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Abstract:A differential locker control systemis implemented in to decide when they are engaged and disengaged. Some of
an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) for anoff-road the reasons you would want to manually disengage would
Radio-Controlled (RC) vehicle with front and rear differential be when you are in a tight situation and having the front or
lockers. The system could work in manual or automatic mode rear locked could cause difficult steering or binding. You
and is based on a detector that could differentiate between also don't want to have lockers on when you are diving on
normal driving condition (vehicle turning) and driving
the road in wet, snowy, or icy conditions, as this could
conditions when a locking differential is needed, based on wheel
and driveshaft angular speed. The system has simple visual cause loss of traction and potentially loss of control.
indicators for the driver both in manual and automatic mode. Having a selectable gives you the benefit of choice.
The system also protects the lockers to engage if the vehicle is The disadvantages of selectable lockers are that they
moving, a situation not recommended by the vehicle typically cost more money, they require external
manufacturer. components to engage such as an air compressor, air line,
Keywords: differential locker control system, FPGA, and solenoid, electric motor, or cable attached to a lever.
detection system, off-road vehicle. There are more potential points of failure due to the
complexity.
1. INTRODUCTION
Auto-Lockers are lockers that automatically engage using
Locking differentials allow both wheels to travel at the mechanical components that lock up the differential once a
same speed, so when traction is lost for one wheel, both tire starts to lose traction. This is different than posi-track
wheels will still keep spinning regardless of the amount of or limited-slip, because it locks the differential rather limit
resistance. They can be added to either the front or rear the amount of slip to a varying degree (auto-lockers are
axle, or even both axles. So, while that wheel is spinning either on or off, nothing in between), but works
freely, the wheel still maintaining contact with the ground similarly.The benefit of an auto-locker is that they are
will be stationary. That’s not going to help the situation at usually cheap, easy to install, and don't require any extra
all. With a locking differential, since equal power is parts to engage since they engage on their own without the
transferred to both wheels, the one wheel with ground need for manual engagement from the driver.The
contact will be able to rotate along with the freewheel, disadvantage of auto-lockers is that they will lock when
propelling the vehicle forward to freedom. Brake lock you don't always want them to, they can be noisy when
differentials serve a similar purpose as diff locks but are not turning due to the clicking nature of some of them, they
the same thing and cannot be substituted for a full-on typically aren't as strong as some of the selectable locker
locking differential [1]. options [2].
2.1 Types of locking differentials The purpose of this project was focused on the following
considerations:
There are two main ways to categorize lockers: a) To take the advantages of manual lockers
-Selectable Lockers associated with an automatic mode.
-Auto-Lockers
Selectable lockers are lockers that are manually engaged or b) The importance of an automatic locker that detects
disengaged via a switch, button, lever, etc. Once the locker and locks a specific axle when the vehicle is losing
is engaged, it stays engaged until you manually traction.
disengageit.The benefit of selectable lockers is that you get
Volume 9, Issue 3, May - June 2020 Page 23
International Journal of Emerging Trends & Technology in Computer Science (IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 9, Issue 3, May - June 2020 ISSN 2278-6856
VISUAL
INDICATORS1
VEHICLE FPGA FLN
2.2 LF
RLN
FRONT status Register 1
RF VISUAL
SF
INDICATORS2
LF RF
LR Detection BLOCK F
Register 2 BLOCK R
DS System
load
DS START
status
status
LR RR STOP
load
SR RR
REAR LOCK MODE
SELECTION
MANUAL
Controller AUTOMATIC
AUTO ON
set
SR Servo MUX
FRONT
mode
Rear LOCK
NO LOCK
set
SF
Servo MUX
REAR
mode
Front LOCK
Differential Locker Control NO LOCK
System
Figure 3 shows the block diagram of the differential locker The detector block was implemented as a true table and
control system. On the left side, it is represented the vehicle determinates if a differential locker is needed or not. The
with sensors (LF, RF, LR, RR, and DS) and the front and detection system used two detector blocks, one for each
rear differential lockers servos for each axle (SF – servo axle. The enable block controls the visual indicators LEDs
front, and SR – servo rear). The FPGA system was (Light-Emitting Diode) and they are enabled only when the
described using VHDL (Very High-Speed Hardware DS speed is below 1302 rpm and above195.3972 rpm. The
Description Language) and implemented in a SPARTAN3 status signals are Front Lock Need (FLN) and Rear Lock
FPGA, using DigilentNexys 2 Development Board [5]. Need (RLN).If FLN=1 indicates that it is necessary to
Register Transfer Level (RTL) methodology was used [6]. block the front differential, and RLN=1 indicates that it is
The systemhas six main blocks interconnected inside the necessary to block the rear differential. These are output
FPGA. All were described using VHDL and each one will status signals from the detector to the register blocks.
be explained further. On the right side of Figure3,it is the
visual indicator area and the control switches. 2.3 Register blocks
These are 2-bit temporal registers. Each register has input
2.2 Detection System status signals (FLN and RLN), and each one is memorized
One of the most important blocks is the detection system. (status_out) when the controller activatesthe load signal
The detection system is based on a previous project [7] and (load=1). The clock signal comes from a divider block and
it was developed based on a real test with the vehicle in it is 2.98 Hz
different conditions and implemented easily as a truth table
and using wheel speed differences. status_in status_out
The locking differential need detector (F=1 indicate it is load 2 2
lock needed) works as follow: Register
clk
Let A and B, be the wheels speeds for a specific axle then: Figure 5Input and output signals of the register block
1)Determinate the maximum value (MAX) between A and
2.2.3 Controller block
B
The controller is a Moore typeFinite State Machine (FSM)
= ( , ) (1)
and it controls most of the blocks and the logic sequence of
al the automatic system. As it was said, the Traxxas TRX-4
2)Determinate the minimum value (MIN) between A and B
Defender 1:10 scale RC has front and rear blockers, as it is
= ( , ) (2)
recommended [8] the vehicle must be stopped before
activating any blocker, this important condition is also
3) = (0 3) = 0 ℎ = 0( )
verified by the controller.
DS=0
≥4 =0 ℎ =1( )
( − ) start
≥ 0.6 ℎ = 1( ) (3) detection 1
Reg1_ld=1
=0
DS
reg1=reg2
Reg2_ld=1
Hall-Effect sensors. The speed blocks calculate the speed of - DS=0
D S= 0
DS=0
Detection System
DS
2 =1
vehicle indicators
re g
LF Speed LF
Detector DS=0 move det F block
10
RF Speed RF
=
g2
status
re
DS=0
DS Speed DS Figure 6Finite-State Machine of the controller
Figure 4 General block diagram of the detection system
AUTHORS
Miguel Angel Rodríguez Fuentes received
a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering
(1998) and an M.S. degree in Computer
Engineering (2000) from Instituto
Politécnico Nacional (IPN) in Mexico City.
He is a former professor in the Engineering
Department (Electronics). He was a faculty
advisor for SAE (Society of Automotive Engineering)
student chapter at IPN-UPIITA from 2002 to 2016. He has
taught courses related to Digital Electronics and
Programmable Logic Devices since 2000 and use FPGAs in
projects involving scale vehicles.