Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206

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Neurocomputing
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/neucom

Smooth shift control of an automatic transmission

for heavy-duty vehicles
Fei Meng a,n, Gang Tao b, Huiyan Chen b
a
Merchant Marine College, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China
b
School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, a robust shift control strategy of a heavy duty vehicle powertrain system is investigated for
Received 29 December 2014 enhancing shift quality. To analyse the shift transient phenomena, the dynamic models for various
Received in revised form powertrain components, such as engine, torque converter, transmission and drivetrain, are developed.
21 January 2015
Three different robust adaptive control laws are derived for the different process control that reduces the
Accepted 5 February 2015
output torque during the gear shifts. In deriving the control laws, both the engine and automatic
Communicated by H. Zhang
Available online 17 February 2015 transmission dynamics have been included. In order to overcome the challenge of the relevant variables
characterizing the performance of the powertrain is not measurable because of sensor cost and
Keywords: reliability considerations. The integrated controller proposed uses only angular velocity signals, such
Shift control
as engine speed, turbine speed and output speed, which are inexpensive to measure and easy to
Adaptive control
implement. Finally, the designed control strategy is tested on a heavy-duty vehicle equipped with
Shift shock
Pressure control automatic transmission. Results from the experimental studies show that the proposed control strategy
Heavy-duty vehicle can effectively reduce shift shock and smooth the gear shift.
& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction clutch-to-clutch shift, smoothness of the shift requires timing

The automatic transmissions utilize clutches to transfer torque
at various speed ratios through the transmission [1–4]. When
shifting between gear ratios, the transmission control unit (TCU)
should synchronize the engagement of the on-coming clutch and
the disengagement of the off-going clutch, this process is called
clutch-to-clutch shift control [3,5–9]. Clutch-to-clutch shift control
system for automatic transmission is designed to provide smooth
transients for passenger comfort and better component durability
[10]. Advantages of automatic transmissions are relying primarily
on clutch-to-clutch shifts, over transmissions relying primarily on
overrunning clutches, include simplicity of mechanical design and
savings in transmission weight and size, which are beneficial in
terms of fuel economy and production costs [8,11]. As the number
of speeds in automatic transmissions increases in order to enable
gains in fuel economy while meeting drivability and performance
goals, these savings become more significant. However, control of
clutch-to-clutch shifts to achieve shift quality comparable to those
involving overrunning clutches is a challenging problem. In a
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 86 (021) 38282916.
E-mail addresses: feimeng@shmtu.edu.cn (F. Meng),
tayicheng@yahoo.com (G. Tao), chen_h_y@263.net (H. Chen).
coordination between control actions involving the on-coming as
well as the off-going clutches. Improper coordination results in a
capacity mismatch between the two clutches, and would cause
either excessive engine speed or clutch tie-up, the latter increasing
torque change during the shift and resulting in a harsher shift.
Many works have given a deep insight in the clutch-to-clutch
shifts and different control methods have been proposed to
improve shift quality [11–16]. A major problem in designing the
controller, not only for clutch-to-clutch shifts but also for other
transmission control problems, is that many of the relevant
variables characterizing the performance of the powertrain are
not measurable in production vehicles [5,17,18]. An example of
such a variable is clutch pressure in hydraulically actuated
clutches. Sensed information that is usually available for control
purposes in production vehicles includes speeds, namely, engine
speed, transmission input and output speeds, and wheel speed.
Clutch pressure sensors are usually not used in production
transmissions due to sensor cost and reliability, as well as
difficulty in sensor installation and maintenance. An alternative
way of obtaining information about clutch pressure is to develop a
mathematical model of the shift hydraulic system relating the
clutch pressures to control inputs as well as measured variables,
and then use model-based estimation techniques for clutch
pressure estimation. In [19], the authors have presented a

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2015.02.004
0925-2312/& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
198 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206

