The dynamic behaviour of man-wide vehicles with an automatic active tilting mechanism
conference paper
The major advantage of a motorcycle with respect to a passenger car is the possibility of the driver to tilt during cornering and thereby maintaining stability whereas a passenger car will suffer from the risk of capsizing at high speed. This observation has lead Brink Dynamics to create and develop a new concept of a man-wide vehicle that is able to tilt like a motorcycle but which offers the comfort of a passenger car, allowing further downsizing of vehicle enabling higher fuel efficiency. This resulted into a three-wheeled passenger car referred to as the MWV, with two seats in a row consisting of two bodies, a two-wheeled rear-assembly and a front assembly being the passenger compartment including the front-fork assembly, that tilts with respect to the rear assembly. Tilting is controlled by the driver through a steering bar. This paper includes a mathematical treatment of the behaviour of the MWV. The tilting mechanicsm is discussed and included in the model. The sensitivity of some further design characteristics will be discussed. In particular the MWV will be compared with a motor-cycle and a passenger car. Finally the dynamic performance of the vehicle will be examined based on the full dynamic equations for the MWV. within this paper, this analysis will be restricted to step-steer where the dynamic vehicle behaviour will be discussed with reference to its steady state performance.
TNO Identifier
362469
Article nr.
STA99C206
Source title
1999 EAEC Congress, Vehicle systems technology for the next century, Conference 2: Dynamics on light vehicles, Barcelona, Spain, 30 June - 2 July 1999
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