Modeling and Verification of a Diamond-Shape Narrow-Tilting Vehicle

The authors use planar multibody system dynamics to model an intelligent personal mobility (IPM) narrow-tilting vehicle (NTV) with four wheels arranged in a diamond configuration. A planar multibody system tire model is used to represent ground-vehicle interaction. In addition to analyzing the roll plane dynamics, the proposed model supports the measuring of joint reaction forces (a difficult task with actual vehicles) to assist in advanced controller and mechanical system design. We also propose a separate calculation method using two acceleration sensors and one angular position sensor for the purpose of obtaining ground forces. Results from model verification tests (i.e., comparisons with actual data from a slalom test) indicate that the proposed IPM model performed with a high degree of accuracy.