Bidirectional Vehicle Suspension Ride Frequency Switching
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle suspension systems face a trade-off between ride quality and handling capabilities, with stiffer suspensions improving agility but reducing comfort, and softer suspensions enhancing comfort but compromising handling. Bidirectional vehicles, which lack a fixed front or rear, require adaptive suspension configurations to maintain performance and comfort across changing directions of travel.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a suspension control system that adjusts the ride frequency of individual axles based on the vehicle's direction of travel by manipulating suspension components such as struts, bushings, and pneumatic systems, configuring the trailing axle to have a higher ride frequency than the leading axle to synchronize oscillations and improve both handling and comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If suspension stiffness is increased to improve handling capabilities, then vehicle agility is improved, but ride quality and passenger comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the suspension stiffness adjustable rather than fixed. The system dynamically switches between a first suspension stiffness (softer) and a second suspension stiffness (stiffer) based on the vehicle's travel direction. This allows the suspension to adapt its characteristics to different operating conditions, resolving the contradiction between ride comfort and handling capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameter of suspension stiffness based on travel direction. When the vehicle travels in a first direction, the suspension uses a softer stiffness for comfort; when it travels in an opposite second direction, the suspension switches to a stiffer stiffness for improved handling. This parameter change allows the system to optimize for different performance requirements.
2Ease of operation
If suspension stiffness is decreased to improve ride quality, then passenger comfort is improved, but handling capabilities and vehicle agility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts suspension stiffness based on travel direction. During forward travel, the suspension operates in a softer mode to prioritize passenger comfort. When the vehicle reverses direction, the system switches to a stiffer mode to restore handling capability, thus resolving the contradiction through dynamic adaptation.
Solution Approach 2:
The suspension system changes its stiffness parameter according to the vehicle's travel direction. The control system switches between a first suspension stiffness (softer, for comfort) and a second suspension stiffness (stiffer, for handling) based on whether the vehicle is traveling in the first or second direction, allowing optimization of the conflicting parameters.
3Device complexity
If bidirectional vehicles use fixed suspension configuration, then device complexity is reduced, but performance and comfort deteriorate across changing directions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic suspension system that automatically adjusts stiffness based on travel direction detection. The control system monitors the vehicle's direction and switches between different suspension stiffness settings, enabling the vehicle to maintain optimal performance in both forward and reverse directions without requiring manual intervention or complex mechanical reconfiguration.
Data Source
AI summary
A bidirectional vehicle may be capable of traveling in either of two directions and may change its direction of travel at any point for various reasons. In response to a change in the direction of travel, systems of a bidirectional vehicle may adjust one or more suspension components using various techniques to configure the vehicle with a higher ride frequency at the trailing axle than at the leading axle to enhance the ride quality and handling capabilities of the vehicle.