An experimental and theoretical investigation into the design of an active suspension system for a racing car

Author(s):  
D. J. Purdy ◽  
D. N. Bulman

The well-established quarter car representation is used to investigate the design of an active suspension system for a racing car. The work presented is from both a practical and theoretical study. The experimental open-loop and passive responses of the suspension system are used to validate the model and estimate the level of damping within the system. A cascade control structure is used, consisting of an inner body acceleration loop and an outer ride height loop. Comparisons are made between the experimental results and those predicted by the theory. During the 1980s and early 1990s a number of Formula 1 teams developed active suspension systems to improve the performance of cars. Little detail was published about these systems because of the highly competitive nature of the application. Some of these systems were very sophisticated and successful. Because of this, speed increased considerably and because of the costs involved, the difference in performance between the lower and higher funded teams became unacceptable. For this reason, the governing body of motor sport decided to ban active suspensions from the end of the 1993 racing season. Both authors of this paper were involved with different racing teams at that time, and this paper is an introduction to the very basic philosophy behind a typical active system that was employed on a Formula 1 car.

Author(s):  
E.M Allam ◽  
M.A.A Emam ◽  
Eid.S Mohamed

This paper presents the effect of the suspension working space, body displacement, body acceleration and wheel displacement for the non-controlled suspension system (passive system) and the controlled suspension system of a quarter car model (semi-active system), and comparison between them. The quarter car passive and semi-active suspension systems are modelled using Simulink. Proportional Integral Derivative controllers are incorporated in the design scheme of semi-active models. In the experimental work, the influence of switchable damper in a suspension system is compared with the passive and semi-active suspension systems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 956-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rodriguez ◽  
Paul Cranga ◽  
Simon Chesne ◽  
Luc Gaudiller

This paper considers experiments on the control of a helicopter gearbox hybrid electromagnetic suspension. As the new generation of helicopters includes variable engine revolutions per minute (RPMs) during flight, it becomes relevant to add active control to their suspension systems. Most active system performance derives directly from the controller construction, its optimization to the system controlled, and the disturbances expected. An investigation on a feedback and feedforward filtered-x least mean square (FXLMS) control applied to an active DAVI suspension has been made to optimize it in terms of narrow-band disturbance rejection. In this paper, we demonstrate the efficiency of a new hybrid active suspension by combining the advantages of two different approaches in vibration control: resonant absorbers and active suspensions. Here, a hybrid active suspension based on the passive vibration filter called DAVI is developed. The objective of this paper is to prove the relevancy of coupling a resonant vibration absorber with a control actuator in order to create an active suspension with larger bandwidth efficiency and low energy consumption. The simulations and experimentation achieved during this suspension system development support this hypothesis and illustrate the efficiency and low energy cost of this smart combination.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Biglarbegian ◽  
William Melek ◽  
Farid Golnaraghi

Semi-active suspension systems allow for adjusting the vehicle shock damping and hence improved suspension performance can be achieved over passive methods. This paper presents the design of a novel fuzzy control structure to concurrently improve ride comfort and road handling of vehicles with semi-active suspension system. A full car model with seven degrees of freedom is adopted that includes the vertical, roll, and pitch motions as well as the vertical motions of each wheel. Four decentralized fuzzy controllers are developed and applied to each individual damper in the vehicle suspension system. Mamdani’s method is applied to infer the damping coefficient output from the fuzzy controller. To evaluate the performance of the proposed controller, numerical analyses were carried out on a real road bump. Moreover, results were compared with well-known and widely used controllers such as Skyhook. It is shown that the proposed fuzzy controller is capable of achieving enhanced ride comfort and road handling over other widely used control methods.


2013 ◽  
Vol 805-806 ◽  
pp. 1645-1649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Quan Sun ◽  
Li Feng Zhao ◽  
Wei Xiang

This paper propose the study of automobile active suspension system for the purpose of improving ride comfort to passengers and simultaneously improving the stability of vehicle by reducing vibration effects on suspension system. A fuzzy-logic-based control for vehicle-active suspension is suggested. The vehicle vibration and disturbance are reduced considerably with a fuzzy logic controller, to enhance comfort in riding faced with uncertain road terrains. A quarter-car active suspension system is controlled to reduce the vertical acceleration, suspension stroke and tire deflection. Simulation studies clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the fuzzy logic controller for active suspension systems. The performance of the fuzzy logic controller under variations in the suspension component characteristics are also studied and are found to give reasonably good responses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 952-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wu Qin ◽  
Wen-Bin Shangguan ◽  
Kegang Zhao

Based on a nonlinear two-degree-of-freedom model of active suspension systems, an approach of the sliding mode control with disturbance observer combining skyhook model sliding mode control with disturbance observer combining is proposed for improving the performance of active suspension systems, and the effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by the active suspension system plant. Two problems of active suspension systems are solved by using the proposed approach when the tire is excited by the step displacement. One problem is that the suspension deflection of active suspension systems, i.e. the difference between the sprung mass displacement and the unsprung mass displacement, using conventional sliding mode control with disturbance observer not converges to zero in finite time, and the phenomenon of the impact of suspension against the limit block is produced. This problem is solved by providing a reference value of the sprung mass displacement in an active suspension system, which is obtained from the skyhook model. The other problem is that disturbances exist in active suspension systems, which are caused by the inaccurate parameters of stiffness and damping. This problem is solved by designing a disturbance observer to estimate the summation of the disturbances. Finally, the performance indexes of the active suspension system with the sliding mode control with disturbance observer combining skyhook model are calculated and compared with those of using the conventional sliding mode control with disturbance observer and the linear quadratic regulator approach.


