Braking control performances of a disk-type magneto-rheological brake via hardware-in-the-loop simulation

The aim of this work is to develop a magneto-rheological brake control system based on the hardware-in-the-loop simulation to analyze braking performances such as time response characteristics of the desired torque with the input currents. As a first step, a mathematical model of the braking torque is formulated and the optimized structure parameters of magneto-rheological brake are determined. Subsequently, the hardware-in-the-loop simulation system associated with the braking bench is established in which the software controlling the braking performances is implemented by a proportional–integral–derivative controller. Several tests to evaluate control performances of magneto-rheological brake are undertaken focusing on the decrement and increment by the input current. In addition, a quarter vehicle model equipped with the antilock brake system is tested through the hardware-in-the-loop simulation. It is shown that the antilock brake system integrated with magneto-rheological brake quickly tracks the desired slip rate resulting in stable performances.