Freewheeling in Virtual Space
Design of a Single-Track Vehicle Simulator for Simulating Sustained Turning Motions
L.B. Schoneveld (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
J.K. Moore – Mentor (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
J.A. Farías Fuentes – Mentor (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
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Abstract
Single-track vehicle simulators have been identified as a subset of vehicle simulators not yet able to simulate sustained turning at slow speeds, a feature needed for increased simulator reality. Curiously,
most single-track vehicle simulators are built in similar fashion where infinite sustained turning is not a real possibility, virtually ignoring that other design solutions may exist. To this end, two new simulator concepts are designed that allow for infinite sustained turning, and these concepts are judged based on a list of fifteen design criteria. The resulting final concept is modeled using multibody dynamics, and simulating this model in multiple control scenarios shows that the concept is stabilizable while tracking a natural bicycle’s characteristic yaw rate to give the simulator the feel of a bicycle. Subsequently, the concept is further designed using CAD software and build, where the focus lay on the design being configurable, inexpensive, safe, free of backlash and sufficiently sturdy. As such, an inexpensive simulator was built using only a single actuator. The simulator has natural balancing and can do
sustained turning motions, whilst only taking steering as input. Preliminary testing revealed that humans can balance themselves on this simulator and that the simulator currently feels like balancing a bicycle at near zero velocity. Testing the simulator to figure out whether there was an optimal configuration between 3 variable parameters (physical size of the simulator, throttle curve and output configuration) revealed that positive throttle curves are necessary for easy simulator balancing. Of the 41 accepted trials out of 42 total trials, 0% of trials with negative throttle curves succeeded. Furthermore, the torque controlled output configuration had a 57.1% success rate while the PID speed controlled output configuration only boasts a 10% success rate. This difference may be due to an 8% input dead band imposed by the VESC, which removes all steering sensitivity in the ±7.5° area around the neutral steering position. This small area is believed to be especially important to the PID speed controlled output configuration.