Adaptive Suspension Damper for Wheel Articulation and Ride Height
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle suspension systems, especially in high-performance and off-road vehicles, face challenges in managing damping forces effectively, leading to compromised ride comfort and traction, as they are not adaptable enough to extreme driving conditions and often inhibit individual wheel articulation.
Innovation Solution
A suspension control system with adaptive suspension dampers and wheel speed sensors that can adjust the height of individual corners to shift weight balance, allowing for active suspension capabilities to enhance traction by increasing frictional force at slipping wheels, using a hydraulically operated conversion mechanism to change wheel position and damping characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If higher damping forces are used in high-performance and off-road vehicles to handle extreme heave, pitch, roll and wheel events, then vehicle control capability is improved, but ride comfort deteriorates as the vehicle ride becomes stiffer and transfers more road surface imperfections directly to the driver
Solution Approach 1:
The suspension system employs continuously variable damping coefficients that dynamically adjust based on real-time operating conditions. The damping force varies from low values during normal driving to high values during extreme off-road conditions, allowing the system to adapt its characteristics rather than maintaining fixed high damping forces. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by providing high control capability only when needed while maintaining comfort during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the damping parameter (damping coefficient) based on detected wheel and vehicle behavior. By monitoring wheel speed, suspension travel, and vehicle attitude, the system adjusts the damping coefficient to provide appropriate force levels for current conditions, thereby resolving the trade-off between control capability and ride comfort through parameter adaptation.
2Reliability
If ride height adjustment is implemented for the whole vehicle to add or subtract force, then vehicle body position control is improved, but individual wheel articulation is inhibited
Solution Approach 1:
The suspension system controls each wheel independently through individual dampers and actuators rather than adjusting the entire vehicle body as a unit. This segmentation allows each corner to be controlled separately, enabling both overall vehicle position control and individual wheel articulation freedom. Each wheel assembly can articulate independently while the vehicle body position is maintained through coordinated control of all four corners.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different control actions to different parts of the vehicle as needed. Each corner can have unique damping forces and height adjustments based on local terrain conditions and wheel behavior, allowing optimal articulation at each wheel while maintaining overall vehicle stability through distributed control.
3Ease of operation
If semi-active suspensions are used to vary damping force at any given time, then trade-offs between control capability and ride comfort are minimized, but the ability to add force (raise vehicle body or extend individual wheel) or subtract force (lower vehicle body or pick up a wheel) is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from passive or semi-active damping to active suspension capability through electronically controlled actuators that can add or subtract force dynamically. The damping coefficient becomes a dynamic variable that can be adjusted in real-time to provide force addition when traction is needed or force subtraction when wheel pickup is required, while maintaining the trade-off minimization benefits through continuous adaptation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces traditional mechanical spring-and-shock absorber systems with an active suspension system that uses electronic actuators and controlled damping mechanisms. This substitution enables precise control over damping forces and allows the system to actively add or subtract force as needed, going beyond the capabilities of semi-active systems while maintaining adaptability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Improves vehicle performance and driver satisfaction by maintaining traction and ride comfort in extreme conditions, enabling the vehicle to navigate obstacles while maintaining contact with all wheels, particularly useful in off-road situations like rock crawling.
Implementation Method 1
close the working chamber to enable the piston head to act as a hydraulic ram inside the working chamber to selectively adjust a position of the piston head in the working chamber to adjust a height of a corner of a vehicle
Implementation Method 2
The shocks generally resist compression and rebound with damping forces that are applied over a range of travel of a piston rod
Implementation Method 3
allowing for active suspension capabilities to enhance traction by increasing frictional force at slipping wheels
Data Source
AI summary
An adaptive suspension damper may include a body defining a working chamber, and a sleeve operably coupled to the body to alternately open the working chamber to enable a working fluid to enter or leave the working chamber relative to compression and rebound events experienced at the adaptive suspension damper, and close the working chamber to enable the piston head to act as a hydraulic ram inside the working chamber to selectively adjust a position of a piston head in the working chamber to adjust a height of a corner of a vehicle at which the adaptive suspension damper is located.