Simulation of Active Force Control Using MR Damper in Semi Active Seat Suspension System

Abstract

With the rapid development of electronic sensor and actuator technology, semi-active seat suspension system has become even more practical driven by lower power consumption. Magneto-rheological (MR) dampers are among the best and the most reliable semi active control devices that can produce controllable damping force in seat suspension system to further improve the ride comfort. This paper focus on a new controller scheme named Active Force Control (AFC) to control the damping force of the MR damper to achieve better ride comfort. The phenomenological Bouc-Wen model for MR damper has been simulated in Matlab Simulink to study the effectiveness of the new AFC controller. A sinusoidal signal simulated as vibration source is applied to the seat suspension system to investigate the improvement of ride comfort as well as to ascertain the new AFC controller robustness. Comparison of body acceleration signals from the passive suspension with AFC controller semi active seat suspension system shows improvement to the occupant ride comfort under different vibration intensities.