Robust control of engine test bed in consideration of gear-ratio variation of manual transmission

To evaluate performance of a developed engine, the vehicle model constructed on a computer can be virtually reproduced using a low-inertia dynamo. This engine test bed does not require any devices of the actual vehicle except for the engine. In this paper, we show a control method of a low-inertia dynamo connected to an engine with a six-speed gear transmission through a flywheel with a spring and a damper (FSD) and a steel shaft, in order to generate arbitrary load torque according to the vehicle model simulation. We regard the variation of the gear ratio with shifting of gears as the parameter variation in the system and apply μ-synthesis to obtain a single fixed-controller that is applicable from the first gear to the sixth gear. By carrying out simulations and experiments it is demonstrated that the μ controller designed is effective for virtual drive on the engine test bed.