Modeling, bench test and ride analysis of a novel energy-harvesting hydraulically interconnected suspension system

Abstract

A novel energy-harvesting hydraulically interconnected suspension (EH-HIS) is proposed, modeled, built and tested in this paper to enhance riding comfort and road handling performances for vehicles while converting the vibration energy traditionally wasted into usable electricity. A sub-module prototype has been developed to validate the analytical model and tested to study the damping characteristics and energy harvesting capability of the EH-HIS. The studies are performed to compare the dynamic responses and energy harvesting performance of the full-vehicle equipped with the traditional suspension, hydraulically interconnected suspension (HIS), hydro-electromagnetic energy-harvesting shock absorber (HESA) and the proposed EH-HIS, respectively. Bench test results show that the damping coefficient of the EH-HIS ranges from 3608 to 9913 Ns/m. The average harvested power of the sub-module reaches 82 W at the excitation of 2 Hz frequency and 20 mm amplitude, while the full-size SUV equipped with the EH-HIS can obtain 215 W and 525 W average power on D-class road with a driving velocity of 60 km/h and 80 km/h, respectively. Moreover, the vehicle equipped with EH-HIS has better riding comfort on rough terrains and satisfying handling stability compared with other suspension systems. The analysis also indicates that EH-HIS exhibit 60% and 11% improvements in the anti-rolling and anti-pitching performances over the traditional suspension during emergency steering and braking maneuvers.