Vibration Damper Actuation via Road Topography Amplitude Spectrum

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for actuating vibration dampers in transportation vehicle wheel suspensions face inaccuracies in road imaging, leading to compromised ride comfort due to inadequate preview functions.

Innovation Solution

A method that generates data representing the road topography ahead, analyzes road unevenness, and adjusts the vibration damper based on the amplitude spectrum, allowing for stochastic consideration of road conditions to improve damping specifications and balance ride comfort and driving safety.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If image data is used to generate a mathematical description of road surface heights, then road topography can be detected ahead of the vehicle, but inaccuracies in road imaging compromise the precision of the detected road unevenness

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveroad topography informationVSAvoidroad unevenness detection accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

A camera is introduced as an intermediary device to capture road topography images ahead of the vehicle. The camera system serves as a mediator between the road surface and the control unit, allowing indirect detection of road unevenness through image processing and mathematical description generation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The mechanical sensor-based road detection system is replaced with an optical imaging system. Instead of using physical contact sensors to measure road surface heights, the patent uses camera images to generate mathematical descriptions of road topography, substituting mechanical measurement with optical detection and computational analysis

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Ease of operation

If the vibration damper is adjusted based on precise road unevenness analysis, then ride comfort is improved, but the complexity of the control system increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveride comfortVSAvoidcontrol system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The control unit is designed to perform multiple functions: it processes image data from the camera, generates mathematical descriptions of road topography, analyzes road unevenness, determines amplitude spectra, and controls the vibration damper adjustment. This multi-functional approach consolidates what could be separate systems into a single control unit

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary analysis of road topography and unevenness before the vehicle actually encounters the road irregularities. By detecting and analyzing road conditions ahead of time and pre-adjusting the vibration damper, the system prepares the suspension in advance, improving ride comfort while allowing for more sophisticated control algorithms

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS11052720B2Method for actuating the vibration damper of a wheel suspension

Publication Date: 2021.07.06 VOLKSWAGEN AG

AI summary

A method for actuating the vibration damper of a transportation vehicle wheel suspension including generating data which represents the topography of the roadway lying in front of the transportation vehicle; analyzing the data with respect to roadway unevenness; adjusting the vibration damper while taking into consideration the evaluation of the roadway unevenness, wherein the amplitude spectrum of the roadway unevenness is ascertained from the data; and generating a specification for the damping of the vibration damper based on the amplitude spectrum.