Generation of asymmetric F-v characteristics for symmetric MR dampers

Abstract

An asymmetric damping force generation algorithm is originally proposed to yield the asymmetric force-velocity characteristics for the symmetric magneto-rheological (MR) dampers. The command current is formulated in an asymmetric manner to excite the symmetric MR dampers by employing the "on-off" control law in response to the direction of velocity, and a smooth modulation function is developed without phase shift to suppress strong transients in the damping forces caused by the current-switching discontinuity. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by analyzing the dynamic responses of a quarter-vehicle suspension system with a symmetric MR-damper by modulating the command current into the asymmetric manner. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm could achieve a better compromise between the conflicting requirements of the asymmetric damping force ratio and the force-velocity curve smoothness, and the asymmetric damping MR-suspension design can ideally improve the road holding and ride performances of vehicle motion. The proposed algorithm can be generally incorporated with a controller synthesis to realize an intelligent vehicle suspension design with the symmetric MR dampers.