Electric Vehicle Braking by Fuzzy Logic Control

John Paterson, Mike Ramsay

ORTECH International
2395 Speakman Dr.
Mississuaga, Ontario, L5K 1B3,Canada
Abstract: Electrical vehicles are really "energy-management"
machines. Energy recovery during braking, at speeds of 80
km/hr down to 8 kmlhr, increases efficiency to the high 90's.
However, binary switching of braking action from regenerative
to mechanical causes a jolt that would catch most drivers by
unpleasant surprise. Braking mode switching by fuzzy logic
with a linear T-Norm smoothes out the braking curve, but not
completely. Using a modified sinusoidal T-Norm is able to
produce a smoother braking curve.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The present types of electric and hybrid electric vehicles

under development can be considered the third generation of
electric vehicles. By that it is meant that the first generation,
as early as the 19OO's, had a simple DC electric motor, the
best available lead acid battery of the times, (1910)and a
control switch rheostat for the s p e d control. These early
electric vehicles had better performance in their day than the
"infernal combustion" vehicles of that time, but continuous
development and raw power soon saw the internal
combustion-powered vehicle far exceeding the power and
range of the battery-powered electric vehicle [ 11. It can be
argued, with some truth, that if all the resources spent in
developing the internal combustion engine had been spent
on electric vehicles and batteries since about 1910,we might
have some outstanding electric vehicles today. However that
is not how it happened, and we are where we are, with some
proven beliefs that continuing investment in hybrids/
electrics will be productive. Also, these first generation
electric vehicles employed very crude control mechanisms
which wasted the vital battery energy, and ultimately put
them in disfavour. Primarily, it was the lack of suitable
solid-state electronic controls, some mistaken strategies for
vehicle operation, and of course the lack of battery
technologies with suitable energy and power densities which
made them uncompetitive. This interesting history of the
early electric vehicles has been well documented by Wouk,
Kalberiah, and Landman, Patil and Burba [1],[2],[3].
During the second world war, there was a great leap
forward in technology for electronics and electrical systems,
particularly for submarines' electric power drives. In the
early 1970's right through to the late 198O's,second
generation electric vehicles were being built, this time using

0-7803-1462-~/93$03.00
01993IEEE

efficient power controls and regenerative braking [4].

Efficient power controls, particularly the solid state type,
allowed the system to manage power to the motor with passon losses less than 5 %; previously an impossible figure to
reach. Regenerative braking allowed the vehicle to use the
drive motor as a generator every time the brakes were used,
to pump the kinetic energy from braking into the battery,
using these same efficient power controls. Surprisingly,
regenerative braking saved from 8 4% to as much as 25 5% of
the total energy use of the vehicle, depending on the driving
cycle and how it was driven [5],[6].Such savings are
necessary in any machine where the energy storage
capability is minimal, as is the case with the electric vehicle,
particularly since it can be achieved without the addition of
any extra components.
Hybrid vehicles, vehicles with both electric and internal
combustion engines, are currently being extensively
investigated [7],[8],[9],[
10],[11].The major motivation
behind the research at present is the new pollution laws
being introduced throughout the United States. The bus
industry has been targeted due to its large start-stop driving
cycle and the potential to recover energy in the electrical
system [ 12],[13],[14],[15],[161. However, electric vehicles
for consumer use are continually being introduced [ 17],[18].
Various methods for retaining energy in electric vehicles
have been introduced, however, the use of regenerative
braking is the most attractive since it does not require the
addition of large extra equipment [ 191. Regenerative braking
is accepted today as a vital part of the standard architecture
for third generation vehicles which now includes the
electronics for total energy management on board the
vehicle [20],[211,[22].
Experiments with electric vehicles having a combination of
regenarative and physical modes of braking have proven that
substantial energy savings are in fact achievable [5],[6].
However there is a critical human factor that is important; it
has been found that it is difficult to be sufficiently accurate
in switching off the regenerative braking and at the same
time to switch on the physical brakes, to the same level of
braking. The observation by the passengers of this
discontinuous braking is an uncomfortable and unacceptable
jolt. Uses of simple rules and conventional binary logic have
been defied by this problem. Since there are some definable

fuzzy sets of circumstances and groups of rules which apply

to this problem, it can in fact be solved very well by the
application of a fuzzy controller algorithm implemented in
the software of the energy management system.

