• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2012

The in-wheel motor used in green car was designed and constructed for an electric direct-drive traction system. It is difficult to connect cooling water piping because the in-wheel motor is located within the wheel structure. In the air cooling structure for the in-wheel motor, a outer surface on the housing is provided with cooling grooves to increase the heat transfer area. In this study, we carried out the analysis on the fluid flow and thermal characteristics of the in-wheel motor under the effects of motor speed and heat generation. In order to check the problem of heat release, the analysis has been performed using conjugate heat transfer (conduction and convection). As a result, flow fields and temperature distribution inside the in-wheel motor were obtained for base speed condition (1250 rpm) and maximum speed condition (5000 rpm). Also, the thermo-flow characteristics analysis of in-wheel motor for vehicles was performed in consideration of ram air effect. Therefore, we checked the feasibility of the air cooling for the housing geometry having cooling grooves and investigated the cooling performance enhancement.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.211-217
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• 2007

The wheel slip control systems are able to control the braking force more accurately and can be adapted to different vehicles more easily than conventional ABS (Anti-lock Brake System) systems. In realizing the wheel slip control systems, real-time information such as the tire braking force at each wheel is required. In addition, the optimal target slip values need to be determined depending on the braking objectives such as minimum braking distance and stability enhancement. In this paper, a robust wheel slip controller is developed based on the adaptive sliding mode control method and an optimal target slip assignment algorithm is proposed for maximizing the braking force. An adaptive law is formulated to estimate the braking force in real-time. The wheel slip controller is designed based on the Lyapunov stability theory considering the error bounds in estimating the braking force and the brake disk-pad friction coefficient. The target slip assignment algorithm searches for the optimal target slip value based on the estimated braking force. The performance of the proposed wheel slip control system is verified in HILS (Hardware-In-the-Loop Simulator) experiments and demonstrates the effectiveness of the wheel slip control in various road conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.162-167
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• 2002

An automotive wheel bearing is one of the most important components to guarantee the service life of a passenger car. The endurance life of a bearing is affected by many parameters such as material properties, heat treatment, lubrication conditions, temperature, loading conditions, bearing geometry, internal clearance and so on. In this paper, we analyze the relation between loads and deformations of wheel bearing units. On the basis of it, we calculate the endurance life of wheel bearing units and suggest a method to determine the initial contact angle to achieve a maximum endurance life with considering stress concentration.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2008

For most bearings, it is a common requirement to have long durability. Especially wheel bearing fatigue life is the most important in automotive quality. The contact fatigue life analysis of automotive wheel bearing considering real raceway rough surface is presented in this paper. Contact stresses are obtained by contact analysis of a semi-infinite solid based on the use of influence functions; the subsurface stress field is obtained using rectangular patch solutions. Mesoscopic multiaxial fatigue criterion which can yield satisfactory results for non-proportional loading is then applied to predict fatigue damage. Suitable counting method and damage rule were used to calculate the fatigue life of random loading caused by rough surface. The life analysis considering real rough surface of wheel bearing raceway is in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2000

An automotive wheel bearing is one of the most important components to guarantee the service life of a passenger car. The endurance lift of a bearing is affected by many parameters such as material properties, heat treatment, lubrication conditions, temperature, loading conditions, geometry, internal clearance and so on. Under the same geometry and loading conditions, the internal clearance is the most effective parameters on the endurance lift of a bearing. Generally, bearings have the longest lift with a little negative internal clearance. But it is very difficult to measure and modify the internal clearance after a wheel bearing is assembled. In this paper, we analyze the effect of an assembling procedure on the clearance of wheel bearings and suggest a method to determine optimal clearance for automotive wheel bearings by selecting initial bearing clearance.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.94-101
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• 2023

