Track Tension Monitoring in the Longitudinal Traveling of Tracked Vehicles

The track tension is closely related to the maneuverability of tracked vehicles and the durability of tracks and suspension systems. In order to minimize the excessive load on the tracks and to pre vent the peal-off of tracks from the road wheels, it is required to maintain the optimum track tension throughout the maneuver. However, the track tension cannot be easily measured due to the limitation in the sensor technology, harsh environment, etc. In this paper an indirect track tension monitoring system is developed based on idler assembly models, a geometric relation around the idler, and the tractive force estimated by using the Extended Kalman Filter. The performance of the tension monitoring system is verified with the results obtained from the Multi-Body Dynamics model.