11. REGENERATIVE
BRAKING
In using regenerative braking, a significant change is made
to the architecture of the vehicle. The brake pedal is sensed
for the pressure applied, and a microprocessor makes a
comparison between the velocity of the vehicle, and the
existing state of charge (SOC) of the battery. The objective
of this is to determine energy discharge rates, which vary as
the SQUARE of the vehicle speed, and how much energy
the battery can absorb and at what power rate. Ultimately,
as the vehicle slows down, regeneration becomes useless and
the physical brakes have to be applied to stop the vehicle at
a particular point. It can be shown, however, that by
slowing down from cruising speeds of 80 kmmr to 8 M h r
at normal decelerations using regenerative braking, as much
as 99 W of the kinetic energy is recovered into the battery, if
the battery can take it.
Consider an electric vehicle with a mass of 1500 kg and
assume a deceleration of 0.25 m per s2. The total energy
then available through braking from 80 k m h r to 0 km/hr, as
calculated in equation 1 is:

-(."

Etot = Mt
2

c)

+Vat + 2 2
3

(1)

Etot = 1.119.106 joules

The graph of this braking curve is shown in Figure 1. The

energy available from regenerative braking is:

Therefore 99.9 46 of the total energy is available from

regenerative braking.
These are remarkable figures by any standards, and show
the necessity for the architectures of third generation electric
vehicle's to be pursued until successful. Successful in these
terms means probably an electric vehicle of acceptable
emissions range and speed, but considerably less than the
range and speed of any conventional vehicle.
Significant changes are made to the power control systems
of an electric vehicle to accommodate regenerative braking.
In particular, the normal power control electronics must be
configured to be switched so that it can act as an energy
controller, and possible power rectifier for the output of the
generator (the motor acting as a generator). In most cases
the high-efficiency motors of today are high speed AC
motors, and for simplicity and efficiency reasons their
output is usually high voltage AC. Furthermore, the
electronics must sense certain conditions in which the
battery cannot take the charge, and so the energy needs to be
dumped to a resistive load which is very useful in winter as
a way of extending the heat in the vehicle. In a hot climate,
the electronics control decides that the physical brakes
would be used rather than resistive load heating. The above
are examples of the kinds of decisions which are
continuously being taken in the third-generation electric
vehic1e.

Ill. REGENERATIVE
SWITCHING

Energy
(joules)

0 joule

l-.,.
-...
.%y c.
200

Time (sec)

Figure 1. Braking Energy Curve

Regenerative braking is practical only to approximately 8

km/hr at which point the generation of electricity for retum
to the battery is outweighed by the need to decelerate
quickly. Regenerative braking is proportional to the
vehicle's velocity, therefore allowing the vehicle to coast to
a stop rather then coming to a controlled stop. To achieve
this braking a physical brake must be applied. To produce a
smooth ride the transition from electrical regeneration to
physical braking must be done to match the velocity curve
of the decelerating vehicle. To achieve this both the
electrical and mechanical brakes must be released and
applied, respectively, simultaneously. This presents a
problem in the mechanical brakes due to unknown and
variable timing parameters. These parameters include wear,
temperature, and force applied.

braking and the use of both braking methods

simultaneously. These variables are shown in table 1.

These variable parameters combine to form a window of

operation for the mechanical braking of the vehicle. This
window translates into a window of operation in which the
vehicle's velocity may occupy during braking. A sample of
this window is sketched in figure 2 for a digital logic
operation of switching between the two modes. The lighter
shaded region is the window of operation of the mechanical
braking and is determined by the parameters outlined above.
The darker shaded region is the corresponding window of
operation of the braking velocity curve for the vehicle.

