INTRODUCTION

A traction control system (TCS), also known as Anti-Slip

Regulation (ASR), is typically (but not necessarily) a secondary
function of the anti-lock braking system on production vehicles, and
is designed to prevent loss of traction of the driven road wheels, and
therefore maintain the control of the vehicle when excessive throttle
is applied by the driver and the condition of the road surface (due
to varying factors) is unable to cope with the torque applied.
The basic idea behind the need of a traction control system is the
difference between the slips of different wheels or an apparent loss of
road grip that may result in loss of steering control over the vehicle.
Difference in slip may occur due to turning of a vehicle or differently
varying road conditions for different wheels. At high speeds, when a car
tends to turn, its outer and inner wheels are subjected to different speed
of rotation, that is conventionally controlled by using a differential. A
further enhancement of the differential is to employ an active
differential that can vary the amount of power being delivered to outer
and inner wheels according to the need (for example, if, while turning
right, outward slip (equivalently saying, 'yaw') is sensed, active
differential may deliver more power to the outer wheel, so as to
minimize the yaw (that is basically the degree to which the front and
rear wheels of a car are out of line.) Active-differential, in turn, is
controlled by an assembly of electromechanical sensors collaborating
with a traction control unit.
Background
In July 1998, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
published a report
entitled "Multiple Vehicle Crossover Accident, Slinger Wisconsin
February 12, 1997 "
(report number PB98-916203 NTSB HAR-98/01) which detailed the
results of an
accident investigation it had conducted.
This accident occurred on a roadway with patches of ice and
involved a tractor-double
trailer combination (“doubles”) losing control, crossing the median
and striking a flatbed
tractor trailer traveling in the opposite direction. The flatbed
tractor-trailer then crossed
the median and struck a van traveling in the opposite direction. In
the report the NTSB
concluded, among other things, that:
• The initial loss of stability was the result of wheel spin-up on the
doubles
combination’s single drive axle.
• At the speed and under the conditions in which the accident took
place,
antilock brake and traction control technology would have given
the
doubles truck driver more time to respond to the loss of stability.
In effect, NTSB felt that if the doubles vehicle had been equipped
with a traction control
system, the accident might not have occurred.
At the end of their report, NTSB made a number of
recommendations to various
organizations in government and industry. One of the
recommendations to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was to “Work
together with the
Federal Highway Administration, the American Trucking
Associations, the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Motor Freight Carrier
Association to conduct
laboratory and truck fleet testing to assess the safety benefits of
adding traction control
devices to antilock brake systems (ABS) and report your findings to
the National
Transportation Safety Board (H-98-15)” [recommendation
number].
The report that follows describes the project that was initiated by
the NHTSA to address
the NTSB recommendation relative to traction control systems and
testing.
A Vehicle Traction Control system helps the driver maintain
control of the vehicle during acceleration, particularly on a slippery
road. The Traction Control system reduces wheel slip and
maintains traction of all drive wheels by individually applying
brake to the slipping drive wheel and reducing the engine torque.
Different vehicles use different design, but the common purpose of
the Traction Control System remains the same - prevent drive
wheels from slipping during acceleration.
Let's see how the Electronic Traction Control System works in a
typical front-wheel drive car (In a front-wheel drive vehicle the
engine power is sent to the front wheels, so the front wheels are the
drive wheels).
Imagine you are accelerating from a stop on an icy road in a front-
wheel drive vehicle without Traction Control. If you accelerate very
gently, you might be OK, but if you press the gas pedal just a bit
harder, one or both front wheels could lose traction and begin to
spin on ice, so the vehicle would be very hard to control.
The Traction Control is designed to help in a situation like this.
Once the Traction Control System senses that any of the drive
wheel(s) starts slipping, it reduces the engine torque and shortly
applies the brake to the slipping wheel(s) to slow it down just
enough to regain traction, thus helping you to control your vehicle
during acceleration.