Nomenclature K the torque ratio

rz wheel radius
Symbol Description is the transmission ratio of the rear differential
ωe engine speed ρair the air density
ωt turbine shaft speed Cw the air resistance coefficient
ωo output shaft speed A the vehicle front surface
Te engine torque m the vehicle mass
Tp pump torque g the gravitation
Tt turbine torque αs the road gradient
Tv the equivalent torque of the load f the rolling coefficient
To output torque μ the friction coefficient
TCH the transmitted torque of clutch CH N the number of the friction pairs
TCL the transmitted torque of clutch CL r the equivalent radius of the friction plate
Ie the equivalent inertia of engine S the effective area of the friction plate
It the equivalent inertia of turbine Fi the preload of the spring
Iv the equivalent inertia of load Po the clutch pressure
iin the input gear ratio Pc the command pressure from the proportional
ia low gear ratio solenoid valve
ib high gear ratio Df the diameter of feedback chamber of PRV
iao gear ratio before clutch a engaged Dc the diameter of control chamber of the PRV
ibo gear ratio before clutch b engaged Ks the spring rate of PRV
α throttle opening x0 the initial displacement of the spring
ρ the fluid destiny x the spool displacement of PRV
λp the torque coefficient of the pump Toil the oil temperature
D the effective diameter of the torque converter tt1, tt2, tt3 time parameters for torque phase control
np the pump speed α1, α2 slope commands for torque phase control
Cp the capacity factor Δω_ mcl low boundary of the ideal clutch torque speed differ-
ence change rate

model-based estimation for a stepped automatic transmission to
provide real-time information about some necessary but un-
measurable variables. Gao et al. [20] reported the backstepping
design and obtained some simulation results, for the clutch-
slipping control using the clutch rotational speed as the feedback
signal. However, development of a dynamic model of the shift
hydraulic system for clutch pressure estimation that is suitable for
real-time application is a challenging problem, because of the
complexity of the shift hydraulic circuit and its highly nonlinear
nature [21–25].
Typically, it is difficult to use a model-based engine control
scheme for smooth power transmission since the vehicle power-
train system involves complex, uncertain, and highly nonlinear
dynamics. One effective approach in dealing with such complex-
ities and uncertainties is an intelligent control scheme such as
learning controls [7,26,27]. In this paper, a robust shift control
strategy of a heavy duty vehicle powertrain system is investigated
for enhancing shift quality. The dynamic models for various
powertrain components, such as engine, torque converter, trans-
mission and drivetrain, are developed. Three different robust
adaptive control laws are proposed for the shift control.
The outline of this paper is as follows. In Section 2, the dynamic
models for powertrain components are developed. In Section 3,
three robust adaptive control schemes in order to reduce the shift
shock are proposed. Also, the adaptive compensation scheme to
achieve an improved shift quality in the presence of system
variations are described. In Section 4, the performance of the
proposed controller is investigated via experiments. Conclusions
are given in Section 5.
2. System modelling
Fig. 1. It contains four modules: the engine, torque converter,
planetary gear, the power output and the clutch actuation system.
Each module in the system is treated as a single rigid body
subsystem. Then the modelling process of driveline is simplified
due to the complexity of the system. Therefore, the following
assumptions are made [28]:
 ignoring the shaft torsional vibration and the system is com-
posed of inertia without elastic;
 ignoring the system clearance and damping;
 the vehicle load is assumed to be constant during shifting.
To facilitate the study, the process of shifting dynamics is
analysed. When clutch CL is engaged and clutch CH disengaged,
the powertrain is operating in the low gear, while clutch CL is
disengaged and clutch CH engaged, the vehicle is driven in high
gear. In the following text we will model the system based on the
pervious classification.
2.1. Powertrain model
The system as shown in Fig. 1 is divided into three free
components: the engine-pump, turbine-transmission shaft-off-
going clutch and on-coming clutch-output shaft, each dynamic
model can be modelled as follows.
The torque of the engine-pump component includes engine
torque Te, the pump torque Tp and the inertia torque
Ie ω
_ e ¼ Te Tp ð1Þ
The torque of the turbine-transmission shaft-off-going clutch
component includes turbine torque Te, the transmitted torque TCL
and TCH of clutch and the inertia torque

In this paper, we simplified the driveline in the vehicle as a 1

It ω
_ t ¼ Tt  ðT CL þ T CH Þ ð2Þ
two-speed automatic transmission as schematically shown in iin
 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206 199

Fig. 1. Schematic graph of the driveline.

