Hydromechanical steering and trasmission system for AGV's in the primary aluminium industry

This thesis was taken during an internship in Techmo Car S.P.A. which is one of the main company in producing machine for the the primary aluminium industry. Techmo is collaborating with the University of Padova to design a self-driving vehicle. In literature, with regard to vehicle modelling, one usually chooses to adopt the kinematic model i.e.the two front wheels are considered equivalent to a single wheel in the middle of the corresponding axle, and the same applies to the two rear wheels. The main objective of this thesis is to see whether by implementing a more complex model , called double track (DT), the results obtained from the real system. In the DT model there are two steered wheels at the front and two non-steered wheels at the rear. Considering two steered wheels causes new relationships to be introduced that will later be included in the model. The dynamics that are integrated in the new model are mechanical (i.e. the steering system and differential) and hydraulic (i.e. hydroguide).