Estudo e desenvolvimento de instrumentação eletrônica para um veículo tipo triciclo com diferencial eletrônico

Abstract

The use of electric vehicles has shown exponential growth on a global scale, driven by various factors that highlight the issues associated with the use of internal combustion engine vehicles. Despite this advancement, numerous challenges still need to be overcome for this technology to fully establish itself in the market. With the aim of contributing scientifically and technologically to the evolution of this line of electric vehicles, this work presents the development of an electric tricycle equipped with electronic differential control applied to the two rear wheels. The structure of the tricycle was constructed using galvanized carbon steel tubes and aluminum metal sheets. The design was based on a combination of the front end of a conventional motorcycle with the rear end of a quadricycle. The rear suspension was designed to be independent, equipped with a traction motor on each rear wheel. The differential control was implemented through the Tiva C platform, responsible for activating the direct current motors coupled to the rear wheels. The vehicle’s electronic instrumentation includes various sensors, such as resistive sensors for determining the tricycle’s steering angle, inductive sensors configured as encoders for measuring the wheel speeds, and on/off sensors for indicating the vehicle’s braking. Acceleration was controlled using a voltage variator based on the Hall effect principle. Additionally, an electrical switch was incorporated to reverse the direction of movement, allowing the vehicle to move in reverse. To ensure precise motion control, a closed-loop control system was implemented to maintain equal speeds of the rear wheels during straight-line travel. Furthermore, an algorithm was developed to calculate the difference in speeds of the rear wheels when the vehicle makes turns.