Fig. 2. Characteristic map of the engine.

The torque of the on-coming clutch output shaft component

includes the transmitted torque TCL and TCH of the clutch, the load
torque Tv and the inertia torque
Iv ω
_ o ¼ T o  T v ¼ iao  T CL þibo  T CH  T v
where To represents the output torque.
2.2. Engine model
For investigations on gear shift comfort the high frequency
vibrations of the engine are not of great interest. The engine can
therefore be modelled as a rotating rigid body. The drivetrain
excitation caused by the engine is described by its torque
T e ¼ T e ðα ; ne Þ
Fig. 3. Hydrodynamic torque converter characteristics.
ð3Þ pump speed, Cp is the capacity factor and K represents the
torque ratio.
The Cp, K and λp are provided by the manufacturer in the form
of a look-up table as shown in Fig. 3.
2.4. Output train model
This submodel represents a simplified model for the output
train from the cardan shaft to the wheels and chassis of the
vehicle. The load torque Tv results from the wind force, rolling
ð4Þ force and the inclination force

The torque can be interpolated from a measured two dimen- T v ¼ ðF w þF r þ F i Þ  r z =is ð7Þ
sional characteristic map (Fig. 2) as a function of throttle opening where
(α) and the engine angular velocity (ne). As shown in Fig. 2, the

percentage represents the throttle opening. 1 ωo r z 2
F w ¼ C w Aρair ð8Þ
2 is
2.3. Torque converter model
F r ¼ fmg cos αs ð9Þ
The torque converter consists of a pump (input), a turbine F i ¼ mg sin αs ð10Þ
(output) and a stator (reaction member). The pump is attached
directly to the engine and therefore turns at engine speed. Torque with the wheel radius rz, the transmission ratio of the rear
is transferred to the turbine as a result of the induced oil flow from differential is, the air density ρair, the air resistance coefficient
the pump. The steady-state pump torque Tp and turbine torque Tt Cw, the vehicle front surface A, the vehicle mass m, the gravitation
of a torque converter can be presented as follows: g, the road gradient αs and the rolling coefficient f.

