• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.46-55
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• 2021

A forklift is a powered industrial vehicle used to lift and move materials over short distances. Nowadays, almost all forklifts are equipped with an automatic transmission due to its improved operator comfort and increased productivity. Thanks to marked improvement of transmission control unit equipped with highly-advanced microcontrollers, recently developed automatic transmission for forklift have various auxiliary functions such as creep, auto retardation, and automatic shift with excellent shift quality. This paper deals with the creep function which enables one to maneuver a forklift at the designated low speed by slip control of clutches. The design of creep function was based on four modes of creep operation depending on the status of the operator's shift lever and accelerator pedal. Control algorithms and control parameters for each mode were designed to achieve the desired static and dynamic performance. Vehicle test for the designed creep function was carried out with an independently developed embedded controller. Test results confirmed good creep speed control without speed error at a steady state with a mild shift shock during mode changes by stepping or releasing the accelerator.