Design, Modeling and Ride Analysis of Energy-Harvesting Hydraulically Interconnected Suspension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonan Qin ◽  
Yuzhe Chen ◽  
Lei Zuo

Abstract This paper introduces a novel energy-harvesting hydraulically interconnected suspension (EH-HIS) to improve the riding comfort and road handling performance for off-road vehicles while harvesting the vibration energy traditionally dissipated into heat by the oil shock absorbers. To understand the system, we built a model of the off-road vehicle equipped with the EH-HIS and conducted the performance analysis. The system model is established based on the pressure drop principle and validated by commercial simulation software AMESim. The damping characteristic and energy harvesting performance have been investigated based on the mathematical suspension model. Further, a thorough analysis is implemented to compare the dynamic responses of the vehicle equipped with the traditional suspension and EH-HIS under different driving speeds and road classes. Results show that the EH-HIS system can provide tunable asymmetric damping from 3134 Ns/ to 7558 Ns/m, which covers most of the damping range of the off-road vehicles. The average regenerative power of the half EH-HIS system reaches 438 watts, and the corresponding hydraulic efficiency reaches 19%, at a vibration input of 2 Hz frequency and 30 mm amplitude. The ride analysis shows that the vehicle equipped with the EH-HIS system on the D class road has good handling stability and better ride comfort over the traditional suspension.

Author(s):  
Sijing Guo ◽  
Lin Xu ◽  
Yilun Liu ◽  
Xuexun Guo ◽  
Lei Zuo

Energy-Harvesting Shock Absorber (EHSA), as a large-scale energy-harvesting mechanism for recovering suspension vibration energy, has been studied for years. A design of the regenerative shock absorber with Mechanical Motion Rectifier (MMR) has been proved to be more reliable and efficient. This paper reports a comprehensive study of the influence of MMR-based Energy-Harvesting Shock Absorber (MMR-EHSA) on vehicle dynamics performances. Models of MMR-EHSA and vehicle with MMR-EHSA with two degrees of freedom are created. Simulations are conducted on five typical vehicles, including passenger car, bus and three types of trucks. The ride characteristics of comfort, road handling and energy recovery are evaluated on these vehicles under various MMR rotational inertia and harvesting damping. The simulation results show that MMR-EHSA is able to improve both the ride comfort and road handling simultaneously under certain conditions over the traditional shock absorbers, which broadens our knowledge of MMR-EHSA’s applicable scenarios.


Author(s):  
Lin Xu ◽  
Yilun Liu ◽  
Sijing Guo ◽  
Xuexun Guo ◽  
Lei Zuo

Many energy-harvesting shock absorbers have been proposed in recent years, the most popular design is the electromagnetic harvester including linear electromagnetic shock absorbers, rotational electromagnetic shock absorbers, the mechanical motion rectifier (MMR), and the hydraulic-electromagnetic energy-regenerative shock absorber (HESA). With different energy converting mechanisms, the complicated effects of the inertia and nonlinear damping behaviors will greatly influence the vehicle dynamic performance such as the ride comfort and road handling. In this paper, we will theoretically analyze the dynamics of the suspension system with the HESA and give a guide for the HESA design. Then a simulation model of the HESA is built in AMESim to make comparison studies on the different vehicle dynamics caused by the nonlinear damping behaviors of the HESA. The advantages of HESA in terms of ride comfort and road handling will be evaluated in comparison with the similar design without accumulators and the traditional oil shock absorbers.


Author(s):  
Peng Li ◽  
Lei Zuo

Regenerative shock absorbers have potential to recover a large amount of kinetic energy from vehicle vibration otherwise dissipated in traditional oil shock absorbers and at the same time to improve the ride comfort and road handling performances. Linear, rotational and mechanical motion rectifier (MMR) based electromagnetic designs have been proposed. They all have different energy conversion mechanisms, mass inertia effects, and even some nonlinear structures which make the damping behavior more complex; therefore their influence to the whole vehicle dynamics will need to be carefully assessed. This paper will present an integrated equivalent circuit model of the vehicle with electromagnetic regenerative shock absorbers, and then evaluate the vehicle dynamics performance and energy harvesting potential with different design parameters and under variable road conditions. The performance of different mechanisms of electromagnetic regenerative shock absorbers and constant shock absorber will be compared. Design guidelines for rotational electromagnetic regenerative shock absorbers will be developed based on analysis and simulation results.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4378
Author(s):  
Jorge A. Reyes-Avendaño ◽  
Ciro Moreno-Ramírez ◽  
Carlos Gijón-Rivera ◽  
Hugo G. Gonzalez-Hernandez ◽  
José Luis Olazagoitia

