Wheel slip control applied to an electric tractor for improving tractive efficiency and reducing energy consumption

Abstract

This work presents an automatic slip control solution applied to a two-wheel-drive (2WD) electric tractor. Considering that the slip can be maintained within a specific range that depends on the type of soil, it is possible to increase the tractive efficiency of the electric vehicle (EV). The control system can be easily designed considering only the longitudinal dynamics of the tractor while using simple proportional-integral (PI) controllers to drive the inverters associated with the rear wheels. The introduced solution is tested on an experimental electric tractor prototype traveling on firm soil considering case studies in which the slip control is enabled and disabled. The acquired results demonstrate that the slip control allows for obtaining a more stable performance and reduced energy consumption.