Analysis of sliding mode controllers for the enhancement of ride comfort in active suspension systems

Abstract

Ride Comfort of the passenger travelling in a car is an important factor to be analysed. The ride comfort of a human being is measured in terms of the Head Acceleration (HA). This is based on the vibration produced in the vehicle due to unevenness in the roads. Therefore, the vibration control of the vehicle leads to ride comfort. The active suspension system in a car is mainly used to reduce the vibration and hence the Body Acceleration (BA) of the vehicle as well as the passengers HA. This is achieved by designing the controller with feedback from road conditions. The vertical vibration plays a major role in ride comfort. The Quarter Car Model (QCM) is a commonly considered by the researchers. In Half Car Model (HCM), the interaction between the front and rear wheel is analysed newlineby measuring the pitch angle at the centre of the sprung mass. Therefore, the newlinecontrol force applied to the front actuator is based on the road input of the front newlinewheel as well as the rear wheel and vice-versa. Most of the present studies newlineon active suspensions are concerned with vibration reduction of the sprung newlinemass containing vertical acceleration in the QCM and HCM. The passenger newlineseats are fixed in the front half and rear half of the sprung mass. newline newline