Development of Full Air Pneumatic Suspension Type for Commercial Vehicles 2017-01-1490

The air suspension development and its applications have becoming increasingly relevant for commercial vehicles to provide dynamic ride comfort to driver and reduce the load impact onto driver and or cargo. This paper shows the analysis and application of an air suspension system for commercial tractor vehicles and its dynamic influence.

A special focus was given to pneumatic actuation system, responsible for leveling and control of suspension´s stiffness under different conditions of usage, laden and unladed. The project was conducted starting with the vehicle dynamic performance analysis, evaluating the pneumatic suspension circuit modifications in order to obtain vehicle dynamic behavior improvement, ensuring directional stability under different maneuvering conditions.

During the development quality tools were used, considering the possible failure modes and effects to guide the design changes in order to achieve the desired behavior, as well as virtual simulation tools (Adams) and rig test validations.

Using data acquisition and vehicle test analysis, the improved dynamic results proposed were validated and considered as the final design solution.