Hybrid Model for a Drive Line of a Vehicle Dynamometer

This paper describes the development and application of a simulation model for a vehicle Rolling-Road dynamometer. Due to the topology of such a system it cannot be considered as a purely lumped system nor would it be practical to assume it to be purely distributed. Consequently a partially distributed and partially lumped assumption is adapted. This technique has been successfully applied to a variety of engineering applications in which the system parameters are partially distributed and partially lumped. The drive line of the vehicle dynamometer lends itself to this method since the inertia of the rolls and shaft are distributed whilst the damping due to the bearings and the motor can be considered as lumped systems/elements. This method enables the analysis of the dynamic performance of the dynamometer, which is not possible using lumped or point wise techniques. The dynamic performance of the dynamometer is investigated in this paper, using a conventional three-term controller for maintaining the roll speed under step, ramp and impulse disturbances.