T p ¼ λp ρgD5 n2p ¼ C p n2p ð5Þ

T t ¼ KT p
where ρ is the fluid destiny, λp is the torque coefficient of the
pump, D is the effective diameter of the torque converter, np is the
2.5. Clutch model
ð6Þ
The clutch torque is given as a static function of the clutch
hydraulic pressure, clutch geometry, plate friction characteristics,
and the clutch slip speed. The clutch torque calculation can be
200 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206
described as
T ¼ μNrðP o S  F i Þ
where μ is the friction coefficient, N is the number of the friction
pairs, r is the equivalent radius of the friction plate, S is the
effective area of the friction plate, Fi represents the preload of the
spring, and Po is the clutch pressure. The hydraulic actuating
system using electromagnetic valves controls the pressure of
clutches and brakes. Since the hydraulic system has a large system
order and high nonlinearities, it is not easy to model the hydraulic
system for the analysis and control of shift transients. Therefore,
the model based on the steady-state characteristics of the shift
hydraulic system from a look-up table is widely used for shift
control.
2.6. Clutch actuator model
The proportional solenoid valve (PSV) piloted pressure redu-
cing valve (PRV) for a clutch actuation system of heavy-duty
automatic transmission is shown in Fig. 1. This system can realize
automated and high-quality clutch control. The main function of
PSV is to receive the control signal and supply control pressure to
operate the PSV. The PRV is used to control the high pressure fluid
from the pump flow into the clutch chamber. In addition, the
clutch/brake assembly components can engage and disengage the
friction elements. The clutch pressure can be expressed by
π π
P o D2f ¼ P c D2c  K s ðx0 þ xÞ
4 4
where Pc is the command pressure from the proportional solenoid
valve, Df is the diameter of feedback chamber of PRV, Dc is the
diameter of control chamber of the PRV, Ks is the spring rate, x0 is
the initial displacement of the spring, and x donates the spool
displacement.
3. Control strategies
For a stepped automatic transmission, the shift process can be
divided into three phases: fill phase, torque phase and inertia
phase as shown in Fig. 4. The first phase is the so-called ‘fill phase’
Fig. 4. Dynamics of the shifting process.
where the clutch chamber is filled before the clutch pressure starts
ð11Þ to increase. Then, in the torque phase, the engine torque is
transferred from the off-going to the on-coming clutch carrying
the target gear. This transfer of engine torque between the two
clutches results to a drop in the transmission output torque
according to the change in gear ratio. In the following inertia
phase the engine is synchronized to the speed level of the new
gear. The deceleration of the engine can be accomplished through
an increase in torque at the on-coming clutch beyond the level
necessary for transmitting the engine torque.
The shift quality is very closely related to the output shaft
torque and the engine torque. It has well been recognized that a
nonlinear closed loop control algorithm can be developed, which
yields a better shift quality provided that the accurate information
on the shaft torque is available [17]. However, torque sensors
cannot be used in production vehicles because they are expensive
and their durabilities are poor in harsh environment. But, speed
sensors for measuring the engine speed, the turbine speed, and
the output speed are inexpensive and they are already being used.
The operating torque of the torque converter depends on both the
impeller speed and the turbine speed.
It is not simple to design an integrated engine-transmission
controller for the purpose of enhancing shift quality due to the
complexity, nonlinearity, and uncertainty of the system. Also, due
to the actuator bandwidth limitation, achievable performance
levels inevitably decrease as model uncertainties become larger.
Thus, in this work a robust shift control strategy for the integrated
ð12Þ engine and transmission system is investigated based on the
controller design with each stage to overcome the unmodelled
dynamics.
3.1. Fill phase control
Traditionally, the open-loop control strategy for the clutch fill
control will implement a 100% duty cycle control command on the
proportional solenoid valve, then the fluid flow into the clutch
chamber via the clutch actuation system. The fill time is deter-
mined by theoretical calculation and experimental calibration. It is
a common sense to adopt the pressure or flow rate signal as the
feedback signal to implement the feedback control strategy.
However, it is difficult to place the sensors as well as it cannot
obtain the realtime valve due to the actual measurement points
where the sensors mount on.
There are two control problems of the traditional clutch fill
strategy. First, using a 100% duty cycle control command will bring
out a torque phase control problem due to the reason of full open
state of the shift valve, and this will cause shift shock at the begin
time of the torque phase. Second, the oil temperature and engine
affect the clutch filling process due to the complexity of the
electro-hydraulic clutch actuator.
In order to overcome the control problem of traditional
strategy, a new control strategy of the clutch fill stage is developed
as shown in Fig. 5. In the clutch fill process, after a period of
control time (tf1) with 100% duty cycle, sending a control com-
mand Db1 to the PSV, making the spool of the PRV back to near
zero as shown in Fig. 5. This will cause the clutch pressure rise rate
to be dropped to a manageable level while ensuring that clutch
piston has been pushed forward until the free clearance of the
friction plate is eliminated. It is considered that the free clearance
of the friction plate is totally eliminated when the clutch starting
to be engaged and transmit torque while the change rate of the
turbine speed decreased a certain threshold Δn_ nt . The shift process
enters torque phase. Here, the turbine speed signal nt is calculated
with differential method after filtered.
Generally, the actual clutch pressure is more than the clutch
torque capacity needs due to considering the reserve coefficient
 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206 201

parameters for the shift quality. The initial value of the torque-
phase control command is the end control command of the fill
phase which can be corrected during the fill phase. The ideal final
value can be determined by modifying the rising slope α2 with the
valve of tt2.
Considering the smaller changes in turbine speed and output
speed during torque phase, the ideal torque control objective
T nch ðt 3 Þ at the end time of the torque phase can be estimated by
turbine torque and load torque. The rising slope α2 can be
expressed as [29]

T nch ðt 3 Þ ctD þ ktD Dðt 2 Þ 1

α2 ¼  ¼ ðθ1 T^ ch ðt 3 Þ þ θ2 Þ ð13Þ
ktD t t2 ktD t t2 t t2

where ktD is the linear coefficient which is relevant to the

characteristics of clutch, PRV and PSV. ctD is the constant coeffi-
cient which is relevant to characteristics of clutch, PRV and PSV. θ1
is the linear coefficient with the torque estimation, θ1 is the
constant coefficient which is relevant to characteristics of clutch

