area Network (CAN-BUS).