Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE

International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation

August 9 - 12, Changchun , China

Dynamic Modelling and Simulation of Electric Bicycle

Ride Comfort
Wenhua Du, Dawei Zhang and Xingyu Zhao Wenhua Du
School ofMechanical Engineering School ofMechanical Engineering & Automation
Tianjin University North University ofChina
Tianjin, 300072, China Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
dwh@live.nuc.edu.cn dwh@live.nuc.edu.cn

Abstract - The dynamic model of 5d.o.f for electric bicycle,
and the road surface model of the random input and step input
were set up. The simulation of electric bicycle ride comfort was
carried out using MATLAB/STMULINK software to obtain the
factors influenced ride comfort of electric bicycle, such as the
unevenness level of road surface, various speeds, and the stiffness
of the spring in the front and rear suspension. Based on the
corresponding evaluation criterions, the dynamic performance of
electric bicycle was evaluated that the result is in good agree with
the purpose of original design. Also, it provides a proof for the
design and optimization of electric bicycle.
Index Terms - Electric bicycle, Ride comfort, 5D.O.F dynamic
model, Simulation, State equation.
I. INTRODU CTION
1) Damping of suspension and saddle of electric bicycle
are linear function related to velocity.
2) The tires are treated as a linear spring without mass and
damping.
3) Without jumping, tires are always contacting with road
surface.
4) Input function of road unevenness is at the center point
of the contact area between the bicycle tires and the road
5) Front and rear wheels are in the same tracking, which
means the bicycle is driving in a straight-line.
6) The bicycle frame flexibility induced by road excitation
is ignored.
7) Vertical and angle of pitching vibrations are only
considered.

The electric bicycles have been gammg increasing B. The simplification of the front and rear suspension
attention over the past ten years due to their lower energy cost devices
and environmental friendliness. Compared to traditional It is necessary to make some conversions to establish the
bicycles, this special bicycle possess the following front fork and rear swing arms vibration model because there
characteristics: (1) they are mainly driven by electricity and is a pitch angle on them. As shown in fig.l, the actual stiffness
supplemented by the drivers. (2) the U-shape structure frames of the spring in the front fork is k~ , and the damping
are mostly utilized, and the batteries are fixed to the frames,
meanwhile, the size of wheelbase is lengthened. (3) The coefficient is c, , the equivalent stiffness in the vertical
diameters of wheels are decreased, and the tires are widened. direction can be expressed as kf , the equivalent damping as
The motor are also adopted to attach to the rear wheel of the
bicycles. (4) The average driving speed is much higher. As a C1 ' the force of suspension devices is F; , and the
result, the electric bicycles have both the structural
characteristics of traditional bicycles and the riding deformation is z1 .
characteristics of motorcycles. Supposing that the force in vertical direction is F1 and
The ride comfort is urgently demanded with the
development of the electric bicycle and the increase of the the deformation is z1 .
speed. The initial electric bicycles are produced by applying
F'
batteries and motor to traditional bicycle, then are equipped ThusF =__1_
suspension on front fork. Now electric bicycles with full 1 cosa
suspension are dominant in bicycle market. But other
literature on the studies of dynamic performance of electric Q;'
bicycle has not been found until now .
In this paper the dynamic model of an electric bicycle is
proposed, and the influences of riding speeds and the
excitation caused by road unevenness to the dynamic
performance of electric bicycle are investigated.
II. ESTABLISHMENT OF DYNAMICS MODEL O F PLA NE 5D.O.F

A. Simplification ofdynamics model Fig. I The structural diagram of front suspension

Hypothesizes are set up as long as dynamic model is
established.

978-1-4244-2693-5/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 4339

 F k' Mi(t) + CZ(t) + KZ(t) = PQ (I)
So that k = -.L = f
In which:
f zf COs
2
fJ'
ZI 0 0 0
With the same method, the following equation can be
. cf Z2 0 0 0
gamed cf = 2 .
Z(t) = p= 0 0 0
COS fJ Z3 Q=
There is damping in the rear suspension too, and the Z4 k4 0 qr
equivalent method of the rear stiffness and damping are the
same as the front one. Zs 0 ks qf

