Data-driven Mass Estimation in Continuously Variable Transmission Agricultural Tractors

Many control vehicle systems are based on the knowledge of the current load. This trend has recently emerged also in heavy-duty and agricultural vehicles. Knowing the mass has in fact benefits both on safety and driving comfort. This paper proposes a mass estimation algorithm, based on already available sensors for an agricultural tractor equipped with a Continuously Variable Transmission. To this aim, the transmission model is derived, as the key ingredient of the mass estimate is the preliminary knowledge of the wheel torque. The latter, however, may be useful also for other control purposes, concerning, for example, longitudinal dynamics control. In the paper, the estimators proposed are applied on real world data.