Series active variable geometry suspension application to comfort enhancement
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Published version
Author(s)
Arana, C
Evangelou, SA
Dini, D
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper explores the potential of the Series Active Variable Geometry Suspension (SAVGS) for comfort and road holding enhancement. The SAVGS concept introduces significant nonlinearities associated with the rotation of the mechanical link that connects the chassis to the spring-damper unit. Although conventional linearization procedures implemented in multi-body software packages can deal with this configuration, they produce linear models of reduced applicability. To overcome this limitation, an alternative linearization approach based on energy conservation principles is proposed and successfully applied to one corner of the car, thus enabling the use of linear robust control techniques. An H∞ controller is synthesized for this simplified quarter-car linear model and tuned based on the singular value decomposition of the system's transfer matrix. The proposed control is thoroughly tested with one-corner and full-vehicle nonlinear multi-body models. In the SAVGS setup, the actuator appears in series with the passive spring-damper and therefore it would typically be categorized as a low bandwidth or slow active suspension. However, results presented in this paper for an SAVGS-retrofitted Grand Tourer show that this technology has the potential to also improve the high frequency suspension functions such as comfort and road holding.
Date Issued
2016-12-01
Date Acceptance
2016-11-18
Citation
Control Engineering Practice, 2016, 59, pp.111-126
ISSN
1873-6939
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
111
End Page
126
Journal / Book Title
Control Engineering Practice
Volume
59
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
Sponsor
Imperial Innovations Ltd
Grant Number
6727
Subjects
Industrial Engineering & Automation
0102 Applied Mathematics
0906 Electrical And Electronic Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Publication Status
Published