Constrained Robust Control of an Electric Vehicle Powertrain with Uncertain Backlash

This paper addresses the active oscillation suppression control (AOSC) problem of an electric vehicle powertrain (EVP) with uncertain backlash. A novel constrained robust control (CRC) strategy is proposed to handle the unknown backlash, guarantee the prescribed output constraint (POC) and damp the powertrain vibration. Firstly, by treating the backlash nonlinearity as an additional disturbance, the continuous mathematical model of an EVP is derived for controller synthesis. On this basis, two finite-time extended state observers (FTESOs) are employed to simultaneously estimate the lumped disturbances and compensate for them in a feedforward manner, thereby improving the anti-disturbance ability. Then, to further enhance the steady and dynamic performance, a finite-time backstepping controller (FTBC) integrated with the predetermined funnel function (PFF) is developed to alleviate the driveline oscillation. Finally, the finite-time stability and the predefined tracking performance of the EVP control system (EVPCS) are both proved by the Lyaponoy theory. Simulation results based on MATLAB/Simulink are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the newly proposed CRC strategy.