Observer Design for Semi-Active Suspension Control

ISSN： 0042-3114

Source： Vehicle System Dynamics, Vol.32, Iss.2-3, 1999-08, pp. : 129-148

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

This paper presents an observer for automotive semi-active suspension control. Automotive suspensions are disturbance affected dynamic systems and semi-active suspensions can be represented as a bilinear model. An observer for semi-active suspensions is formulated such that the estimation error is independent of unknown external disturbance. The proposed observer uses easily accessible measurements such as accelerations and guarantees exponentially convergent state estimation for suspension deflections and velocities. Absolute sprung mass and unsprung mass velocities can be estimated using the proposed observer. Simulations and experimental rig tests show that all states of a semi-active suspension can be estimated only with acceleration measurements. The estimated states are used to improve ride quality in a semi-active suspension.