Load distribution control system design for a semi-track air-cushion vehicle

This paper describes the design principle for a semi-track air-cushion vehicle working on soft terrain. A novel structure, i.e., a flexible joint mechanism is designed for the semi-track air-cushion vehicle suspension system. Focusing on optimizing the total power consumption of the vehicle, three main issues were studied in this paper. First, a theoretical model for minimizing the total power demand of the vehicle is developed. The effects of load distribution on total rolling resistance and total power requirement are calculated which are compared with the prototype experiment data. Second, the optimization procedure is presented. Third, a control scheme is proposed to minimize the power consumption by using a self-tuning PID fuzzy controller and the feasibility was examined by the simulations performed in Matlab/Simulink software environment.