Mechatronics traction control design to improve the comfort of tyred electrical tramcar

This paper presents a mechatronics integrated analysis and design of an electrical tramcar in order to optimize system comfort performance. The analysis is focused on a tyred electrical tramcar with a direct self control of traction induction motors [1]. In this system, wrong flux estimation at low speed causes unwanted longitudinal acceleration variations, amplified by natural frequencies of the vehicle tyres. The result of this phenomenon is the deterioration of vehicle comfort. The work includes an integrated simulation of mechatronics system to compare different solutions and a modified flux observer [2] to improve the vehicle comfort. A final experimental test on a prototype tramcar has been presented to validate the results.