Automotive wheel bearings are a critical component of vehicles that support their weight and facilitate rotation. Life and stiffness are significant performance characteristics of wheel bearings. Designing wheel bearings involves finding optimal design variables that satisfy both performances. CO₂ emission reduction and fuel efficiency regulations attribute to the recent increase in design requirements for lightweight and compact automotive parts while maintaining performance. However, achieving a design that maintains performance while reducing weight poses challenges, as performance and weight are generally inversely proportional. In this study, we perform design optimization of automotive wheel bearings considering life and stiffness. We develop a program that calculates the basic rated life and modified rated life based on international standards for evaluating the life of wheel bearings. We develop a regression equation using regression analysis to address the time-consuming stiffness analysis during repetitive analysis. We perform ANOVA and main effect analyses to understand the statistical characteristics of the developed regression equation. Furthermore, we verify its reliability by comparing the predicted and test results. We perform design optimization using the developed life prediction program, stiffness regression equation and weight regression equation. We select bearing specifications and geometry as design variables, weight as the cost function, and life and stiffness as constraints. Through design optimization, we investigate the influence of design variables on the cost function and constraints by comparing the initial and optimal design values.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2013

Recently, the automobile of the future will be able to substitute an electric vehicle for an internal combustion engine, so the following research is actively in the process of advancing. A traction motor is one of the core parts which compose the electric vehicle. Especially, it is difficult to connect cooling water piping to an in-wheel motor because the in-wheel motor is located within the wheel structure. This structure has disadvantage for closed type and air cooling, so the cooling design of motor housing and internal in-wheel motor is important. In this study, thermo-flow analysis of the in-wheel motor for vehicles was performed in consideration of ram air effect. In order to improve cooling efficiency of the motor, we variously changed geometries of housing and internal shape. As a result, we found that the cooling efficiency was most excellent, in case the cooling groove direction was same with air flow direction and arranged densely. Furthermore, we investigated the cooling performance enhancement with respect to variable geometries of internal in-wheel motor.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2004

This paper describes a robust and fast wheel slip tracking control using a moving sliding surface technique. A traction control system (TCS) is the active safety system used to prevent the wheel slipping and thus improve acceleration performance, stability and steerability on slippery roads through the engine torque and/or brake torque control. This paper presents a wheel slip control for TCS through the engine torque control. The proposed controller can track a reference input wheel slip in a predetermined time. The design strategy investigated is based on a moving sliding surface that only contains the error between the reference input wheel slip and the actual wheel slip. The used moving sliding mode was originally designed to ensure that the states remain on a sliding surface, thereby achieving robustness and eliminating chattering. The improved robustness in driving is important due to changes, such as from dry road to wet road or vice versa which always happen in working conditions. Simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed moving sliding mode controller.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.512-519
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• 2016

In this study, the tire road friction estimation(TRFE) algorithm for controlling the rear wheel driving force of a 4WD vehicle during acceleration is developed using a standard sensor in an ordinary 4WD passenger car and a speed sensor. The algorithm is constructed for the wheel shaft torque, longitudinal tire force, vertical tire force and maximum tire road friction estimation. The estimation results of shaft torque and tire force were validated using a torque sensor and wheel force transducer. In the algorithm, the current road friction is defined as the proportion calculated between longitudinal and vertical tire force. Slip slop methods using current road friction and slip ratio are applied to estimate the road friction coefficient. Based on this study's results, the traction performance, fuel consumption and drive shaft strength performance of a 4WD vehicle are improved by applying the tire road friction estimation algorithm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.29-34
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• 2014

Cooling the in-wheel motor in electric vehicles is critical to its performance and durability. In this study, thermal flow analysis was conducted by evaluating the thermal performance of two conventional cooling models for in-wheel motors under the continuous rating base speed condition. For conventional model #1, in which cooling oil was stagnant in the lower end of the motor, the maximum temperature of the coil was $221.7^{\circ}C$; for conventional model #2, in which cooling oil was circulated through the exit and entrance of the housing and jig, the maximum temperature of the coil was $155.4^{\circ}C$. Therefore, both models proved unsuitable for in-wheel motors since the motor control specifications limited the maximum temperature to $150^{\circ}C$.