A Dry Clutch Control Algorithm for AMT Systems in a Parallel Hybrid Electric Bus

A clutch is a mechanical device which provides engine torque to the drive shaft of a vehicle. A dry clutch control for AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) systems has been an important issue to improve fuel economy and drivability in hybrid electric systems. In this paper, we propose a dry clutch control system to apply to the parallel hybrid electric bus. In order to analysis dynamic performance of the target vehicle, a vehicle dynamic model including engine, clutch, motor, transmission and vehicle is designed. For gear shifting simulation, the shifting maps for the hybrid electric bus are applied from the analysis results of DP (Dynamic Programming) theory that is one of the optimal control methods. The shifting maps consist of a pure electric mode and a hybrid electric mode calculated by using driving cycles for commercial vehicles. From vehicle dynamic equations, the control algorithm for a dry clutch is organized by using feedback loops based on the value of an engine, a clutch speed, a clutch release travel and an estimated clutch torque. Simulations are performed to analyze the dynamic performance of the proposed clutch control system during gear shifting. As a result, the vehicle model with the designed clutch controller compares to one with only the lockup controller in energy dissipation during gear shifting.