Fig. 5. Clutch fill control strategy.

when designing the clutch component. In order to facilitate the

following phase control, the pressure of the off-going clutch
should implement a pre-discharge phase. The clutch engagement
state will not be affected in this phase. Thus, for the off-going
clutch control, the pressure should be decreased into a safe
pressure which can keep the clutch engaged and cannot slip due Fig. 6. The control method during clutch fill phase.
to the fluctuations of the line pressure.
Considering the impact of the oil temperature (Toil) and engine
speed (ne) on the clutch fill control. In this paper, the feedforward–
feedback control algorithm is adopted. The feedforward control
part will calculate the initial control parameters according to the
clutch structural parameters and the characteristics of the electro-
hydraulic clutch actuator. The control parameters of the feedfor-
ward control algorithm are fill control time with high duty cycle
command, low duty cycle command and pre-discharge command.
While the feedback control algorithm will monitor the actual
process of clutch filling time (t2) and turbine shaft speed (n_ t ).
The control parameters are adjusted adaptively according to the
monitored parameters, and the control parameter of the feedfor-
ward control is updated to prepare for the next control period. The
diagram of the control method is shown in Fig. 6, where D is the
duty cycle of the control command.

3.2. Torque phase control

Since the change of the speed signal is small and the torque,
pressure signal are not available, there is no feedback signal to
form a closed-loop control during the torque phase. Therefore, an
open-loop adaptive control strategy is adopted during the torque Fig. 7. The graphic of the clutch fill control.
phase according to the ideal phase control target.
For the ideal torque phase control, the clutch transmission
torque change rate is close to zero at the time of t2 and t3.
Considering the short time of the actual torque phase control,
the control process is simplified. In this paper, two different small
slopes are set. The smaller slope α1 is used during the beginning
time tt1 and the end time tt3, the slope α2 is used during the time
tt2 as shown in Fig. 7.
Therefore, in the torque-phase control process, the control
parameters should be determined which include the time para-
meters tt1, tt2, tt3 and the slope commands α1, α2. tt1, tt3 and α1
have smaller valves that have little impact on the control process.
The initial and final values of the control command are the key Fig. 8. The control method during torque phase.
202 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206

actuation system with the torque estimation, and T^ ch ðt 3 Þ is the where ktD 4 0, then the adaptive law follows
estimated torque at t3.
In order to overcome the perturbation of the system itself and θ_ 1 ¼ γ 1 e; θ_ 2 ¼ γ 2 e ð21Þ
the external environment, the model based adaptive control
strategy is used for the torque phase control as shown in Fig. 8. where γ1 and γ2 are adaptive gain coefficients. Substituting these
The reference model is derived from the models as discussed
in Section 2.
There is a linear relationship between the operating torque of
the off-going clutch and the filling slope of the on-coming clutch.
However, the oil discharge command β1 can realize the active
control on the friction torque decrease of clutch CL. While
modifying β1 or α2 can achieve the desired control objectives. In
the actual control, the off-going clutch is in a steady state
compared to on-coming clutch affected by the filling phase. Thus,
in the torque phase control, choosing α2 as the correction para-
meter. In order to avoid unnecessary correction at the ideal point,
the control range for the speed difference change rate of the off-
going clutch is set as

Δω_ mcl r Δω_ cl r 0 ð14Þ

where Δω _ mcl o 0 is the low boundary of the ideal clutch torque Fig. 9. Ideal trajectory of speed difference of clutch CH.

speed difference change rate at the end of the torque phase. In the
upshift, the clutch torque speed difference change rate should be
negative, while Δω _ mcl 4 0 indicates power interruption. Therefore,
the upper bound of the ideal clutch torque speed difference
change rate is limited to zero.
After the torque phase control, the relationship between the
speed difference change rate of the off-going clutch and the
transmitted torque of the on-coming clutch can be derived from
Eqs. (2) and (3)

