Modeling and control of hybrid MR seat damper and whole body vibration evaluation for bus drivers

This paper describes the design, simulation, and performance evaluation of hybrid MR damper on quarter bus semi-active seat suspension coupled with human biodynamic model. Also, the whole body vibration (WBV) exposures were evaluated based on the international standard ISO 2631 (1997), and its parameters were used to measure the level of discomfort for bus drivers. The hybrid MR damper was proposed to enhance the damping force within low current supplied and achieve a fail-soft capability in case of electrical failure. The characteristics of the proposed hybrid MR damper were compared to the conventional MR damper by considering the same size, materials, and current input. The designed damper was incorporated to seat suspension system coupled with biodynamic lumped model, and the governing equations of motion of the full model were derived. Skyhook controller was used to control the amount of current to be supplied to hybrid MR damper. The controlled semi-active hybrid MR and conventional MR seat suspension are compared to uncontrolled system for two types of road excitation. The simulated results show that the driver seat comfort was improved by the skyhook controller than the uncontrolled case. The evaluated WBV showed that the hybrid MR damper can improve the driver life from fairly uncomfortable to little discomfort.

Nonlinear Dynamic Modelling of a Suspension Seat for Predicting the Vertical Seat Transmissibility

Suspension seats are widely used in heavy vehicles to reduce vibration transmitted to human body and promote ride comfort. Previous studies have shown that the dynamics of the suspension seat exhibits nonlinear behaviour with changed vibration magnitudes. Despite various linear seat models developed in the past, a nonlinear model of the suspension seat capturing the nonlinear dynamic behaviour of the seat suspension and cushion has not been developed for the prediction of the seat transmissibility. This paper proposes a nonlinear lumped parameter model of the suspension seat to predict the nonlinear dynamic response of the seat. The suspension seat model comprises of a nonlinear suspension submodel integrated with a nonlinear cushion submodel. The parameters of the submodels are determined by minimizing the error between the simulated and the measured transmissibility of the suspension mechanism and the force-deflection curve of the seat cushion, respectively. The model of the complete seat is then validated using the seat transmissibility measured with inert mass under vertical vibration excitation. The results show that the proposed suspension seat model can be used to predict the seat transmissibility with various excitation magnitudes.

Multi-objective optimization of vehicle seat suspension with friction under random excitation

A seat suspension contributes greatly to vehicle ride comfort as a result of direct contact with the human body. Friction in a seat suspension produces strong non-smooth nonlinearity in seat dynamics, which makes the simulation-based optimization on the seat suspension’s performance time-consuming. This study tries to address parameter optimization on a vehicle seat suspension with the friction force in an analytical approach. A two degrees of freedom model is firstly established for the human body-seat system with friction and subjected to bandlimited random excitation. The nonlinear model is converted into an equivalent linear model by using Gaussian linearization. The dynamic responses of the linear model have then derived analytically and validated by Monte Carlo simulations. Based on the analytical solution, a multi-objective optimization strategy is proposed for the seat suspension. The acceleration of the human body and the suspension travel are chosen as the objective indexes to evaluate seat performance. Simulation results show that the proposed optimization strategy is efficient, where a global optimum is guaranteed owing to the analytical expression of the objective function. The optimization approach taking advantage of model linearization can be applied to similar mechanical systems with friction.

Effect of delayed resonator on the vibration reduction performance of vehicle active seat suspension

The combination of dynamic vibration absorber and partial state feedback with time-delay is called delayed resonator. In order to suppress the seat vibration caused by uneven road surface and improve ride comfort, the delayed resonator is applied to the seat suspension to realize active control of the seat suspension system. The dynamic model of the half-vehicle suspension system is established, and the time-delay differential equation of the system under external excitation is solved by the precise integration method. The root mean square of the time-domain vibration response of seat displacement, seat acceleration and vehicle acceleration are selected as the objective function. Then, the optimal time-delay control parameters are obtained by particle swarm optimization algorithm. The frequency sweeping method is used to obtain the critical time-delay value and time-delay stable interval of the system. Finally, an active seat suspension model with delayed resonator is established for numerical simulation. The results show that the delayed resonator can greatly suppress the seat vibration response regardless of the road simple harmonic excitation or random excitation. Compared with dynamic vibration absorber, it has a better vibration absorption effect and a wider vibration reduction frequency band.

Design of cab seat suspension system for construction machinery based on negative stiffness structure

In order to improve the vibration isolation performance of cab seat and ride comfort of the driver, a seat suspension structure of construction machinery cab is proposed based on negative stiffness structure (NSS) in this paper. The influences of different parameters of suspension system on dynamic stiffness are analyzed. The configuration parameter range of suspension system is obtained. Then, the nonlinear dynamic equation of the seat suspension system is established and the NSS optimization model is proposed. The vibration transmissibility characteristics of suspension structure are analyzed by different methods. The results show that the displacement and acceleration amplitude of optimized seat suspension system are obviously reduced, and the VDV and RMS in the vertical vibration direction for the seat are respectively decreased by 87% and 86%. The vibration transmissibility rate SEAT and the Ttrans are both decreased. Moreover, the peak frequencies of the vibration transmitted to the driver are not near the key frequency values which are easy to cause human discomfort. It indicates that the design of seat suspension system has no effect on the health condition of the driver after being vibrated. The advantages of vibration isolation performance of the designed NSS suspension system are demonstrated, improving the driver’s ride comfort and the working environment.

Theoretical Modeling and Vibration Isolation Performance Analysis of a Seat Suspension System Based on a Negative Stiffness Structure

In this study, to improve the vibration isolation performance of a cab seat and the ride comfort of the driver, we propose a mathematical model for a seat suspension system of a construction machinery cab based on a negative stiffness structure (NSS). First, a static analysis of a seat suspension system is conducted and the different parameters and their influences on the dynamic stiffness are discussed. Thereby, the ideal configuration parameter range of the suspension system is obtained. Moreover, the nonlinear dynamic model of the designed seat suspension system is established. The frequency response and the stability are analyzed by using the HBM method and numerical simulation. The vibration transmissibility characteristics and vibration suppression effects of the seat suspension system are presented in detail. The results show that, as compared with a quasi-zero-stiffness system, the QZS-IE system has higher vibration suppression advantages under large excitation and small damping, as well as lower transmissibility and a wider vibration isolation frequency range. In addition, an inerter element with a larger mass ratio and relatively shorter distance ratio is better for vibration isolation performance of the QZS-IE system in a practical engineering application. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the design and improvement of a seat suspension system.