Typical Traction Control system is based on vehicle's Anti-lock

braking system (ABS) and uses many of ABS components. It utilizes
the ABS wheel speed sensors to monitor the speed of all four wheels.
When Traction Control system senses that the wheel looses traction
(begins to rotate faster) during acceleration, it applies the brakes to
that wheel using the ABS hydraulic module and commands the
Engine Control Module to reduce the engine power. When Traction
Control system operates, you could probably feel that the engine
power is reduced and hear some buzzing noise similar to that of
ABS. The Traction Control light may also flash.
EARLY TRACTION CONTROL
Powerful rear-drive cars from the sixties often had a primitive form of
traction control called a limited slip rear differential.
Volvo 760 pioneered and introduced electronic traction control to the
market.
In 1971, the Buick division of GM introduced Max Trac, which used an
early computer system to detect rear wheel spin .
Cadillac also introduced the ill fated Traction Monitoring System
(TMS) in 1979 on the redesigned Eldorado. It was criticized for it's slow
reaction time and extremely high failure rate.
Traction control is part of a series of three braking technology
developments that began appearing in vehicles in the mid-eighties.
In chronological order, these developments are: anti-lock brakes, aka
ABS (1978), traction control (1985), and stability control (1995).
The foundation of ABS and Traction Control were already in place
when Bosch pioneered Stability Control with their Electronic Stability
Program (ESP) in the Mercedes Benz E Class in 1995.
Today TCS has become a standard equipment even for small cars.

THEORY
Traction refers to the maximum static friction that could be
produced between given surfaces without slipping. If the driver full
acceleration it can occur that the maximum static friction is
surpassed and the wheels lose their grip and begin sliding. In the
design of wheel-propelled vehicles, higher traction between wheel
and ground is generally more desirable than lower traction, The
coefficient of traction is identical to the coefficient of static friction
except maximum static friction is named traction.
The basic idea behind the need of a traction control system is the
difference between the slips of different wheels or an apparent loss
of road grip that may result in loss of steering control over the
vehicle. Difference in slip may occur due to turning of a vehicle or
differently varying road conditions for different wheels. At high
speeds, when a car tends to turn, its outer and inner wheels are
subjected to different speed of rotation, that is conventionally
controlled by using a differential. A further enhancement of the
differential is to employ an active differential that can vary the
amount of power being delivered to outer and inner wheels
according to the need (for example, if, while turning right, outward
slip (equivalently saying, 'yaw') is sensed, active differential may
deliver more power to the outer wheel, so as to minimize the yaw
(that is basically the degree to which the front and rear wheels of a
car are out of line.) Active-differential, in turn, is controlled by an
assembly of electromechanical sensors collaborating with a traction
control unit.
Traction between two
surfaces depends on
several factors
including:
Material composition of
each surface.
Macroscopic
and microscopic
shape or "roughness".
Normal force pressing
contact surfaces
together.
Size of surface area at
contact.
Contaminants at the material boundary including lubricants and
adhesives.
The traction force is given by:
Traction Force = Driving Torque /Radius of Wheel.
 Basic operation
The Traction control System is designed to maintain vehicle
control, directional stability and optimum deceleration under all
conditions on most road surfaces
The sensors monitor the speed of the wheels. The sensors generate a
signal that is proportional to wheel speed, so by comparing wheel
speeds the TCS can detect changes that indicate a wheel is losing
traction, skidding or spinning.
When traction control is needed, it applies the brakes on the drive
wheel(s) that is losing traction. Slowing the wheel allows it to regain
traction. At the same time, torque is shifted through the open
differential to the opposite wheel that still has traction
When a wheel is about to slip, the control unit signals the hydraulic
unit to reduce hydraulic pressure (or not increase it further) at that
wheel’s brake caliper. Pressure modulation is handled by
electrically-operated solenoid valves
When the traction control computer (often incorporated into another
control unit, like the anti-lock braking system module) detects one or
more drive wheels spinning significantly faster than another, it will use
the ABS to apply brake friction to the wheels that are spinning too fast.
This braking action on the slipping wheel(s) will cause power to be
transferred to the wheels that are not due to the mechanical action
within a differential. all-wheel drive vehicles also often have an
electronically controlled coupling system in the transfer case or
transaxle that is engaged (in an active part time AWD), or locked up
tighter (in a true full-time set up that drives all the wheels with some
power all the time) to supply the non-slipping wheels with (more)
torque.
This often occurs in conjunction with the powertrain computer reducing
available engine torque by electronically limiting throttle application
and/or fuel delivery, retarding ignition spark, completely shutting down
engine cylinders, and a number of other methods, depending on the
vehicle and how much technology is used to control the engine and
transmission.
 Automatic traction control (ATC) systems (also called ASR for
automatic slip regulation)
are currently available as regular production options on most heavy
commercial vehicles
(power units). These systems are integrated with ABS which is now
mandatory for all air-braked vehicles and vehicles with hydraulic brakes
having a GVWR in excess of 10,000 lbs. These systems utilize
components of the ABS as well as additional components specific to the
ATC.
The ABS wheel speed sensors are used to determine drive axle(s) slip
by comparing the speed of the drive axle(s) wheels to the speed of the
wheels on the steering axle. When the speed of the drive axle(s) exceeds
that of the steering wheels by some predetermined amount, the traction
control software in the ABS electronic control unit (ECU) can command
either of two different events: 1) a reduction of engine speed (RPM) and
2) application of the drive axle brakes on one side of the drive axle(s).
ATC serves two primary operational functions:
1. Improves mobility on low friction surfaces allowing the vehicle to
start from a stop when the vehicle is on a grade.
2. Prevents skidding while driving at highway speeds caused by over-
speeding and spinning the drive wheels.
To improve mobility (Item 1), both the engine speed reduction and
brake apply functions are utilized. Skidding and loss of stability at
higher speeds (Item 2) is controlled via engine speed reduction only
since brake application at higher speeds could result in brake
overheating. The report which follows deals only with the engine speed
reduction function of ATC.
Components
Wheel Speed Sensors
TCS Control Module
Hydraulic Modulator
Pump Motor & Accumulator