ω_ t  ia ω_ rm 1 Ka K ia
Δω_ cl ¼ ¼ Tt  2 T cl  2 ab T ch þ Tv ð15Þ
iin iin I t iin I t I v iin I t I v i in I v
Fig. 10. Adaptive inertia phase control.
where K a ¼ i2a I t þ I v and K ab ¼ ia ib I t þ I v are constants which are
relevant to speed ratio, the equivalent inertia of load and turbine.
For the ideal torque phase control, the second term of the right
equation is zero. The third term can be expressed as

iin I v ia i I t
T nch ðt 3 Þ ¼ T t þ in T v ð16Þ
K ab K ab

According to Eqs. (15) and (16), the clutch control problem can
be converted into the clutch speed difference control which will be
close to zero. Therefore, the control error during the torque phase
based on the ideal control objective can be defined as
( Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.
Δω_ cl  Δω_ mcl ; Δω_ cl o Δω_ mcl
e¼ ð17Þ
Δω_ cl ; Δω_ cl 40

The adaptive controller design will calculate the control error

(e) between the ideal and actual control, making the control error
(e) close to zero via adjusting the correction coefficient (θ). The
Lyapunov function can be expressed as
8  
1 2 < 2 Δω _ cl  Δω
_ mcl 2 ; Δω
_ cl o Δω_ mcl
1
VðeÞ ¼ e ¼ 1 ð18Þ
2 : Δω _ 2
cl ; Δω cl 4 0
_
2

According to the Lyapunov criterion

∂e ∂Δω _ cl ∂T ch ∂P o ∂P c ∂D ∂α2 _
V_ ðeÞ ¼ ee_ ¼ e θ ð19Þ
∂ Δω_ cl ∂T ch ∂P o ∂P c ∂D ∂α2 ∂θ
 T
where θ ¼ θ1 ; θ2 .
Substituting Eq. (15) into Eq. (19)

K ∂α 2 _ 
V_ ðeÞ ¼ ee_ ¼  e 2 ab ktD θ ¼  γ e θ_ 1 T^ ch ðt 3 Þ þ θ_ 2 ð20Þ
iin I t I v ∂θ Fig. 12. Automatic transmission test bench.
 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206
into Eq. (20)
V_ ðeÞ ¼  γ ðγ 1 T^ ch ðt 3 Þ þ γ 2 Þe2 o 0
The first derivative of the Lyapunov function is negative,
therefore the error of the clutch speed difference change rate is
asymptotically stable, that is, when the time tends to infinity, the
clutch speed difference change rate tends to the ideal range, the
torque phase control achieves the desired objectives.
3.3. Inertia phase control
Shift process should ensure driving comfort and minimize the
undesired dissipated friction energy [30]. For the driving comfort,
the sudden output torque changes at the start and end of inertia
phase due to clutch CL releasing and clutch CH lock-up will cause
undesired shift shocks. The clutch engagement should meet the
no-lurch condition [31], that is, the rotational acceleration of
clutch input shaft should equal to that of the output shaft.
Therefore, the change rate of the speed difference at the start
and at the end of the inertia phase is zero. As regulating the
turbine acceleration at a constant value can effectively reduce the
shift shock, the change rate of the speed difference during the
inertia phase is a constant value. In order to dissipate the friction
energy, a previous study shows that regulating the inertia phase
duration at a constant value of 0.5 s can effectively mitigate the
clutch slip [32]. It is further assumed that the allowable range of
inertia phase time is also specified, and therefore the unnecessary
adaption of the control parameters near the ideal time may be
Fig. 13. Test of the gearshift: (a) 1st-to-2nd power on upshift and (b) 2nd-to-1st power on downshift.
203
prevented. The control objective can be stated by
ð22Þ tl r t2  t1 r th ð23Þ
Therefore, the ideal speed difference trajectory of the clutch as
shown in Fig. 9 should meet the following requirements:
 The change rate of the trajectory at t1 and t2 is zero.
 The overall time of the inertia phase coincides with the
target range.
In the inertia phase, a controller which gives the necessary duty
of solenoid is adopted. The initial duty command of the entry
pressure to inertia phase is given by the shift system. The actual
speed difference of on-coming clutch is continuously detected and
compared with the desired trajectory. Then the error is calculated
by the closed loop controller to work out the duty command of
next control cycle. The reference speed difference acceleration is
set so that the duration of the inertia phase within the bounds of
Eq. (23). Besides, the influence of friction coefficient variation is
also considered as the friction coefficient increases with the
decrease of the speed difference that will cause shift shock.
As the automatic transmission consists of a lot of uncertain
parameters and complexity in modelling, and the operating
environment fluctuates with time. The initial duty command
according to the system model cannot always ensure that the
speed difference tracks the desired trajectory well. Thus, adaptive
controller is present to deal with the complexity and uncertainty
in nonlinear dynamical shift processes (Fig. 10).
204 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206