C. Establishment of5d.ofdynamics model ofplane[],2]

m]
The five degree-of-freedom(5d.o.f) dynamics model of m2
plane for electric bicycle is described in fig.2. M=
The nomenclature of the dynamic model in fig.2 is:
rn.: The mass of the rider on the saddle;
rn-: The mass of the frame above front-rear suspension;
rn-: The moment inertia of frame above front-rear
suspension along its mass centre;
m.: The mass under the rear suspension.
~ ~ ~~ 0 0
m-: The mass under the front suspension; ~ ~+Js+1s ~~-~Js+~1s -Is -Is
k.: The saddle stiffness;
k2: The equivalent stiffness of the rear suspension; K ~~ ~~-~+~1s ~2~+~Js+~1s ~ -LA
k3: The equivalent stiffness of the front suspension;
~: The rear tyre stiffness;
0 -Is ~Js Js+~ 0
k s: The front tyre stiffness;
c.: The saddle damping;
0 -Is -LA 0 Is+/s
C2: The equivalent damping of the rear suspension; Cj --(j ~Cj 0 0
C3: The equivalent damping of the front suspension;
I]: The horizontal distance from the rider mass centre to --(j Cj+S+S --ljCj -~S +~S -S --S
above-suspension frame mass centre;
Iz: The horizontal distance from the rear wheel axis to the c= ~Cj ~Cj-12S+~S ~2Cj +lis +~S 12S ~S
above-suspension frame mass centre; 0 0
13: The horizontal distance from the front wheel axis to the
-S 12S S+C4
above-suspension frame mass centre; 0 --S -l3S 0 S+Cs
q.; Road unevenness that excites the rear wheel.
qf: Road unevenness that excites the front wheel.
z]: The vertical displacement of the rider; III. THESIMULATION MODELING OFRIDE COMFORT
Z2: The vertical displacement of the above-suspension
frame; A. State Equation
Converting the equ.1 to state equation in state space[4,S]
Z3: The angular displacement of the above-suspension
frame along its mass centre; {X=AX+BU
(2)
Z4: The vertical displacement of the rear wheel. y=Cx+Du
Zs: The vertical displacement of the front wheel.
Where
The above 5d.o.f vibration differential equations base on
x: State variable, representing the displacement and
the Newton 's method'".
velocity of 5 d.o.f's;
y: Output variable, the displacement and velocity of 5
d.o.f's;
u: Input variable, road unevenness that excites the front
and rear wheel;
A : System matrix;
B : Input matrix;
C : Output matrix;
D : Gating matrix. Because there IS no a directly
controlled member, so D is zero matrix.
Fig. 2 5 D.O.F dynamic model of electric bicycle

