A Novel Universal Corner Module for Urban Electric Vehicles: Design, Prototype, and Experiment
A Novel Universal Corner Module for Urban Electric Vehicles: Design, Prototype, and Experiment by Allison Waters A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2017 c Allison Waters 2017 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This thesis presents the work of creating and validating a novel corner module for a three-wheeled urban electric vehicle in the tadpole configuration. As the urban population increases, there will be a growing need for compact, personal transportation. While urban electric vehicles are compact, they are inherently less stable when negotiating a turn, and they leave little space for passengers, cargo and crash structures. Corner modules provide an effective solution to increase the space in the cabin and increase the handling capabilities of the vehicle. Many corner module designs have been produced in the hopes of increasing the cabin space and improving the road holding capabilities of the wheel. However, none have been used to increase the turning stability of the vehicle via an active camber mechanism while remaining in an acceptable packaging space. Active camber mechanisms are also not a new concept, but they have not been implemented in a narrow packaging space with relatively large camber angle. Parallel mechanism research and vehicle dynamics theory were combined to generate and analyse this new corner module design.
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