Define the performance index as the quadratic function of monitoring and data acquisition. Besides, the test setup used in
deviation of the inertia phase time from the desirable range shown this research is equipped with all the standard sensors, such as
in Eq. (11) transmission input/output speed sensors, motor speed sensor and
8 clutch pressure transducers, which are installed for control objec-
1 2 < 2ðt t h Þ ; t 4 t h
1 2
J¼ e ¼ 1 ð24Þ tives validation, and are not installed on production vehicles.
2 : 2 ðt l  t Þ2 ; t o t l

Then, minimize the performance index to drive the error to
zero by using the gradient descent method, and the adaptive
updating law is modified by


de
uðk þ1Þ ¼ uðkÞ  λ e ð25Þ
du k
where u(k) is the initial control parameter for kth shift, u(kþ 1) is
the command for (k þ1)th shift and λ is the adaptive gain.
4. Experimental studies
4.1. Experimental setup
The experimental test setup is shown in Fig. 11. The real
automatic transmission test bench is shown in Fig. 12. A torque
controlled AC motor is used instead of an engine, and an inertia
mass equivalent to the vehicle inertia is installed at the transmis-
sion output shaft. The main processor of the transmission control
unit (TCU) is a 32bit microprocessor of the Freescales Company.
The supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is used for
4.2. Experimental results
In order to examine the shifting performance of control algo-
rithm that is proposed in this paper, shifting control experiment
for 1st-to-2nd power on upshift and 2nd-to-1st power on down-
shift is performed on a heavy duty vehicle. Fig. 13(a) and (b) shows
the test results of upshift and downshift respectively. As can be
seen from Fig. 13(a), the CH clutch fill stage is rapidly finished with
the high duty command, while CL clutch control command is
changed from high duty cycle into pre-release command Da1. This
command will move the spool of the pressure regulator valve back
to zero as well as keeping the CL clutch engagement. When the
change rate of the turbine speed begin to decline, the torque phase
starts after the fill stage. The CH clutch using variable slope
command to fill while CL clutch begin to dump with variable
slope command. The engine speed and the turbine shaft speed
basically remain the same in the fill and torque phase. However,
when the CL clutch speed difference exceeds a threshold [  Δωlim,
þ Δωlim] and the gear ratio deviates from 1st gear ratio, the CL
clutch is fully dump, the shift process going into inertia stage. In
the inertia stage, the control objective is the proposed ideal speed