Author(s):  
Amit Shukla ◽  
Jeong Hoi Koo

Nonlinear active suspension systems are very popular in the automotive applications. They include nonlinear stiffness and nonlinear damping elements. One of the types of damping element is a magneto-rheological fluid based damper which is receiving increased attention in the applications to the automotive suspension systems. Latest trends in suspension systems also include electronically controlled systems which provide advanced system performance and integration with various processes to improve vehicle ride comfort, handling and stability. A control bifurcation of a nonlinear system typically occurs when its linear approximation loses stabilizability. These control bifurcations are different from the classical bifurcation where qualitative stability of the equilibrium point changes. Any nonlinear control system can also exhibit control bifurcations. In this paper, control bifurcations of the nonlinear active suspension system, modeled as a two degree of freedom system, are analyzed. It is shown that the system looses stability via Hopf bifurcation. Parametric control bifurcation analysis is conducted and results presented to highlight the significance of the design of control system for nonlinear active suspension system. A framework for the design of feedback using the parametric analysis for the control bifurcations is proposed and illustrated for the nonlinear active suspension system.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalpesh Singal ◽  
Rajesh Rajamani

Previous research has shown that a semiactive automotive suspension system can provide significant benefits compared to a passive suspension but cannot quite match the performance of a fully active system. The advantage of the semiactive system over an active system is that it consumes almost zero energy by utilizing a variable damper whose damping coefficient is changed in real time, while a fully active suspension consumes significant power for its operation. This paper explores a new zero-energy active suspension system that combines the advantages of semiactive and active suspensions by providing the performance of the active system at zero energy cost. Unlike a semiactive system in which the energy is always dissipated, the proposed system harvests and recycles energy to achieve active operation. An electrical motor-generator is used as the zero-energy actuator and a controller and energy management system are developed. An energy adaptive sky-hook gain is proposed to prevent the system from running out of energy, thereby eliminating the need to switch between passive and active systems. The results show that the system performs at least as well as a passive system for all frequencies, and is equivalent to an active system for a broad range of frequencies including both resonant frequencies.


1979 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
L. M. Sweet ◽  
H. C. Curtiss ◽  
R. A. Luhrs

A linearized model of the pitch-heave dynamics of a Tracked Ram Air Cushion Vehicle is presented. This model is based on aerodynamic theory which has been verified by wind tunnel and towed model experiments. The vehicle is assumed to be equipped with two controls which can be configured to provide various suspension system characteristics. The ride quality and dynamic motions of the fixed winglet vehicle moving at 330 km/hr over a guideway described by roughness characteristics typical of highways is examined in terms of the rms values of the vertical acceleration in the foremost and rearmost seats in the passenger cabin and the gap variations at the leading and trailing edges of the vehicle. The improvement in ride quality and dynamic behavior which can be obtained by passive and active suspension systems is examined and discussed. Optimal regulator theory is employed to design the active suspension system. The predicted rms values of the vertical acceleration in the one-third octave frequency bands are compared with the vertical ISO Specifications. It is shown that marked improvements in the ride quality can be obtained with either the passive or active suspension systems.


Author(s):  
Amit Shukla

Design of active suspension systems is well known, however the notion of control bifurcations for the design of such systems has been introduced recently. A nonlinear active suspension system consisting of a magneto-rheological damper is analyzed in this work. It is well known that a parameterized nonlinear differential equation can have multiple equilibria as the parameter is varied. A local bifurcation of a parameterized nonlinear system typically happens because some eigenvalues of the parameterized linear approximating differential equation cross the imaginary axis and there is a change in stability of the equilibrium. The qualitative change in the equilibrium point can be characterized by investigating the projection of the flow on the center manifold. A control bifurcation of a nonlinear system typically occurs when its linear approximation loses stabilizability. In this work the control bifurcations of a magneto-rheological fluid based active suspension system is analyzed. Some parametric results are presented with suggestions on how to design nonlinear control based on the parametric control bifurcation analysis as applied to the design of an active suspension system.


Author(s):  
Vikas Prasad ◽  
P. Seshu ◽  
Dnyanesh N. Pawaskar

Abstract In this paper, the design of the suspension system for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) is proposed, which deals with two performance criteria simultaneously. A semi-tractor trailer is used in present work and modeled with half vehicle model. Four types of linear, as well as non-linear, passive and semi-active suspension systems, are presented in this work. The control law is proposed for the semi-active suspension system using a PID controller to remove the need for passive damper along with active damper. Two objective optimization is performed using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). Road Damage (RD) is taken as the first objective along with Goods Damage (GD) as the second objective. All problems are minimization problems. It is concluded based on Pareto front comparison of different suspension systems that the semi-active suspension system with the proposed control law performs well for HGV.


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