Table 1 . Fuzzy Variables

Variable

Description

Velocity Curve

Since none of these variables can be easily identified as a

fixed value, the use fuzzy logic assists the controller in
determining the most beneficial use of the two modes to
produce the smoothest ride. The smoothest ride is the prime
concern of the controller but the governing rules are derived
from the necessity to recover the most amount of energy
possible. It should be noted that with all vehicle systems
operator safety is the first concern.

Time (seconds)
Figure 2. Digital switching of the
Physical Braking

To produce a smooth stopping motion the two braking

systems must be coupled such that the combined effects of
the two do not produce a deceleration change between
switching. This change is felt by the operator as either an
acceleration or an unpleasant jerking motion. These
responses may occur at any velocity since the regenerative
braking is controlled by the state of charge of the battery.
Once the battery has achieved full charge and no resistive
load heating is required, the physical brakes are applied.
Under most circumstances, however, the battery will not be
at full charge and the switching will occur around 8 kmhr.

The there several variables present in the switching that lend

themselves well to the use of fuzzy logic for control. The
value of 8 k m h r as the velocity at which the switching is to
occur is not fixed and forms the basis for the fuzzy
switching. As well the state of charge may also be
considered in the fuzzy logic control rules since the velocity
at which the switching occurs would be more desirable at
either the initial braking motion or at a lower velocity. The
initial velocity at which braking occurs could also be used in
a fuzzy controller to determine the most beneficial use of the
two modes of braking. The human interface in the form of
the pressure applied to the brake pedal will also be
considered in the rule set to determine the emergency

By changing the switch point from 8 kmlhr to 10 km/hr

there is only a 0.095 96 decrease in the amount of energy
available for regenerative returns to the battery. If the
switch point is reduced to 6 km/hr the change in the amount
of energy is increased by only 0.058 96. The percentage of
energy available versus the velocity at which the brake
modes are switched is illustrated in the graph in figure 3. By
reducing the switch point the vehicle's will experience a
slight coasting effect due to the decreased efficiency of the
regenerative braking to maintain a constant deceleration
force. Thus minor changes to the switch point are acceptable
in terms of energy recovery and management. The
advantage of this change is that the physical brakes may be
allowed to gently take over from the regenerative brakes.
The main advantage is that when the car is operating at
lower velocities the controller can determine what switch
point is best for the operators comfort and avoid the jerk of
a quick changeover to physical brakes.
To assist in making the switch over of modes more
continuous in terms of the velocity curve and the operator's
comfort, the fuzzy logic membership functions have been
determined using a sine function [23]. An example of this is
shown in figure 4. This provides the controller a heavier
weighting towards the desired position but will allow the
variables to effluence the decisions made by the controller.
For example, if the operator is braking to negotiate a sharp
turn the controller will determine if the battery requires
charge and if the present speed will accommodate the
amount of charge generated based on the pressure applied to

2202

the brake pedal. All of the variables listed in table 1 would

be considered in the rule set.

loo

operation of the vehicle is possible. Due to the safety factors

involved an extensive investigation will have to be done to
ensure vehicle safety at all times during operation. The main
concern at present is the determination of when the vehicle
is under Emergency braking and when the excessive pedal
force is just a function of the human operator and the
current velocity.

'

Velocity Curve

99.8.
PO00

8000

-.
10000

Velocity
(km/hr)

Velociv
(mhour)

Figure 3. Percentage of Energy Available

at Switching Velocity

Physical B r a k i a

I
Time (seconds)
Figure 5 . Fuzzy Controlled Brake Switching

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
ORTECH and the authors would like to thank Dr. Gorden
Chen from Niagara College for his assistance in the
preparation of this paper and his encouragement during the
research.
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1, k.1. m

Figure 4. Nonlinear Membership Functions

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V. RESULTS
By exploiting the inherent tolerances in the braking system a
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ride for the vehicle operator. Tolerances in energy recovery
were exploited to gain a more acceptable performance. The
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