Noise and Vibration Reduction on the Single Axis Adaptive Damping Controls

Abstract

Reducing or eliminating seat noise and vibration are the main objectives of a semi-active damping system implemented in a commercial vehicle seat. The system must be developed such that control forces minimize seat motion. Abrupt motion with semi-active damping systems is typically called ‘dynamic jerk.’ Semi-active damping in a seat application places the control forces close to the seat occupant so there is less ‘filtering’ to protect the human from feeling dynamic jerk. Whereas in an automotive suspension there might be more tolerance for dynamic jerk because the comparatively heavy vehicle body acts to filter some of the dynamic jerk and the interaction of the tire and road input may also mask it. In this research, dynamic jerk has been addressed and studied for the advanced SEAT application. The seat has been tested with varying sine inputs at specific amplitudes. The response of the semi-active damping seat system has been analyzed to characterize dynamic jerk and a control algorithm has been developed to minimize this undesirable response. The conclusion is that dynamic jerk is dependent on the damper’s physical properties as well as the system’s sensors. A Design of Experiments statistical study was carried out to determine what are the most influencing factors. Limiting the range of damping force reduces the control authority; however, allowing full damping force may trigger dynamic jerk. Identifying the dynamic jerk plays an important role in order to have the indication of the properly tuned system. In this research, the identification strategy of the dynamic jerk is studied and developed.