Wheel Speed Sensors

The wheel speed sensor pickup has a magnetic core surrounded by
coil consist of a magnetic pickup and a toothed sensor ring.
As the wheel turns, teeth on the sensor ring move through the
pickup magnetic field.
This reverses the polarity of the magnetic field and induces an
alternating current (AC) voltage in the pickup windings

The number of voltage pulses per second that are induced in the
pickup changes in direct proportion to wheel speed. So as speed
increases, the frequency and amplitude of the wheel speed sensor
goes up.
The WSS signal is sent to the control module, where the AC signal
is converted into a digital signal and then processed
The control module then counts pulses to monitor changes in wheel
speed.
TCS Control Module
The control module is a microprocessor and uses input from its
sensors to regulate hydraulic pressure during braking to prevent
wheel slip. The key inputs are wheel speed sensors and a brake
pedal switch. The switch signals the control module when the
brakes are being applied, which causes it to go from a standby"
mode to an active mode
When braking is needed, the control module kicks into action and
orders the hydraulic unit to modulate brake pressure as needed.
Hydraulic Modulator
The hydraulic modulator or actuator unit contains the ABS
solenoid valves for each brake circuit .
Traction control typically adds an extra solenoid valve in the ABS
modulator for each drive wheel's brake circuit. Some have a pair of
on-off solenoid valves for each brake circuit while others use a
single valve that can operate in more than one position
Pump Motor & Accumulator
A high pressure electric pump is used in some TCS systems to
generate power assist for normal braking as well as the
reapplication of brake pressure during traction control.
The fluid pressure that is generated by the pump is stored in the
"accumulator."
The accumulator on TCS systems where the hydraulic modulator is part
of the master cylinder assembly consists of a pressure storage chamber
filled with nitrogen gas.
simplified mathematics behind wheel slip

