1. Active Steering Control to Enhance Narrow Tilting Vehicle Stability
James Robertson
Centre for Power Transmission and Motion Control
University of Bath
Bath, United Kingdom
Supervisors: Dr J. Darling, Prof A. Plummer
I’m James Robertson, PhD student here at PTMC
Let me introduce you to the compact low emission vehicle for urban transport or CLEVER.

2. What Are Narrow Tilting Vehicles?
Narrow vehicles which tilt during cornering to maintain stability
What are NTVs?
Narrow vehicles of around 1m width
Principally for urban transportation
High centre of gravity for track width
Tilt during cornering to maintain stability
Benefits of Narrow Tilting Vehicles
Reduced CO2 emissions
Reduced urban congestion
Easy to park
Safer and more comfortable than alternatives such as motorcycles
The aim of the project was to produce a vehicle of short urban commutes which minimised traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.
The vehicle had to emit less than 60g/km of CO2, to reach this target a small frontal area was required hence the restricted 1m width. The narrow width also reduces CLEVER’s road footprint freeing up both road and parking capacity.
In addition the vehicle had to offer good passive safety, car like controls and two seats.
9 Partners were involved in the project, notably BMW and Bath
5 vehicles were made, 3 were crash tested, BMW retain one and Bath have one.
Research continues into the tilting system at bath to this day
Can provide a low carbon alternative to existing personal transportation methods in urban environments

3. Direct Tilt Control (DTC)
This is a short clip in which the limitations of the CLEVER tilting system are apparent.
#Click on video to play#
Subsequent research here at Bath has shown that an active steering system could be used to reduce the torque output required from the tilting system.

4. Steering Direct Tilt Control (SDTC)
Combines STC and DTC into one system
Aims to provide transient stability of STC with the low speed and steady state stability of DTC.
Active steering enables controller to make alterations to the steer angle and actuators provide tilting moment
Stability SDTC Systems demonstrated by a number of authors:
Snell [1]
Kidane et al [2]
So and Karnopp [3]
Berote [4]
I’m sure that everyone is familiar with the Elk test. It’s the rapid lane change test famously failed by the original Mercedes A class. .
The dashed blue line is the steer angle output from the active steering system. You can see that the system momentarily countersteers in response to each of the driver’s steer inputs.
#Click to highlight countersteer.#
Limits

5. Stability Improvement
Combines STC and DTC into one system
Aims to provide transient stability of STC with the low speed and steady state stability of DTC.
Active steering enables controller to make alterations to the steer angle and actuators provide tilting moment
Stability SDTC Systems demonstrated by a number of authors:
Snell [1]
Kidane et al [2]
So and Karnopp [3]
Berote [4]
I’m sure that everyone is familiar with the Elk test. It’s the rapid lane change test famously failed by the original Mercedes A class. .
The dashed blue line is the steer angle output from the active steering system. You can see that the system momentarily countersteers in response to each of the driver’s steer inputs.
#Click to highlight countersteer.#

6. Conclusion or summary or future work
All presentations should have a conclusion of some sort. This could be:
What you have found in your work
What you plan to do in the future
UKACC PhD Presentation Showcase