Search Results

The continuously variable damper is widely used in the semi-active suspension system since it can yield various damping forces at a given damper velocity. By applying an appropriate control scheme to the damper, satisfaction of both ride comfort and driving safety can be realized. For successful development of the semi-active suspension system, a model that accurately describes the complex and nonlinear behavior of the continuously variable damper is crucial. In this research, a modeling technique for the continuously variable damper has been studied. Various damper components have been analyzed and their effects upon damper characteristics have been closely investigated. The effects of the damper characteristics change upon ride comfort and driving safety has also been investigated via simulations.

In-vehicle driving tests for evaluating performance of vehicle control devices are often time-consuming, expensive, and not reproducible. Using hardware-in-the-loop simulation scheme, actual control devices can be easily tested in real time in a closed loop with a virtual vehicle. This advantage has made HILS systems popular as testbench lately in automotive industries. This paper describes a PC-based HILS system for ABS that has been developed in Matlab environment with real-time rapid prototyping tools. Also presented in this paper is a semi-empirical vehicle dynamic model that has been designed to account for kinematic and compliant characteristics of the suspension system from rig tests.