Suppose a FWD vehicle weighs 1000 kg. Its engine produces 100
Nm torque at some RPM. It wheels have radii of 0.2 m.
m = 1000kg; T = 100Nm; r = 0.2m
Assuming 60%; of car's weight is on front wheels,
each wheel carry a load of 1000*0.6/2 = 300 kg.
Approximating g = 10 m/s2 and coeff. of friction of dry road = 0.9,
the tractive force on each wheel comes at = u*m*g = 0.9*300*10 =
2700 N
Assume car's 2nd gear ratio 0.5 and final drive is 0.25.
Then 100 Nm engine torque will appear on drive shaft as =
100/0.5/0.25 = 800 Nm
Torque at each wheel = propulsive force * radius of wheel
For FWD cars, torque is applied at two front wheels.
So propulsive force at each wheel = (800/2)/0.2 = 2000 N
The wheel slip occurs if propulsive force is greater than tractive
force.
. This simple calculation shows:
Why it is said that you can easily skid on wet and on ice (where
friction coeff. is very low)!
Why it is advised that you should use higher gears (thus less
available torque on wheels) while driving on snow.
Why 4WD has greater traction (its torque is shared by 4 wheels
instead of 2 so propulsive force at each wheel is 50 percnt; less
compared to 2WD, leads to less prone to skidding)
Oversteer

If the vehicle oversteers, the rear wheels lose traction and the
vehicle tends to follow the red dotted line.
Oversteer can throw the car into a spin.
The car is said to oversteer when the rear wheels do not track
behind the front wheels but instead slide out toward the outside of
the turn.
Causes of oversteer
The tendency of a car to oversteer is affected by several factors such
as mechanical traction, aerodynamics and suspension, and driver
control.
oversteer is the condition when the slip angle of the rear tires
exceeds that of the front tires. This occurs because the rear tires
must handle both the lateral cornering force and engine torque.

UNDERSTEER
If the vehicle understeers, the front wheels lose traction and the vehicle
tends to follow the red dotted line.
In simpler words understeer is the condition in which the front tires do
not follow the trajectory the driver is trying to impose while taking the
corner, instead following a more straight line trajectory

understeer happens when the front tires have a reduction in traction

during a cornering situation, causing the front-end of the vehicle to have
less mechanical grip and become unable to follow the trajectory in the
corner.

The difference between the circle the wheels are currently tracing and
the direction in which they are pointed is the slip angle.
If the slip angles of the front and rear wheels are equal, the car is in a
neutral steering state.
If the slip angle of the front wheels exceeds that of the rear, the vehicle
is said to be under steering.
If the slip angle of the rear wheels exceeds that of the front, the vehicle
is said to be oversteering.
Uses
In road cars: Traction control has traditionally been a safety
feature in high-performance cars,
In race cars: Traction control is used as a performance
enhancement, allowing maximum traction under acceleration
without wheel spin.
In motorsports: In Formula One, an effort to ban TC has led to the
change of rules for 2008: every car must have a standard ECU,
issued by FIA, which is relatively basic and does not have TC
capabilities
A.B.S vs T.C.S
ABS and traction control operate similarly. In fact, the ABS control
unit is the basic "building block" for traction control
A.B.S T.C.S
ABS works by sensing slippage at
the wheels during braking,
and continually adjusting
braking pressure to ensure maximum contact between the tires and
the road.
ABS can control individual wheels’ braking forces
The hydraulic modulator or actuator unit contains the ABS
solenoid valves for each brake circuit
The TCS traction control prevents the driven wheels spinning
during drive-off.
Traction Control controls individual wheels’ acceleration forces.
Traction control typically adds an extra solenoid valve in the ABS
modulator for each drive wheel's brake circuit.
ADVANTAGES
Traction control improves safety during bad weather driving and
reduces wear on tires by preventing excessive wheel slip.

Major roles of the traction control system (TCS) are to guarantee

the acceleration performance

Directional stability even in extreme road conditions, under which

average drivers may not control the car properly.

The TCS traction control prevents the driven wheels spinning

during drive-off.