Energy harvesting shock absorbers (EHSA) have made great progress in recent years, although there are still no commercial solutions for this technology. This paper addresses the question of whether, and under what conditions, an EHSA can completely replace a conventional one. In this way, any conventional suspension could be replicated at will, while recovering part of the wasted energy. This paper focuses on mimicking the original passive damper behavior by continuously varying the electrical parameters of the regenerative damper. For this study, a typical ball-screw EHSA is chosen, and its equivalent suspension parameters are tried to be matched to the initial damper. The methodology proposes several electrical control circuits that optimize the dynamic behavior of the regenerative damper from the continuous variation of a load resistance. The results show that, given a target damper curve, the regenerative damper can adequately replicate it when there is a minimum velocity in the damper. However, when the damper velocity is close to zero, the only way to compensate for inertia is through the introduction of external energy to the system.


Vehicles ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-232
Author(s):  
Ludwig Herzog ◽  
Klaus Augsburg

The important change in the transition from partial to high automation is that a vehicle can drive autonomously, without active human involvement. This fact increases the current requirements regarding ride comfort and dictates new challenges for automotive shock absorbers. There exist two common types of automotive shock absorber with two friction types: The intended viscous friction dissipates the chassis vibrations, while the unwanted solid body friction is generated by the rubbing of the damper’s seals and guides during actuation. The latter so-called static friction impairs ride comfort and demands appropriate friction modeling for the control of adaptive or active suspension systems. In this article, a simulation approach is introduced to model damper friction based on the most friction-relevant parameters. Since damper friction is highly dependent on geometry, which can vary widely, three-dimensional (3D) structural FEM is used to determine the deformations of the damper parts resulting from mounting and varying operation conditions. In the respective contact zones, a dynamic friction model is applied and parameterized based on the single friction point measurements. Subsequent to the parameterization of the overall friction model with geometry data, operation conditions, material properties and friction model parameters, single friction point simulations are performed, analyzed and validated against single friction point measurements. It is shown that this simulation method allows for friction prediction with high accuracy. Consequently, its application enables a wide range of parameters relevant to damper friction to be investigated with significantly increased development efficiency.


Author(s):  
Giampiero Mastinu ◽  
Massimiliano Gobbi ◽  
Carlo Miano

Author(s):  
Amanda Saunders ◽  
Darris White ◽  
Marc Compere

Abstract BAJA SAE is an engineering competition that challenges teams to design single-seat all-terrain vehicles that participate in a vast number of events, predominately on soft soils. Efficient performance in the events depends on the traction forces, which are dependent on the mechanical properties of the soil. To accurately model vehicle performance for each event, a model of the tire traction performance is required, and the tire model must be incorporated with a vehicle dynamics simulation. The traction forces at the soil-tire interface can be estimated using the Bekker-Wong stress integration method. However, commercially available vehicle dynamics simulation software, with a focus on on-road vehicles, does not utilize Bekker-Wong parameters. The Pacejka Magic Tire (MT) Formula is a common method for characterizing tire behavior for on-road vehicles. The parameters for the Pacejka MT Formula are usually produced by curve fitting measured tire data. The lack of available measured off-road tire data, as well as the additional variables for off-road tire performance (e.g. soil mechanics), make it difficult for BAJA SAE teams to simulate vehicle performance using commercial vehicle simulation tools. This paper discusses the process and results for estimating traction performance using the Bekker-Wong stress integration method for soft soils and then deriving the Pacejka coefficients based on the Bekker-Wong method. The process will enable teams to use the Pacejka Magic Tire Formula coefficients for simulating vehicle performance for BAJA SAE events, such as the hill climb, (off-road) land maneuverability, tractor pull, etc.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln Bowen ◽  
Jordi Vinolas ◽  
José Luis Olazagoitia

Numerous authors have studied Energy Harvesting Shock Absorbers (EHSA) over the last decade, proposing different designs with diverse geometries, parameters, and components. This article analyzes the energy recovery potential of two types of rotational EHSA, those that use ball-screw and those based on cable transmission. This paper presents the design, manufacturing and mathematical modeling of both options as well as the estimation of the potential power recovery with both technologies. Two types of vehicles are used as references, each one with the characteristic curves of their shock absorbers. Results are presented for different vehicle speeds and road types. Finally, some qualitative characteristics of both EHSAs are detailed to be taken into consideration for their possible use in vehicle suspension.


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