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c = [IOXIO, D = 0IOX2, A E RIOxlO , B E
B. Modeling ofSimulation
The simulation model for the five-degree vibration
differential equations was set up by Matlab/Simulink software.
From the simulation model we can gain the response of the
displacement and acceleration in the time-domain. Then
Power Spectral Density (PSD) and mean square root of the
acceleration can obtained to help to analyze the intensity of
vibration .
Fig.3 is the structure diagram of simulation model with
road unevenness input.
IV. SIMULATIO N O F ROAD SURFACE E XCITATI ON
Road unevenness is the major factor for electric bicycle 's
vibration. The road surface excitation input falls into two
categories: pulse road surface excitation input and stochastic
road surface excitation input .Pulse input is a discrete event in
relatively short period with a higher degree of intensity, such
as the convex hull or pit on flat-road. stochastic input is a
series of excitation on the length of the road, such as rough
roads which is the main form of modem highways. In this
paper, the two road surface excitation will be discussed.
A. Mathematic model ofstochastic road surface excitation
The unevenness of a common road is varied at random,
and the statistical properties of the roughness can be expressed
by the PSD in the frequency domain. The dynamic analyses of
vehicles were carried out in the time domain, which requires
changing the frequency-domain signal represented by PSD to
time-domain signal. In general, the simulation methods such
as filtering white noise, harmonic wave stacking can be
utilized to stochastic road surface excitation'Y".
In this paper, filter white noise will be used as the road
input model. It is expressed as follow:
!j(t) = -21rfoq(t) + 21r~Go VW(t)
Fig. 3 The structure diagram of simulation model under road input
Where
w(t): White noise;
Go: Road quality constants of road classes which is
listed in table I ;
v : The forward speed;
fo: Lower cut-off frequency;
q(t) : The road unevenness that excites the front wheel.
T ABLE I
T ilE RO AD Q UALITY C ONSTANT OF R OAD CLASSES
Road class ABC D
G,(m'/m 1xlO') 16
64 256 1024
R IOx 2
Even if the electric bicycle has two separate excitations,
when it follows a path, both wheels pass on the same road
unevenness q(t) and the rear wheel input is same as the front
one with a time delay t, which is proportional to the wheelbase
L and inversely proportional to the speed v as follows :
t=~
B. The time-domain simulation of impulse road surface
excitation
The impulse road surface excitation used the step
function, it can be expressed as:
q={ O~3
(t < 0)
(t ~ 0)
C. Simulation ofstochastic road surface excitation
Based on the above mathematic model of stochastic road
surface excitation, the simulation model is expressed In
Matlab/Simulink, which is illustrated in figA.
V. E VA LUAT ION OF RIDE COMFORT
There are many influencing factors on electric bicycle ride
comfort, so evaluation criterions for electric bicycle ride
comfort are sophisticated. In order to describe comfort
quantificational, factors in physics, mind and physiology
should be included. Now, there are not a general evaluation
index and method which is suitable to electric bicycle ride
comfort all over the world.
We refer to the evaluation index and method of car ride
comfort. There are a few of methods which are used in the
world:
1) One third octave frequency band evaluation-method
according to IS0263I [10];
Gain 1
Fig. 4 The simulation model of random road profile excitation
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 2) Mean square root evaluation method of general This study is under the condition of 25km/h and C road
weighted-acceleration; class. It shows that, the W-acceleration RMS of saddle is
3) Mean square root evaluation method of general higher with the spring stiffness of the front suspension
acceleration for rider or vibration of bicycle frame; increasing, and the change is bigger. The maximum difference
4) Evaluation method of maximum normal acceleration is 0.0522m/s 2 when the front spring stiffness is changed from
for frame (saddle) vibration. 10N/m to 60N/m which the rear spring stiffness is 360N/m.
Being the riding characteristics of electric bicycle driven With the increasing of the rear spring stiffness, the value
by battery is the same as motorcycle, we take the Evaluation change of the W- acceleration RMS of saddle is relatively
Criteria according to ISO 2631. steady. We can also know that the parameters of the spring
stiffness of the front and rear suspension to this prototype is
VI. THE R ES ULTS OF SIM ULATIO N
suitable.
In this paper the evaluation of the ride comfort are
discussed under the conditions as below: C. The simulation with varied velocity and road class
1) Different spring stiffness in the front and rear In this simulation, the model with different forward speed
suspension; under varied road class was discussed. The forward speeds are
2) Varied velocity and road class; 15, 20, 25, 28, 32km/h, which is selected from different
3) Influence of weight of driver; maximum limited velocity by various countries. A to E-Ievel
4) Impulse road surface excitation. road class is selected. Figure 6 shows the result of the W-
acc eleration RMS of saddle change with the varied velocity
A. The simulation parameters ofelectric bicycle and road class.
The parameters of the prototype electric bicycle with full From the picture we can see that, when the forward speed
suspension are listed in table 2. is rising, the W- acceleration RMS of saddle is increased. In
the E-level road class, as the forward speed in increased from
TAB LE II 15km/h to 32km/h, the W- acceleration RMS of saddle raised
T ilE PARAMETER OF EL ECTRIC BI CYCLE by 68.28%. So the wheelbase modulation is clearly because
Param eter Value Parameter Value
road excitation is larger when the forward speed increases.
m, ( Kg) 65 k ,(KN/m) 20
To the different road classes, the result shows that the W-
m, ( Kg) 30 k,(KN/m) 280
m( Kg-rn") 0.55 k (KN/ m) 13
acceleration RMS of saddle in E-level road has greater
m, ( Kg) 8 k,(KN/m) 20 vibration strength than that in A-level road.
m, ( Kg) 3.2 k,(KN/m) 20 With the subjective sensation of people, the W-
c, ( KN.s/m) 0.5 [,(m) 0.05 acceleration RMS of saddle is 0.2996m/s2 at the speed of
c, ( KN.s/m) 0.5 [,(m) 0.496 32Km/h in C-Ievel road, which is less than 0.315 m/s2,
c, ( KN.slm) 0.75 /,(m) 0.539 according to the Guidelines to Assess Vibration Discomfort
(ISO 2631-1997 ) , the weighted vibration level is comfort. At
the speed of 15Km/h in D-Ievel road , the value is 0.4102m/s2
B. The comparison of K-Values between the front and rear exceeded 0.315 m/s2 , and is discomfort. The simulation
suspension results are accord with the requirement of this kind of electric
In this section, the K-Values of the front suspension is bicycle that the design parameters are based on the mountain
varied from 10N/m to 60N /m, and the rear suspension is bike.
80N/m to 360N/m .The simulation was designed orthogonal in D. 1rifluence ofweight ofdriver
this range.The comparison ofK-Values between the front and
rear suspension could be seen in fig.5. The electric bicycle is used by many people, whose weight
In the fig.5, the weighted acceleration mean square root influences the ride comfort. Here we discuss about this. Driver
(W-acceleration RMS) of saddle is varied with the spring weight was selected from 35kg to 85 kg with the condition of
stiffness of the front and rear suspension. 25km/h and C road class. The result is listed in fig. 7.
N~
"'~
<IJ ~
E 0.55 E.
ell
3
co
(J)
(J)
::2 2
:2: a:
~ 0.5 c
o
s~
.~
Ql
Ql ~ 0
~ 0.45
u
'?
400
~ 6
10

~ 40
20 Road class 4 Velocity ~m/s)
K2 k(kN/m) 0 0 K3 k(kN/m) Fig. 6 W-acceleration RMS of saddle with
Fig. 5 W-acceleration RMS of saddle with different K varied velocit y and road class

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 0.5 The simulation is based on the 5d.o.f dynamics model of
c ~
plane and the model of the uneven road surface. The vertical
O N
~ ~ 0.4 vibration responses of bicycle saddle are elicited on the
Q; .S- condition of random input excitation and step input excitation.
O; <1l
8 ~ 0.3 The reasonable proofs are provided to the design and
<)l a: optimization of the electric bicycle.
~
0 .2 '-----~-~-~-~-~-
40 50 60 70 80 ACKNOWLEDGM ENT
weight of drivar m(kg)
This research is supported by Tianjin Science and
Fig. 7 Influence of weight of driver Technology Commission Project (Grant No.
In fig. 7, we can see that, with the weight of driver 07JCZDJC09200).
increasing, the W- acceleration RMS of saddle was decreased.
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VII. CONCLUSION Chinese) .

The ride comfort of the electric bicycle is analyzed

according to the simulation by Matlab/Simulink in this paper.

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