Fig. 14. 3rd-to-4th power on upshift test with different control method: (a) 3rd-to-4th power on upshift with traditional control method and (b) 3rd-to-4th power on upshift
with adaptive control method.
 F. Meng et al. / Neurocomputing 159 (2015) 197–206
difference trajectory and an adaptive closed loop control strategy
is designed for the shift control. The results from Fig. 13(a) show
that after the end of the torque phase in the 93.85 s, the CL clutch
speed difference change rate is close to zero. The CH clutch speed
difference change rate is tracking the ideal trajectory well. The
speed difference change rate at the initial and final time is very
small which indicates that there is less shift shock.
Fig. 13(b) shows the results of the downshift process. The
traditional control methods are adopted for the downshift control.
From the test results we can see that the CH clutch dumps slowly
which lead to the turbine speed rising too fast and the CH clutch
speed difference change rate becomes larger. There is a shift shock
at this time. And the torque phase control results also affect the
inertia phase control. In the initial stage of the inertial phase, CL
clutch speed difference change rate drops too fast. The change rate
of CL clutch speed difference declines slowly due to the decreased
pressure of CH clutch. The traditional PID controller considering
traditional disturbance and setting control parameters. This will
affect the ideal trajectory tracking performance during the overall
inertia phase control. Therefore, the torque control with adaptive
control optimization results can reduce the control difficulty of
inertia phase.
Fig. 14 shows the vehicle test results of the 3rd-to-4th power on
upshift with different control strategies. Fig. 14(a) shows the
results without correction while Fig. 14(b) shows the correction
results with adaptive controller. In Fig. 14(a), the CH clutch
pressure is too low due to the fill stage is slow during the torque
phase, the total transmitted torque of the CH and CL clutch is
decreased, the turbine speed and engine speed increased signifi-
cantly after the end of torque phase which leads to a ‘reverse’ of
the clutch speed differential and gearbox ratio. The power inter-
ruption lasts more than 300 ms. This also leads to an adverse
initial condition for the inertia stage control.
Fig. 14(b) shows the results with modified control strategy. The
upshift starts at the engine speed 2010 r/min. The CH clutch is
filled with the fastest speed while the pressure of clutch CL
decreased to 11 bar. The torque stage control starts at the time
when monitoring the change rate of the turbine speed began to
decrease. The CL clutch began to dump with the β2 slope
command, and the CH clutch began to fill with the corrected α2
slope command until monitoring CL clutch speed difference
exceeds a threshold value, the shift process entering the inertia-
phase control. In the inertia phase, the inertia-phase time is
extended to 660 ms due to the change of the throttle that affects
the input of the transmission. Comparing with the correction and
traditional results based on the trajectory clutch speed difference
we can see that CL clutch speed difference change rate is close to
zero after the torque phase, whereas during the inertia phase, the
CH clutch speed difference can track the ideal target trajectory
better.
From the test results as discussed above, comparing the
proposed control strategy with the traditional control methods,
the new method can effectively optimize the shift quality during
the fill phase, torque phase and inertia phase. Actually, the shift
controller can suppress the shift shock, smooth shifting with the
hydraulic transmission oil temperature from 20 1C to 125 1C, the
engine speed from 800 r/min to 2100 r/min. And the control
parameters can be effectively corrected for the next shift control
process to optimize the shift quality. The results show that the
proposed control strategy has better adaptability and robustness.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, the robust adaptive control strategy for a clutch-
to-clutch control was investigated to improve the shift transients
205
and durability of the frictional parts of an automatic transmission
system. The control parameters used for the fill phase, torque
phase and inertia phase adaptive control method are calculated
based on the system model analysis. The experimental results of
the proposed control strategy reveal that the adaptive control
strategy during the shifts provides better performance in shift
transients than the conventional transmission control method. The
proposed shift control method can be applied to other gear
shifting processes to achieve better shift quality.
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feedback control with application to vibration active control of structural Intelligent Vehicle Research Center, Beijing Institute of
systems, Mechatronics 24 (4) (2014) 354–366. Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree from Beijing
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transmission, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part D—J. Autom. Eng. 225 (D8) (2011) covers automatic transmission, intelligent vehicle tech-
989–1005. nologies and software testing.
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Huiyan Chen is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering
(D8)) (2005) 951–963.
at the Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China. He
[32] M. Kulkarni, T. Shim, Y. Zhang, Shift dynamics and control of dual-clutch
is also a Professor at the Intelligent Vehicle Research
transmissions, Mech. Mach. Theory 42 (February (2)) (2007) 168–182.
Center, Beijing Institute of Technology, doctoral super-
visor, doctor of technical science. His research interest
covers vehicle automatic transmission theory and
design, intelligent vehicle technologies.
Fei Meng received his Ph.D. (2014) and M.S. (2008) in
Mechanical Engineering from Beijing Institute of Tech-
nology and B.S. (2006) in Mechanical Engineering and
Automation from Shangdong Jianzhu University, China.
Since 2014, he has been an Assistant Research Professor
with Merchant Marine College of Shanghai Maritime
University. His research interest includes control of
dynamical systems, optimal control and networked
control systems.