Model predictive control for drivability enhancement with input dead-segment

Optimization between comfortability and an accelerating power which drivers desire is a significant issue in powertrain control. When torque demand of the drivers changes drastically, like tip-in/out, the drivers experience severe vibrations called jerking. Although torque reduction up to a certain extent alleviates the vibration of drive shaft, an excessive reduction deteriorates a power of acceleration. In this paper, optimal suppression of unpleasant vibration in a drive shaft will be presented via a model predictive control (MPC). As output variables to be tracked in MPC scheme, torsion angle and its rate are considered with analysis of dynamical characteristics. The proposed approach takes into account inherent input dead-segment of internal combustion engines. Simulation results show that the suggested MPC approach for active torque control suppresses the vibration of driveline efficiently while avoiding a critical loss of accelerating power.