A nonlinear parameter varying observer for real‐time damper force estimation of an automotive electro‐rheological suspension system

Abstract

AbstractThis paper proposes a nonlinear parameter varying (NLPV) observer to estimate, in real‐time, the damper force of an electrorheological (ER) damper in a road vehicle suspension system. The objectives are to minimize the effects of bounded unknown road profile disturbances and measurement noises on the estimation errors in the framework. Furthermore, the nonlinearity coming from the damper model (and considered in the observer formulation) is handled through a Lipschitz condition. The observer inputs are data given by two low‐cost sensors (two accelerometers data from the sprung mass and the unsprung mass). For performance assessment, the observer is implemented on a 1/5‐scaled real vehicle testbench of GIPSA‐lab, namely INOVE (see www.gipsa‐lab.fr/projet/inove). Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed observer in terms of the ability to estimate the damper force in real‐time and to minimize the effects of measurement noises and road disturbances.