Background:
Vehicles generally travel on different road conditions, and withstand strong
shock and vibration. In order to reduce or isolate the strong shock and vibration, it is necessary to propose
and develop a high-performance vehicle suspension system.
Objective:
This study aims to report a pneumatic artificial muscle bionic kangaroo leg suspension to
improve the comfort performance of vehicle suspension system.
Methods:
In summarizing the existing vehicle suspension systems and analyzing their advantages and
disadvantages, this paper introduces a new patent of vehicle suspension system based on the excellent
damping and buffering performance of kangaroo leg, A Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Bionic Kangaroo
Leg Suspension. According to the biomimetic principle, the pneumatic artificial muscles bionic kangaroo
leg suspension with equal bone ratio is constructed on the basis of the kangaroo leg crural index,
and two working modes (passive and active modes) are designed for the suspension. Moreover, the
working principle of the suspension system is introduced, and the rod system equations for the suspension
structure are built up. The characteristic simulation model of this bionic suspension is established
in Adams, and the vertical performance is analysed.
Results:
It is found that the largest deformation happens in the bionic heel spring and the largest angle
change occurs in the bionic ankle joint under impulse road excitation, which is similar to the dynamic
characteristics of kangaroo leg. Furthermore, the dynamic displacement and the acceleration of the
vehicle body are both sharply reduced.
Conclusion:
The simulation results show that the comfort performance of this bionic suspension is
excellent under the impulse road excitation, which indicates the bionic suspension structure is feasible
and reasonable to be applied to vehicle suspensions.
